The Derelict Mass Media of America

I had originally intended this to be an essay about the mass media's coverage of Gaza and the ICJ case (or lack thereof), but since it's a developing situation, a journal format turned out to be easier. It is not comprehensive nor am I an expert on the region, so take these entries merely as a series of critical observations from a concerned citizen.

What exactly is the nature of the USA's relationship with Israel? This question has bothered me for some time, but lately it appears to be a rather urgent question. Please feel free to give your own answer on the talk page or leave comments in general. Israel faces the charge of genocide in the ICJ, brought by South Africa . "The Honorable" Antony Blinken writes them off as little more than a distraction, and I should hope no American citizen is satisfied with such a glib and disinterested reply to the fact that there may be a genocide in progress, paid for in part by our tax dollars. (That's quite a sulky why-would-you-do-this-to-us face he's putting on, compared with his Wikipedia portrait.) There is a striking lack of media exposure and discourse. We've seen very little from major networks between the first ICJ hearing and their interim ruling. Instead of reporting on an ongoing alleged genocide, most of it is worthless filler media about Trump, Biden, other presidential candidates, etc. It's a grossly disproportionate news cycle and while there has been token coverage of the ICJ case, I've seen no major network at all bring up questions of whether or not it's appropriate to continue foreign aid to Israel. The United States has given more foreign aid to Israel than any other nation on earth, despite that they are relatively wealthy. Last year this bill was proposed . "Provides $10.6 billion to support Israel, including $4 billion for Israeli missile defense capabilities and $1.2 billion to accelerate development of the Iron Beam missile defense system.", "Provides $3.5 billion in foreign military financing to help Israel reestablish territorial security and deterrence.", "Increases the fiscal limits on several Presidential drawdown authorities and provides additional flexibility for transfers of defense articles to Israel from U.S. foreign stockpiles." The media usually discusses this with a very heavy emphasis on the border and Ukraine, and often does not even mention that fourteen billion dollars would go to Israel's 'war' effort. Here are a couple examples with Chuck Schumer advocating the aid package. ,. You'll notice in the first video that the brief intro states that this would involve aid for Israel, yet Schumer does not appear to mention this once in that video, and only once in the second. Other examples include , which only mentions Israel to say that a deal without aid would "stab them in the back", , which mentions Israel only once but uses the word border twenty times, and in which Israel is not mentioned at all. Aid for the Ukraine is brought up here and there, Israel even less frequently. The ICJ's interim ruling finds "In the Court's view, at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the (Genocide) Convention." (paragraph 30.) As I understand the provisional measures requested by South Africa and ordered by the ruling are to help the people of Gaza in the meantime if the accusation is at least plausible. Like many Americans I cannot see for myself what is happening in Gaza but must rely on second-hand information, yet I can only interpret all this to mean there exists a significant possibility that our tax dollars have funded and would continue to fund genocide. This is illegal according to our own laws , "The term “Leahy law” refers to two statutory provisions prohibiting the U.S. Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights (GVHR).". Yet despite all this I haven't seen a major news network (CNN,Fox,MSNBC,etc.) bring up any legal or ethical questions about this aid package on grounds that Israel is credibly accused of genocide in the International Court of Justice. Why has South Africa accused Israel of genocide if they aren't guilty of exactly that? Are we supposed to believe they just thought it would be a good laugh to file a genocide complaint with the ICJ against Israel? Aren't we owed a bit more explanation? Why does the government seem so entirely disinterested that the aid package they've proposed might fund a genocide? Why is the media ignoring this issue? At some point these questions just start to seem rhetorical, though I don't intend them to be.

Here are just a few quotes from South Africa's report to the ICJ, all of which have references in the paper: "A total of over 7,729 Palestinian children have been killed in Gaza to date — over 115 Palestinian children in Gaza are killed every day." and "Burns and amputations are typical injuries,with an estimated 1,000 children having lost one or both legs. There are reports of Israeli forces using white phosphorus in densely populated areas in Gaza: as the World Health Organization describes, even small amounts of white phosphorus can cause deep and severe burns, penetrating even through bone, and capable of reigniting after initial treatment. " "There have now been more than 238 attacks on ‘healthcare’ in Gaza, in which over 61 hospitals and other healthcare facilities have been damaged or destroyed. Only 13 out of 36 hospitals and 18 out of 72 healthcare centres are still even functioning — some of them barely — despite the overwhelming number of people injured in Israeli attacks. The Israeli army has targeted hospital generators, hospital solar panels, and other life-saving equipment, such as oxygen stations and water tanks." The United Nations states "Gazans now make up 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide, marking an unparalleled humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s continued bombardment and siege, according to UN human rights experts." Is that not a complete disgrace? The media browbeats the middle class with so much hokum about 'past injustices', 'historical wrongs', 'systemic racism', so on and so forth, so that no such tragedies can ever happen again. Suddenly we learn from South Africa that one may very well be happening again, and as it turns out, we the American Public are generous benefactors of the accused. And amazingly, America's own media has hardly anything to say about it. It hardly takes much courage to criticize the long-dead perpetrators of so many historical atrocities. What they have had to say about Gaza and Israel usually presents the problem as "war", without communicating how one-sided the conflict has been or that international law may have been violated by Israel. If someone criticizes Israel's actions toward Gaza and do not 'condemn Hamas', they're accused antisemitism, sympathizing with terrorists, or simply not caring whether or not the people of Israel live or die. The idea that Hamas presents an existential threat to Israel of similar caliber seems unlikely. Israel is a modern, nuclear state (one of only nine) and relatively wealthy. Why must anyone (least of all victims of genocide) be forced to 'condemn' the enemies of the alleged perpetrator before criticizing the alleged perpetrator themselves? This pavlovian exercise is obviously just damage control. I sincerely hope that every hostage is returned safe and sound and that Israel suffers no further casualties. However the only belligerent in court on genocide charges is Israel, as far as I know. One does not need to look very hard to find journalists and networks who do cover this, for example as in . Nothing akin to Mr. Jones' withering critique of Israel's actions can be seen in the regular news cycle of a network like CNN, Fox, MSNBC or ABC. These are well-funded, well-informed, well-connected news networks. The Q&A portions of the white house daily briefings (which are covered by cspan) are sometimes pretty interesting, with the white house spokespeople being regularly put on the spot. The mass media's response to the interim ruling is entirely misleading. For instance MSNBC's video , calling it a "stern warning" and a "slap on the wrist". How is an interim ruling intended to preempt wholesale genocide during an ongoing genocide case a "stern warning" against Israel? The guest, an Israeli Ambassador, states "I'm pretty satisfied that there is absolutely no intent on Israel's side." As if there weren't an entire section (D) in the report entitled "Expressions of Genocidal Intent against the Palestinian People by Israeli State Officials and Others", which quotes the president of Israel saying "It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware not involved. It’s absolutely not true. ... and we will fight until we break their backbone." That's from the President Herzog himself, but there are far more disturbing quotes in the report, such as this one from a "motivational speaker" to Israeli soldiers prior to the invasion which I'm only partially copying, "Erase the memory of them. Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live ... Every Jew with a weapon should go out and kill them. If you have an Arab neighbour, don't wait, go to his home and shoot him." The title of NPR's video reads "U.N. Court Orders Israel To Do More To Protect Palestinians' Lives", as if to suggest they were protecting Palestinian lives in the first place. MSNBC's response along with those of NBC news , CBS news and even Democracy Now (a somewhat smaller organization who have covered this extensively) all did something odd. Did you catch it? They all use phrases like "stopped short of calling for a ceasefire" (in MSNBC's case, a "yellowcard" simile). In other words, they're ranking the judgement. The rhetorical implication here is that the situation is less serious than South Africa alleges, but is this necessarily true? Mr. Jones does not point out this bit of rhetoric, but unlike these sources he does speculate why the ICJ might not have ordered a ceasefire, and none of the speculations have to do with the urgency of the situation. Later in the video, the guests on Democracy Now assert that there must in effect be a ceasefire in order to adhere to the interim ruling's orders anyway, as does Jones. How exactly does America's gratuitous foreign aid to Israel benefit the American public in the first place? None of this is an anti-zionist argument per se. I think anyone would be very hard-pressed at this point to argue that the ICJ case and other indicators are simply manifestations of antisemitism or otherwise meritless. That explanation does not satisfy parsimony. If the highest court in the world considers it plausible, why doesn't the white house or congress? If we suppose this is the case, would it not imply that much of the nation's political class and mass media have been lying outright to the American public, prioritizing Israel's short-term ambitions over the public interest, and knowingly supporting genocide with foreign aid? I don't even know how many laws they've broken if this is the case. It would be an obscenity if the American public were to allow the government to finance and arm a genocide. This would be public money and materiel being used largely without the public's consent at the expense of America's reputation, to facilitate the collective punishment of Gaza's people, most of whom have done nothing to wrong us. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 07:55, 27 January 2024 (UTC)

Addendum: Jones' guest Mouin Rabbini says aloud what many have probably been thinking . The only thing I can think to add is if there had been any credible claim to ignorance by public officials and mass media before the ICJ decided to take the case, no such excuse exists after the fact. There is now an ongoing genocide case in the World Court. In an amazing coincidence, the Department of State pulled funding from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on the day after the interim ruling. According to a quote in an NPR article published prior to the allegations, UNRWA is the "last remaining lifeline for the Palestinian people in Gaza." Jones published a more recent video about this conveniently-timed event. It's worth remembering this each time you hear some spokesperson say, in tones of utter sincerity and with a look of abject sympathy, "we're doing everything we can to help the people in Gaza". Aside from being morally bankrupt, this is completely transparent and awful from a PR standpoint. What will the white house even tell us when they're asked about this? Even forgetting the ethical, moral and humanitarian abuses for a moment, isn't it enough to piss you off that public money, our money, is withheld or granted on these sordid terms and we are consistently lied to about it? AP295 (discuss • contribs) 00:41, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Another "stops-short-of" distortion, MSNBC states in that the ICJ "stopped short of calling for a cease-fire and calling the war an act of genocide". A bald-faced misrepresentation of the interim ruling. As Rabbini states in the video above, the purpose of the interim ruling was not to issue a judgement on whether or not genocide had occurred, nor should it be interpreted as such. They thought South Africa's case was credible enough to proceed with and the measures they ordered are intended to help those in Gaza in the meantime. MSNBC's coverage has been particularly gross. I don't feel Zionism per se was or is something bad, yet this sort of damage control is appalling. It's beyond description. The number of people and organizations aggressively, hysterically defending the mass murder of Gaza's people is unreal. You cannot do that. Do they only think of themselves? Do they want to completely undermine public trust in mass media and the government itself? They're out of their wits. Frankly I'd rather they tell the truth in this instance, much as I'd like the public to realize how fake and morally bankrupt mass media is. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 10:33, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

Media is signalling a new "border deal", ,,,,. CNN's article states "The details provide a new window into high-profile negotiations that have been going on for months – as Senate leaders hold out hope they can attach the deal to aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as domestic and international crises loom." I anticipate that the media will continue to put heavy emphasis on the border security and immigration component while largely ignoring foreign aid to Israel. Quoting , "The Leahy Law (also known as the Leahy Amendment) prohibits most types of U.S. foreign aid and Defense Department training programs from going to foreign security, military and police units credibly alleged to have committed human rights violations." If you search explicitly for "Leahy Law Israel", you'll find a few results, ,,. However, unless one already knew to search for it, one would probably not be made aware of this serious issue by watching or reading the news from a major network. I've never seen, for example, a youtube video from a major news network that discusses the legality of foreign aid to Israel, after the first ICJ hearing. One could hardly even call it token coverage. There are credible allegations. There's an impending foreign aid package. Is this not a salient issue? AP295 (discuss • contribs) 12:01, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

NBC news airs footage of IDF possibly violating the Geneva convention, but calls it a "bold hospital raid". , Note that this hospital is in the west bank, not Gaza. Many hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by aerial bombing.. To get a broad view of how the media has structured their coverage of the events this year and the sort of rhetoric that has been used, archive.org can be a useful reference. The front page of a news network's website seems a fair way to judge what that network wants to inform us of. Obviously, size and placement are just as important in the news as they are in advertising. Here are a few links ,,,,,. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 08:10, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

It's perhaps important to keep a realistic conception of what motives might be involved here. I wasn't even going to entertain the pavlovian whataboutism that usually involves a digression about 10/7, Israel's right to exist, condemning Hamas etc. but I'll say (just once) that I do acknowledge all of this and that there are two sides to every story. Having said that, an idea frequently encouraged by the "leftist", not-quite-mainstream media is that these alleged war crimes are motivated by racism, and I disagree with this interpretation. If we suppose that 10/7 and counterinsurgency aren't the only motives here, then isn't it more likely that Gazans are simply in Israel's way and that the object is to annex Gaza? To view this as an instance of racial hatred obscures the material incentives that existed and in turn the moral of this sad state of affairs. I'm not contradicting South Africa's allegations (as far as I know) nor am I questioning the concept of genocide per se, but rather suggesting that we interpret it as a means rather than an end in and of itself, i.e. as realpolitik with material, concrete motives rather than irrational hatred. It is no less contemptible. Beware attempts to exploit western identity and patriotism by drawing a false equivalence between the events in Gaza and early colonial America, or any other rhetoric that would frame it as a partisan issue. Plenty of Americans tune out when they hear the word "racism" spoken frequently enough, and this itself can be used to shape public opinion. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 20:53, 31 January 2024 (UTC)

states that the aid package (which has thus far not been made public) will include aid for Israel. There's a digression about "settler violence in the west bank", which is completely beside the issue of the alleged organized and state-supported genocide in Gaza. If I were to guess, this is a red herring intended to deceive those who are perhaps vaguely aware that there is a problem, but unclear about its nature and extent. It encourages the perception of scrutiny and accountability on part of our government, while completely ignoring that there's a far more serious and dire problem in Gaza. Around fourteen minutes in the Leahy law and foreign aid to Israel is finally discussed, and this is what should have been right at the beginning of the video. Quoting the law itself "(a) IN GENERAL. – No assistance shall be furnished under this Act or the Arms Export Control Act to any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights. " South Africa's well-supported ICJ application, the ongoing genocide case in the ICJ, and many statements by Israli officials themselves seem to satisfy any reasonable interpretation of "credible information". Not only is there credible information suggesting gross violations of human rights, but genocide. If my government funds these war crimes with billions of dollars of public money, with full knowledge of what we all now know and without any clear benefit to the American public, then how can I have any respect for it at all? I would be deeply ashamed to condone or serve a government that has completely abandoned our founding principles, their duty to the American public, and common decency itself. I hope congress has the sense to put a stop to this madness. I should also hope they fire The 'Honorable' Antony Blinken (His Excellency, to you foreign types), as he continues to disgrace the nation and insult our intelligence by calling the ICJ case "meritless" and mislead the public. He will probably continue to do so, since if the DoS acknowledge the problem but continue to send funding, then (if I understand the law correctly) they'd be openly violating the Leahy laws. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 02:44, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

Another interesting video . At best, these protestors are misguided about how public opinion is constructed in the US. "Abandon Biden" is not an actionable objective. If only it were. Their signs should read "No foreign aid for Genocide" or "Save $14,000,000,000 and Gaza" or "No money for Israel's war crimes" or some such thing to that effect. Would our government even have the authority to order a 'ceasefire' between Israel and Hamas? I'm not sure, but they certainly have both the authority and the obligation to cut off aid to Israel until we know they're not committing war crimes in Gaza and officials are held accountable for any such atrocities. Is that not the obvious message that one should communicate in this instance? It's not partisan and it would save the taxpayer fourteen billion dollars, which is not a hard sell to begin with let alone just prior to tax season and with the benefit of averting America's complicity in genocide. After the full text of the bill is made public, the government will probably rush to get it passed before the public becomes fully aware of the situation in Gaza. That is what they should aim to prevent. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 20:17, 2 February 2024 (UTC)

The bill has been made public and indeed it includes fourteen billion in aid for Israel. Notice there's no mention of the genocide case, war crimes, or the Leahy laws. Only the "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza, which seems to be the mass media's preferred euphemism for genocide. Oddly enough a separate bill was also introduced which would also include aid to Israel. Can't you just imagine headlines like "Border bill passes, congress rejects bill for foreign aid to Israel"? I cannot say whether that's the idea here but at any rate it's something to watch closely. Hopefully neither pass. Apparently some of the CNN staff have revolted (and rightly so), with The Guardian running a great story that exposes CNN's extreme pro-Israel bias. "According to accounts from six CNN staffers in multiple newsrooms, and more than a dozen internal memos and emails obtained by the Guardian, daily news decisions are shaped by a flow of directives from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta that have set strict guidelines on coverage. They include tight restrictions on quoting Hamas and reporting other Palestinian perspectives while Israel government statements are taken at face value. In addition, every story on the conflict must be cleared by the Jerusalem bureau before broadcast or publication." Anyone who's been paying attention knows CNN is biased but the fact that our news goes to Jerusalem for screening is a tremendous reproach to American mass media. There are many other salient parts to that story, such as one CNN staffer's observation about one such internal memo, "How else are editors going to read that other than as an instruction that no matter what the Israelis do, Hamas is ultimately to blame? Every action by Israel – dropping massive bombs that wipe out entire streets, its obliteration of whole families – the coverage ends up massaged to create a ‘they had it coming’ narrative." I would add that CNN's coverage is not an exception but quite representative of the other large media organizations. Owen Jones made a video about it , and while I largely agree with his commentary in this video, he makes one point that's rather questionable: "Now it's clear who is chiefly held responsible at the top for this raging bias is the new editor-in Chief and CEO Mark Thompson that matters actually because this guy used to be director general of the BBC and he was as the article actually notes accused repeatedly of bowing to Israeli government pressure when he headed that Corporation". Quoting The Guardian's article, "CNN journalists say the tone of coverage is set at the top by its new editor-in-chief and CEO, Mark Thompson, who took up his post two days after the 7 October Hamas attack." If CNN's board of directors were impartial, independent and concerned with journalistic integrity they wouldn't hire this CEO two days after 10/7, obviously. Ultimately it is CNN and mass media itself that should be viewed with incredulity. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 03:32, 6 February 2024 (UTC)

Jones posted a video yesterday . He fails to draw the obvious conclusion that even some of the commenters seem to be correctly moving toward. Namely that two-party politics in America is itself a farce. It's a media stunt designed to lower public expectations and provide the public the illusion of political involvement. I've written about this in another essay and I've been saying it for years, but I won't get too far into it here in this essay. Secondly, he states "One recent poll finds that 50% of Biden's self-described voters think Israel is committing genocide but B sees Israel as a fundamental guarantor of us strategic interests in the Middle East which is why he wishes to slavishly defend Israel. It's very important to make this point because anti-semitic conspiracy theories would have you believe that Israel is calling the shots because it somehow runs the US and taps into these ideas of secretive Jewish power which are always been integral to anti-semitic conspiracy theories. That's not what's happening here it's the US which is calling the shots globally and running the show but sees Israel as just one example of something which furthers its interest." I probably can't put it any better than Christopher Hitchens did when he wrote the following of polls, "Thus to the consumer the “poll”—a suggestive word, by the way, and derived from the old and retrogressive “head count” tax—may seem like a mirror of existing opinion. But to the one who produces it, the poll is a swift photograph of the raw material to be worked upon. You may have noticed that popular opinion is not always and invariably cited by the elites. Nor is it consistently tested: I don’t remember reading the findings of any poll about the tight money policy of the Federal Reserve. Who would pay (a properly sampled poll is quite an expensive business) for such a thing? No, “public opinion” is not usually recycled until it has been treated. Only then are people informed whether or not their own opinion enjoys the certification of being the majority or approved one. Even general elections, which are supposed to involve voting in the active voice rather than the passive one, have been increasingly compromised by passive dress rehearsals: the polls condition the poll. " Indeed, this poll result is a major part of the problem itself. People are less likely to scrutinize or disapprove of foreign policy if they think it benefits their own nation. Yet how does the slaughter and displacement of Gaza's people serve America's geopolitical interests? Not that I would approve of it in any case, but if one is going to make that claim they had better be prepared to explain it. I understand that having an ally in the middle east with nuclear capabilities is a strategic asset, but that's quite a different thing from condoning genocide with foreign aid and domestic propaganda at the expense of America's public and its international reputation, merely so that Israel can annex a tract of desert one tenth the size of long island. The idea that Americans somehow benefit from the slaughter of Gaza's people is nonsense. The poll is suggestive but Jones takes this lie closer to its logically valid-but-unsound conclusion instead of pointing out that it's obviously an attempt at justifying war crimes to the American public. Particularly, it seems to address what I presume is a rather serious dissonance in the mind of the Democratic voter, since the Democratic party's image doesn't square well with sponsoring genocide. Interestingly, I've not seen even a single video on Foxnews' youtube channel about the genocide case. I've not cited a single story from fox news about the genocide case because I haven't seen any. To paraphrase another line from Hitchens; it's a complement to the American people that they must be lied to so often. In this case the greatest complement is paid to viewers of Fox News, who aren't even told about it at all. The average Republican voter would not likely be any more happy than the democrat about the murder of so many civilians and children. One should guard themselves against attempts to foist a degree of blame upon the American public and the implication that killing ten thousand children in Palestine is of any benefit to the American public or integral to America's geopolitical interests. Such propaganda is likely intended to undermine the public's moral outrage toward the media, the politicians and Israel. In particular, Jones' statement seems like a bid to divert blame from Israel and preempt viewers from recognizing that the poll's implication is bogus. As if to drive the point home, he delivers it with the rather dishonest insinuation that anyone who disagrees is an antisemitic conspiracy theorist. He may or may not have intended it as such (frankly I think it's likely he did, I don't trust anyone with a large audience) but it's disappointing, considering he's one of only a few who cover Palestine decently. While he is not American, I'm sure many of his viewers are and I wish he would speak more about realpolitik such as the impending foreign aid bill which would give Israel around fourteen billion dollars.

I might as well completely explode his claim while I'm at it, so let's suppose I live in NY and want to write my representative. Eighteen out of twenty six or so representatives from NY have one or more Jewish or Israeli PACs, e.g. AIPAC,JStreetPAC,Republican Jewish Coalition,Pro-Israel America PAC, among their top five contributors. But that's only New York, you say? Well how about some red state, say, Alabama? Five out of seven have received contributions from AIPAC, and AIPAC is among the top five contributors for three of those representatives . According to opensecrets (in 2022), 396 out of 435 members of the house and 42 out of 100 senators received donations from pro-Israel groups. On the whole in 2022, the Israel lobby ranked above the pharmaceutical, oil and gas, crop production, and commercial bank sectors. That's ridiculous. I'm sorry, but this issue can't be addressed unless one is willing to acknowledge that, prima facie, Israel has far too much influence over US politics. If one wants to claim this isn't true, one must offer another explanation for why our politicians are funded by Israeli/Jewish PACs, make pro-Israel decisions at the public's expense, and lie to the public on Israel's behalf. I'm all ears. At the very least, Israel appears to enjoy huge privileges over the American public interest as far as congress is concerned. Am I really supposed to believe that writing my congressperson would have any bearing whatsoever on their decisions regarding Israel when their campaign was paid for by AIPAC? This is a clear-cut, bald-faced conflict of interest. AIPAC donates to both parties. It's not antisemitic to suggest that Israel has too much influence in US politics. As always I'm open to the possibility that I'm wrong. Much of politics is simply choreographed farce but taking this information at face value, it's the only conclusion one can draw. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 01:02, 8 February 2024 (UTC) One additional note about a trend I sometimes see in comments: There's really no such thing as a 'dual citizen', and nobody should be allowed to serve in the government if they're a citizen of another nation. That said, the "dual citizen" talking point seems to be driven by speculation and somewhat misses the mark to begin with. Looking at where their money comes from, they might as well all be 'dual citizens'. Even that term gives too much credit to a public servant who just works for the highest bidder. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 19:17, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Bill failed, but it's too early to celebrate. True to form, Schumer is putting together an alternate bill that includes aid to Israel but none of the measures for border security, which is even worse. What really needs to happen is for Blinken and the department of state to acknowledge Israel's war crimes and the legitimacy of the genocide case in the ICJ. It seems to me that until that happens, it's entirely possible that an aid bill for Israel could pass and that the money could end up supporting war crimes. There's also a bunch of doublespeak about national debt in that video, but I digress. That's another essay. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 03:40, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Very interesting story that examines Israel's far-reaching propaganda machine , As many had already suspected given the timing, there's no evidence to support Israel's allegations against UNRWA and so withdrawing funding was at least partly an act of retribution. Many more revealing details. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 08:22, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Nicaragua filed an application to join in South Africa's case against Israel. FYI, case updates can be found here . One thing I've seen a few times in comment sections as well as one MSNBC video () I cited earlier is the nonsense suggestion that proving genocidal intent will be difficult or impossible. MSNBC's host did not challenge this suggestion. Blinken has consistently rejected the legitimacy of the ICJ case, "We believe the submission against Israel to the international court of justice distracts the world from all of these important efforts and moreover the charge of genocide is meritless." "With regard to the icj um ruling first uh let me just say broadly that we can believe clearly that uh the allegations of genocide are without merit. Uh we have consistently made clear to um to Israel going back to the early days the imperative of taking every possible step to protect civilian life to get humanitarian assistance uh to those who need it." He delivered a pathetically obsequious speech in Tel Aviv during which he repeated the earlier line verbatim, but otherwise did not speak about the ICJ case, nor was he asked about it. The media continues to publish uncritical and apologetic interpretations of his behavior, not even mentioning much less questioning his unbelievable and repeated denials of an ongoing genocide, even as they casually report on the fact that Israel continues to bomb areas where the civilian population has fled to. This is all really intolerable. As early as mid October 2023, a sizable number of scholars and academics had warned that there was evidence of genocidal intent. "Statements of Israeli officials since 7 October 2023 suggest that beyond the killings and restriction of basic conditions for life perpetrated against Palestinians in Gaza, there are also indications that the ongoing and imminent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip are being conducted with potentially genocidal intent." Over eight hundred scholars signed that paper. Raz Segal wrote "Indeed, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed. Perpetrators of genocide usually do not express their intentions so clearly, though there are exceptions." South Africa's application to the ICJ reads, "Evidence of Israeli State officials’ specific intent (‘dolus specialis’) to commit and persist in committing genocidal acts or to fail to prevent them has been significant and overt since October 2023." How does Blinken still get away with calling the accusation "meritless"? He needs to acknowledge that it's a legitimate case and suspend aid to Israel. Israel obviously does not intend to stop, they bombed Rafah just after Blinken left. For god's sake, call them "war crimes", make a firm condemnation, and stop using euphemisms like "over the top". Get rid of Blinken and suspend funding per the Leahy Laws. It would be monstrous to do anything less. It's the bare minimum. Blinken's denials are far worse than holocaust denial. The holocaust is history but he makes denials while something can still be done for Gazans, precisely to avoid that responsibility. America's political leadership is making America look like servile, two-faced cowards and monsters. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 11:14, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

A few astute journalists attending the state department briefing on 1/11/24 illustrate the hypocrisy of the State Department's untenable position. The briefing contains other relevant questions and it can be watched or read in full here

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Question: In 2022, the U.S. filed a brief of intervention in Ukraine’s case against Russia in the ICJ. Why are the circumstances different that the U.S. would not file such a brief or support South Africa in its action against Israel? What are the points of difference that the U.S. has decided on to adopt these very different positions?

Mr. Patel: Every conflict is different, and how and whether there is a ground to make a determination or not is based on specific facts and law. And again, in the case of genocide and this ongoing case in front of the ICJ, we believe that those claims are unfounded, and we believe that making such a claim needs to take place with such great care.

Question: The claim is not exactly genocide is happening. The claim in the brief is that the potential for genocide is in place. The bar for genocide is exceedingly high, as you know, but also remembering that President Biden in 2022 described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as genocide. So he was very quick to make a determination which something like the ICJ still has not made on that particular case. Isn’t this all a bit too early to be saying that there are no grounds for the potential to genocide?

Mr. Patel: Every conflict is different and every circumstance is different, and these kinds of determinations need to be made with a close look at the law and the facts. And these allegations that Israel is committing genocide are unfounded. That being said, we have been clear to Israel that they not only must comply with international humanitarian law in its operations against Hamas, but it needs to take all feasible steps to prevent civilian harm. Also we have been clear with regional partners who have relationships or influence with Hamas that any steps that they would be interested in taking to cease hostilities, to release hostages, to take steps away from their self-claimed goal of repeating October 7th again and again and again and again, would be welcome as well.

Question: Can I follow up on that?

Mr. Patel: Go ahead.

Question: Secretary Blinken has specifically accused China of genocide for its treatment of the Uyghurs, but Blinken didn’t point to any mass killing there. According to Euro-Med Monitor, 4 percent of the entire population of the Gaza Strip is now dead or injured in just 90 days, 65,000 tons of munitions have been dropped on the Gaza Strip, three times what was dropped on Hiroshima. You have evidence of industrial-style killing. The South African legal team presented 20 minutes straight of statements on the record by Israeli leadership expressing the intent to commit genocide, for example, referring to the Palestinian population as Amalek. So how can you explain this discrepancy between Secretary Blinken accusing China explicitly of genocide with no mass killing, presenting no evidence of the mass killing of Uyghurs, and then dismissing out of hand the potential that Israel could be committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, calling it unfounded? How do you explain this discrepancy?

Mr. Patel: The same way that I just explained it to your colleague who asked essentially the same version of your question, which is that each conflict is different, and any kind of determination like this needs to be based on specific facts and law.

Question: And given —

Mr. Patel: And when it comes to the points that are made – being made in today’s hearing, again, I’m not going to speak to those specifically. Israel will have an opportunity to address some of those tomorrow. But we, again, feel that these allegations that Israel is committing genocide are unfounded. That being said, we do not disagree that additional steps must and need to be taken to minimize the impact on civilians, and we’ll continue to raise that directly with relevant partners.

Question: And given that you’ve fast-tracked 14 – a sale of 14,000 tank shells to Israel, bypassing Congress, given Secretary Blinken’s participation in war cabinet meetings —

Mr. Patel: We didn’t by – we didn’t – I’m just going to stop you right there, because the premise of your question is – is a little misguided. We did not bypass Congress. As part of those – as part of that, there is appropriate congressional notification that happens, and we complied with those appropriately.

Question: Okay. More and more members of Congress are demanding oversight because they’re not getting adequate oversight, but no one disputes that the U.S. is isolated in protecting Israel as it conducts this operation, as it calls it, in Gaza. No one disputes the direct U.S. role. So the question is: Is Secretary Blinken, who went to Israel first declaring he was there as a Jew identifying with the ethno-religious character of this state which is now standing accused of the potential to commit genocide, is Secretary Blinken concerned that ruling in favor of South Africa in this case could set the stage for his own prosecution or that of your colleagues?

Mr. Patel: I’m just not going to get ahead of hypotheticals, and you probably shouldn’t either.

”

Have you ever heard such grotesque doublespeak from a state department spokesperson? If that's not Orwellian, I don't know what is. These politicians and officials are going to ruin us. They're no good. They've got to go, before they further involve the nation in these serious crimes. That's probably the worst I've seen so far, but to directly quote every scuzzy, mealymouthed answer spoken in one of these state department meetings would probably take up more space than the essay itself. The focus of this essay is intended to be mass media, but I feel that these are useful to get a sense of what sort of questions mass media should be asking and discussing. I suppose I might add a few more choice bits as I find them: Spokesperson gives non-answers when asked about why IDF gunned downed civilians trying to reach south Gaza while holding a white flag. Spokesperson gives non-answers when asked about legislation that blocks UNRWA funding: Spokesperson gives non-answers when asked what the many displaced civilians in Rafah are supposed to do in case Israel attacks Rafah: Non-answers when asked about the five-figure death toll of women and children, reports of IDF summary executions, the IDF's destruction of a University in Gaza, etc. "I won't...", "I can't...", "I don't...", "I'm not going to..." AP295 (discuss • contribs) 18:07, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

By and large I agree with Jones in general but I'm almost certain he gets a few things wrong. My earlier remarks about realpolitik and motives more or less apply to his newest video A few points to address here. First he communicates another poll result, which is that something like 60% of the Israeli population opposes humanitarian aid to Gaza. To this I would reiterate Hitchens' viewpoint that polls are ultimately a means of influencing public opinion and tend not to be cited very often when they reveal dissenting opinions. We should all remember that the Israeli population is subject to propaganda just as we are. He seems to attribute such attitudes and behavior to "colonialism", stating "This is the long trodden path of colonial or settler states who tried to subject peoples which don't want to be subjugated." As I've said this does not strike me as a very useful line of discourse. "Colonialism" is a means and not an end or a motive in itself, and I don't believe Israel's leadership wants to subjugate the Palestinians but rather to drive them out altogether. The Gaza strip occupies a prime location. If Israel were to annex the Gaza strip, they'd own the whole coast right up to Egypt. It seems more likely that they want the Gazans gone so they can build seaside condos and maybe an oil pipeline. In other words, greed is the particular vice we are observing here and which we should guard ourselves against. If I'm being honest, in general I suspect this is a propaganda tactic to shore up sympathy from the "populist right" and to divert attention from the real origin of this anti-social behavior. Even if so, I suppose one should give Jones the benefit of the doubt, as it's a fairly typical interpretation. In the west we've been conditioned to accept materialism. To admire greed and avarice rather than be disgusted by it. This probably serves the needs of power quite well. Whether this is why there's such a heavy emphasis on "racism" in twenty first century propaganda, I do not know, but it doesn't seem like a bad guess. I actually see nothing wrong with the idea of a Jewish state in and of itself. It seems like Palestine is strategically valuable and not so much the best location for Jews to live peacefully, not that there's much to be done about it now. Patriotism and kinship are being taken advantage of yet I don't believe they're evil per se. Rather, these things are treated as a tool and scapegoat. The immediate solution is to stop aid to Israel. In the long term, I wish people would learn to value their tribe but not let others take advantage of this fondness and unity to commit evil. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 02:28, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

Israel continues to attack Rafah. . "What we're seeing is fresh air strikes on Rafah overnight and we've seen fatalities as a result of that. And despite the US pressure, we're seeing a lot of it come from the US. As you said, Joe Biden has called the war in Gaza at this point over the top. Israelis saying that they're ready to press ahead with a ground offensive into Rafah." What pressure? "Despite pressure from X" is just a stock phrase. Here's another video in which the newer bill is discussed without any mention of the ICJ case, nor war crimes, nor the leahy law, nor any ethical considerations. Israel and Gaza were mentioned only in passing once or twice. It would be too generous to even call it sophistry. The phrase of the dissenting CNN staffers, "journalistic malpractice", is probably a more appropriate term. "Filthy lies" would be more appropriate still, if you consider the omission of salient information a lie. If it seems like they lie with impunity, recall Hitchens' observation: It's a complement to the American people that they must be lied to so often. It's not merely a complement, but good evidence that the American public are not as apathetic, cynical, servile or amoral as they'd like everyone to believe. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 12:32, 12 February 2024 (UTC)

Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement

Journalists grill state department spokesperson in the daily brief. They try to extract a statement about whether aid to Israel will be cut if Israel keeps killing civilians, without much success. Of course a good question, yet it would have been nice if they followed with a few more questions. Why does the state department feel South Africa's ICJ application is meritless? Why do they take Israel's word above this hard, material evidence? Is the state department concerned that criminal liability might result from their continued support for a nation credibly accused of genocide in the ICJ? What might this continued support do to America's international reputation and standing if Israel is found to be in violation of the genocide convention? Questions like that. They're far more critical than the mass media, but aren't they still ignoring the elephant in the room? The ICJ declined to dismiss the case and they ordered provisional measures. South Africa's ICJ application contains 500+ citations. Can they not even offer the public a counterargument that addresses the general points of South Africa's argument? Again, what entitles Blinken and the state department to assert that it's meritless without even addressing any of its substance? What entitles him to repeat this falsehood as a representative of America abroad? And why are these journalists accepting such weak excuses as "maybe Hamas should stop hiding – but – it’s Hamas that continues to hide behind those civilians"? If a criminal hides behind a civilian, do police just blow them both away? I'm sure this very simple analogy occurs to them. Nobody would ever accept this excuse if it happened here. Yet it's always Hamas was in that hospital, Hamas was in that university, Hamas was in that highschool, Hamas was in that refugee shelter, or some such nonsense. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 00:24, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

One of those journalists asks good questions about who's going to pay for all this after the 'war' is over. See for the full conversation.

“

QUESTION: Okay. Well, so what about in other cases? Like after World War II, the Japanese attacked us but then the Germans declared war on us, so we were – went in and we – the Marshall Plan paid for huge amounts of reconstruction in Europe, and the United States also paid for the reconstruction of Japan after the war. So does that same – and recognizing that the situations are not exactly similar, but does Israel bear any responsibility for paying for the reconstruction of Gaza?

MR MILLER: So the —

QUESTION: Or do they get to foist it off on others?

MR MILLER: So the situations are not at all – are not at all —

QUESTION: Well, but they’re all conflicts and —

MR MILLER: But let – but —

QUESTION: And I realize that World War II is over and the Ukraine war is not over.

MR MILLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: But neither is the Gaza war. And you’re saying that Russia right now has to pay for the damage that it caused in Ukraine. So I’m just wondering: Would you say the same, that Israel should pay for at least some of the damage that it has caused in Gaza, even though it’s fighting what you say is a completely justifiable – or what is a completely justifiable war?

MR MILLER: So I would say on that matter is that one of the things that we have heard as – through the Secretary’s diplomacy in the region is that there are countries who are ready to step up and help pay for the reconstruction of Gaza. I don’t mean Israel. Other countries who are willing to step up and help with the reconstruction of Gaza and put real money into the game as well as real political credibility, but that’s another matter on another track. But just with respect to reconstruction, there are other countries who are willing to recontribute or contribute to the —

QUESTION: No, no, recontribute is right because they’ve already rebuilt Gaza like three times, right?

MR MILLER: Who are – fair point.

QUESTION: And so but —

MR MILLER: Let me just finish.

QUESTION: But Israel is not one of those countries.

MR MILLER: Let me – Matt, let me just finish. Our discussions have been about other countries who are willing to contribute to the rebuilding of Gaza, but they expect something from Israel in return, and that’s – we’ve talked about this path to two states.

QUESTION: But what about money? What about actual reconstruction?

MR MILLER: So I’m not going to get into the hypothetical because we think the policy that we ought to pursue —

”

Shouldn't the state department at least have the decency to print their names instead of 'QUESTION'? Meanwhile the mass media continues to yak about Trump and whatever he's supposed to be in trouble for, Biden, and the rest along with other worthless nonsense like entertainment news. It makes me wonder how many ordinary, middle-class people are realizing or have already realized just how fake the mass media and two party politics really are. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 20:57, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Jones' just posted a video in which he and a guest comment on how all this will compromise the media's reputation On one major point, his guest is wrong; "I think that's a really interesting point because... but in terms of integrity what I would say is you can always get your integrity back, right. There's there is the space to be redeemed, so the idea that they would have to maintain this line because it's been this line all along, um I understand because to a certain extent it undermines the their own um you know their own sort of institution in a way but I think you come out of it the other end with more validity than you had before..." This seems more a plea than a reasonable assessment. I don't see the media coming out of this one ahead. Their job is to launder propaganda from the government, it's clients, and on behalf of various private interests. They don't deserve the public trust, nor did they deserve it prior to their coverage post 10/7. The lesson here is that the mass media should always be taken with incredulity and scrutiny. Jones is correct that mass media is in a crisis. They've painted themselves into a corner and can't do jack about it now. I really have to get my essay Socialism/Bipartisan fraud into shape. Sad as it is, this genocide and the media's coverage supports the thesis of that essay very strongly. Not only does it implicate the media, but the political class has shown itself to be a bunch of two-faced liars across both parties. Jones appears to ignore this issue of politicians breaking character, which I'm not surprised by. There's also the story of Hind Rajab, which is probably the most depressing story yet. There's not much for me to add. While supposedly there's audio of the 911 call, I don't particularly want to listen to it. The latter video also features more fantastic stories from Israel, this time about underground Hamas datacenters or some such nonsense, and finally a discussion about whether 12,000 child casualties in four months is or isn't an acceptable figure; "Hundreds of people were killed last night including dozens of children. I mentioned before I don't know if we're able to show it or willing to show it but there's a very viral image going around of a girl hanging from the side of a wall with both of her legs ripped off and it is what it sounds like. Is that justified like at what point how many civilian deaths, how many child deaths? There was new reporting um with a new updated number of child deaths almost half of the population that's been killed out of the 27,000 or so I think it's like 11 or 12,000 now or children specifically." This video is actually much more critical of Israel than the bigger networks, both hosts can at least agree that we should stop sending checks to Israel, if not on whether twelve thousand dead children amounts to justifiable collateral damage. The larger networks, as Jones illustrates in the first video out, actively distort the events themselves to provide cover for Israel. Meanwhile, the senate approved a gratuitous foreign aid bill including fourteen billion for Israel. Forty six democrats supported the bill and two opposed, republicans 22 to 26. CBS news hails it as a "major bipartisan victory" and Chuck Schumer asks house republicans to "do the right thing" and to approve the bill swiftly. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 16:27, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

This journal is somewhat becoming a running review of Jones' coverage. The largest media organizations are so openly malfeasant that it's almost boring to critique them. Jones, The Hill, DemocracyNow are some of the better sources, so the reader should keep in mind here that my critique does not always focus on the worst. Most of the critique that can be made of the largest organizations is made reasonably well by Jones and others, so preempting or reiterating the same points they make is not terribly useful. Anyway, as several of his other videos have, his newest video puts substantial emphasis on racism. I do not follow British politics, but more generally I get the sense that "racism" is usually applied in a rhetorical (e.g. as Jones frequently uses it) if not defamatory capacity (e.g. "criticizing Israel is antisemitism"). In the latter case it often achieves a chilling effect. I'm going to go way out on a limb here: I assert that most moral arguments that use the word "racism" or "racist" can be expressed at least as well if not better without using the word. It's a thought I had written down on my userpage several weeks ago and while I'm still not entirely confident in it, I think it holds true in many cases. Is it not likely that influence from Israel and the Israel lobby (and whatever they call it across the pond) better explain pro-Israel favoritism in politics than a supposed ideological hatred or dislike for a given ethnicity? Is Israel's behavior itself not just as easily condemned on the moral principles that greed, war crimes, mass murder, cruelty and unfairness are wrong? Conversely, the word "racism" finds broad and effective application as a defamatory ad hominem, as demonstrated in this video (not by Jones himself, though he does use the word) and by many other instances. I've always vaguely disliked the term or at least the manner in which it is often used. Anyone who criticizes the term might conceivably be accused of racism themselves, and this circularity adds to my dislike. At times the public discourse seems to degenerate into base mudslinging, you're a racist, no, YOU'RE a racist, so on and so forth. Even when tarted up with officialese, exchanges like this are still exceedingly stupid. Feel free to leave a comment on my talk page. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 00:13, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

A handful of articles that turned up when I searched for news on the aid bill., , , , , , More or less as I had anticipated, they're largely focused on the Ukraine and the border. Most of them do seem to mention Israel now, yet at a glance none of them indicate that Israel is charged with genocide, nor of the recent events that suggest Israel is still committing war crimes . Some of them mention humanitarian aid for Gaza, but not in such a way to insinuate any wrongdoing on Israel's part, as if it were a natural disaster and not probable genocide. Journalistic malpractice indeed. Support for Israel's invasion seems to be on the decline elsewhere . Here though, the mass media's news is all but silent on the matter. Jones' has a new video and the events in Gaza he reviews are appalling. How does Israel suppose they'll square any of this with the ICJ? Would any of this be possible without the Israel lobby and without mass media like CNN who clearly are lying (either by distortion or omission) on Israel's behalf? The doomsayer title seems unproductive. Why make vague predictions about the demise of "the west" instead of speaking about something less abstract? What I am most concerned about are these aid bills. If they pass, then what moral authority can congress claim to have? It has already demonstrated the moral bankruptcy, cynicism and generally low quality of many individuals in the senate. Whether or not it passes, I shall remember that my senators voted in favor of sending fourteen billion dollars to sponsor a genocide. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 13:42, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Among the small amount of material that the media have published on Gaza, one phrase that pops up frequently in some form or another is "calling for a ceasefire". Protestors, nations, politicians, etc. "calling for a ceasefire", debating whether a ceasefire can or should be called and so on. Notably, Jones and others speculated that perhaps the ICJ did not have the authority to order a ceasefire, which seems like one of the more relevant points. By and large though, I am suspicious of this stock phrase. Of course one would hope for a cessation of all hostilities, yet foreign aid to Israel is the concrete, direct, material leverage that the USA has the authority to control. Its politicians not only have the authority but also the obligation to withhold aid to Israel if Israel is committing gross violations of human rights, which appears to be the case. This is public money, and the public has a say in what the government does with it. I've said all this before but at least in certain contexts the phrase "calling for a ceasefire" seems increasingly mealymouthed and wooden compared to materially consequential objectives and actions such as "cutting off aid to Israel", "embargoing Israel", etc. If Israel is openly violating international law, why would they heed anyone's "call for a ceasefire"? The journalists in the state department Q&A sessions seemed to hit closer to the target than most, as they attempted to extract specific commitments from the state department to withhold aid to Israel, but this has not been a strong point of emphasis in the mainstream media or even in Jones' material. The abstract displaces the material. One is not really making a serious critique if the most salient, actionable conclusions are omitted or replaced. While I consider Jones' material to be valuable, he stops short of taking it to its logical conclusion and leaves the viewer with outrage fodder. One should certainly be outraged, but one should also have a clear objective in mind. All this is obvious and I refuse to believe Jones and others do not understand this. In other words, Jones is doing exactly what the mainstream media does, just to a much lesser degree. Similar in direction, if not magnitude. Instead of fawning and gushing or assenting in his righteous indignation, his viewers should be asking "what are we going to do about it?" I remember Hitchens being asked essentially the same question (though not in those exact words) during an old video where he was giving a talk (at a college or library if I recall) about Kissinger. He did not give a particularly satisfying answer, as though something were stopping him from doing so. Youtube replies on any video nearly always suck, frankly. Most of them read like a gushy hallmark card, but I digress. Condemnations, affirmations, and many other -tions aggrandized from their corresponding verbs, are the media's language of posturing and pomp. Be suspicious of all such things when they aren't backed up by meaningful commitments or acts. Even the blond man's cold, cynical viewpoint in and in other videos on that channel (which seems to oppose gratuitous aid for Israel) is more straightforward than crocodile tears and vague words about a humanitarian crisis. The false equivalence with American colonialism comes up in that video. Consider that prior to European colonization, there were .5:1 natives per square mile, as opposed to Gaza's density of 16,853:1. The industrial-style killing of Gazans is not by any stretch analogous. I could go on, but the important point is that the taxpayer is sponsoring this atrocity and it is at least in part the taxpayer's responsibility to speak up against it. In short, most popular critiques are compromised by lack of an operative or actionable component. I don't imply that this is intentional in all cases, yet its absence or omission should be conspicuous to any reasonably objective observer or critic. AP295 (discuss • contribs) 17:14, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Jones' new video is a good example of how easily a critique can drift into filler media. I'll qualify this by saying that I know very little about UK politics. It starts off with a promising title, Our Establishment Tries To Silence YOU On Gaza. In general this is certainly true. Popular websites are practically designed to suppress discourse, as I discuss in Policy and Standards for Critical Discourse. Without such controls, censors, and exposition to constrain and modulate social transmission on the internet, it would not be long before the public arrived at a natural consensus. Namely, (I should hope) that using public money to sponsor crimes against humanity in Gaza is both morally reprehensible and a waste of public money. Unfortunately the video has little to do with that. He talks about a few specific instances of political dishonesty and blackmail, and it does appear to be a reasonable critique during the first half, albeit not what I'd expect given the title. After that, it increasingly gives the impression of trite political diegesis as he uses more of the mass media's argot; "both sides", "centrist, "left", "right", "racist extremist", etc. The title is more interesting than the video. Consider that propaganda and censorship does not really need to change anyone's opinion. It suffices that people are not confident enough to say what they believe. If an atrocity is presented as a "controversy" then many people will likely say nothing, simply for fear of being "on the wrong side". AP295 (discuss • contribs) 13:51, 23 February 2024 (UTC)