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By Michel Chossudovsky

Introductory Note

In 2014 President Obama launched a “counterterrorism campaign” allegedly directed against the Islamic State (ISIS-Daesh). The operation consisted in providing a justification for the extensive bombing of Iraq and Syria, largely targeting residential areas and civilians.

In turn, ISIS-Daesh was covertly supported and funded by the U.S. and its allies including Israel.

Israel was directly involved in President Obama’s “counterterrorism” bombing raids directed against Syria, while also supporting Al Qaeda and ISIS mercenaries out of the Golan Heights.

—Michel Chossudovsky, January 14, 2024

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The incursion of the Islamic State (IS) brigades into Iraq starting in June 2014 was part of a carefully planned military-intelligence operation supported covertly by the US, NATO and Israel.

The counter-terrorism mandate is a fiction. America is the Number One “State Sponsor of Terrorism.” 

The Islamic State is protected by the US and its allies. If they had wanted to eliminate the Islamic State brigades, they could have “carpet” bombed their convoys of Toyota pickup trucks when they crossed the desert from Syria into Iraq in June.

The  Syro-Arabian Desert is open territory (see map below). With state of the art jet fighter aircraft (F15, F22 Raptor, CF-18) it would have been — from a military standpoint — a rapid and expedient surgical operation.

It could not have been undertaken without the unbending support of the Western media which has upheld Obama’s initiative as a counter-terrorism operation.

Twenty Six Things

A. The Historical Origins of Al Qaeda

1. The US has supported Al Qaeda and its affiliated organizations for almost half a century since the heyday of the Soviet-Afghan war.

2. CIA training camps were set up in Pakistan. In the ten year period from 1982 to 1992, some 35,000 jihadists from 43 Islamic countries were recruited by the CIA to fight in the Afghan jihad.

“Advertisements, paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the Jihad.”

3. Since the Reagan Administration, Washington has supported the Islamic terror network.

Ronald Reagan called the terrorists “freedom fighters”. The US supplied weapons to the Islamic brigades. It was all for “a good cause”: fighting the Soviet Union and regime change, leading to the demise of a secular government in Afghanistan.

4. Jihadist textbooks  were  published by the University of Nebraska. “The United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings.”

5. Osama bin Laden, America’s bogyman and founder of Al Qaeda was recruited by the CIA in 1979 at the very outset of the US sponsored jihadist war against Afghanistan. He was 22 years old and was trained in a CIA sponsored guerrilla training camp.

Al Qaeda was not behind the 9/11 Attacks. September 11, 2001 provided a justification for waging a war against Afghanistan on the grounds that Afghanistan was a state sponsor of terrorism, supportive of Al Qaeda. The 9/11 attacks were instrumental in the formulation of the “Global War on Terrorism”.

B. The Islamic State (ISIL)

7. The ISIL brigades were involved in the US-NATO supported insurgency in Syria directed against the government of  Bashar al Assad.

8. NATO and the Turkish High Command were responsible for the recruitment of ISIL and Al Nusrah mercenaries from the outset of the Syrian insurgency in March 2011. According to Israeli intelligence sources, this initiative consisted in:

“a campaign to enlist thousands of Muslim volunteers in Middle East countries and the Muslim world to fight alongside the Syrian rebels. The Turkish army would house these volunteers, train them and secure their passage into Syria. (DEBKAfile, NATO to give rebels anti-tank weapons, August 14, 2011.)

9. There are Western Special Forces and Western intelligence operatives within the ranks of the ISIL. British Special Forces and MI6 have been involved in training jihadist rebels in Syria.

10. Western military specialists on contract to the Pentagon have trained the terrorists in the use of chemical weapons.

“The United States and some European allies are using defense contractors to train Syrian rebels on how to secure chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria, a senior U.S. official and several senior diplomats told CNN Sunday. (CNN Report, December 9, 2012)

11. The ISIL’s practice of beheadings is part of the US-sponsored terrorist training programs implemented in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

12. Recruited by America’s ally, a large number of ISIL mercenaries are convicted criminals released from Saudi prisons on condition they join the ISIL. Saudi death row inmates were recruited to join the terror brigades.

13. Israel has supported the ISIL and Al Nusrah brigades out of the Golan Heights.

Jihadist fighters have met Israeli IDF officers as well as Prime Minister Netanyahu. The IDF top brass tacitly acknowledges that “global jihad elements inside Syria” [ISIL and Al Nusrah] are supported by Israel. (See image below)

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon next to a wounded mercenary, Israeli military field hospital at the occupied Golan Heights’ border with Syria, 18 February 2014″

C. Syria and Iraq

15. US Senator John McCain has met up with jihadist terrorist leaders in Syria.

16. The Islamic State (IS) militia, which is currently the alleged target of a US-NATO bombing campaign under a “counter-terrorism” mandate, continues to be supported covertly by the US. Washington and its allies continue to provide military aid to the Islamic State.

17. US and allied bombings are not targeting the ISIL, they are bombing the economic infrastructure of Iraq and Syria including factories and oil refineries.

18. The IS caliphate project is part of a longstanding US foreign policy agenda to carve up Iraq and Syria into separate territories: a Sunni Islamist Caliphate, an Arab Shia Republic, a Republic of Kurdistan.

D. The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT)

20. U.S.-sponsored Al Qaeda terror brigades (covertly supported by Western intelligence) have been deployed in Mali, Niger, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Somalia and Yemen.

These various affiliated Al Qaeda entities in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are CIA sponsored “intelligence assets”. They are used by Washington to wreck havoc, create internal conflicts and destabilize sovereign countries.

21. Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Shabab in Somalia, the Libya Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) (supported by NATO in 2011), Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM),  Jemaah Islamiah (JI) in Indonesia, among other Al Qaeda affiliated groups are supported covertly by Western intelligence.

22. The US is also supporting Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist organizations in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region of China. The underlying objective is to trigger political instability in Western China.

Chinese jihadists are reported to have received “terrorist training” from the Islamic State “in order to conduct attacks in China”. The declared objective of these Chinese-based jihadist entities (which serves the interests of the US) is to establish a Islamic caliphate extending into Western China. (Michel Chossudovsky, America’s War on Terrorism, Global Research, Montreal, 2005, Chapter 2).

E. Homegrown Terrorists

24. The homegrown terrorist threat is a fabrication. It is promoted by Western governments and the media with a view to repealing civil liberties and installing a police state. The terror attacks by alleged jihadists and terror warnings are invariably staged events. They are used to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

In turn, the arrests, trials and sentences of “Islamic terrorists” sustain the legitimacy of America’s Homeland Security State and law enforcement apparatus, which has become increasingly militarized.

The ultimate objective is to instill in the minds of millions of Americans that the enemy is real and the U.S. Administration will protect the lives of its citizens.

25. The “counter-terrorism” campaign against the Islamic State has contributed to the demonization of Muslims, who in the eyes of Western public opinion are increasingly associated with the jihadists.

26. Anybody who dares to question the validity of the “Global War on Terrorism” is branded a terrorist and subjected to the anti-terrorist laws.

The ultimate objective of the “Global War on Terrorism” is to subdue the citizens, totally depoliticize social life in America, prevent people from thinking and conceptualizing, from analyzing facts and challenging the legitimacy of the inquisitorial social order which rules America.

The Obama Administration has imposed a diabolical consensus with the support of its allies, not to mention the complicit role of the United Nations Security Council. The Western media has embraced the consensus; it has described the Islamic State as an independent entity, an outside enemy which threatens the Western World.

The Big Lie has become the Truth. 

Say no to the Big Lie. Spread the message.

The truth is ultimately a powerful weapon.

[Read this article on Global Research.]

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research.

18 January 2024

Source: michelchossudovsky.substack.com

By Michel Chossudovsky

[This article was first published by Global Research on November 13, 2023, updated on January 14, 2024.]

1. In Solidarity with Palestine

By Countercurrents Collective

The Israeli military has been “astonished” by the size and quality of the tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza, according to an article published in the New York Times on Tuesday.

The tunnel network was originally estimated to include 250 miles (400 km) of underground passages and bunkers. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has since revised these estimates to 350-450 miles (560-725 km) or more.

Two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were close to 5,700 separate shafts leading into the tunnels under Gaza. None of the numbers could be independently verified.

Flooding Tunnels Have Failed

It could take “years” to disable the tunnels, one Israeli official told the New York Times. They need to be mapped, checked for Israeli captives, and “made irreparable,” he said, acknowledging that the recent attempts to destroy the tunnels by flooding them with seawater “have failed.”

Hospitals Schools Mosques

According to another official, Israel is using a “triangle” model to locate the tunnels, which assumes they will be found under any hospital, school or mosque in Gaza.

The Israeli military has underestimated the “extent and importance” of the tunnels to Hamas, which the New York Times described as an “intelligence failure.”

The IDF has not disclosed the number of soldiers killed and wounded in tunnel warfare. Officially, almost 190 soldiers have been killed and 240 or so seriously wounded in the fighting since the start of the ground campaign in Gaza.

One soldier, who spoke with the New York Times on condition of anonymity, said that he had taken part in destroying about 50 tunnels in Beit Hanoun, in the northeast of Gaza. All of them were rigged with bombs and other explosives, wired to be activated remotely.

The militant group Hamas, which maintains de facto control over Gaza, struck at nearby Israeli settlements on October 7, claiming the lives of approximately 1,200 Israelis. Another 240 were taken into the Palestinian enclave as captives. Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas and launching air and artillery strikes on Gaza, followed by ground troops in November.

Almost 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and another 60,000 wounded in the first 100 days of fighting, according to the Gaza health ministry.

Intensive Stage Of War Will End Soon, Says Israeli Defense Minister

A CNN report said:

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that the “intensive maneuvering stage” of Israel’s military offensive in northern and southern Gaza will “end soon.”

The Israeli military is working to “eliminate pockets of resistance” in northern Gaza, Gallant said, adding: “We will achieve this via raids, airstrikes, special operations and additional activities.”

After the October 7 attacks, Gallant said the original plan was for the “intensive maneuvering stage” of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to last approximately three months. But, he cautioned the Israeli military adapts its operations “in accordance with the reality on the ground” and “our intelligence.”

The IDF has announced one of its army divisions had exited the Gaza Strip on Monday night, in the most significant sign yet of a shift to a new phase of fighting that some Israeli officials have been promising.

The IDF said its 36th division, which comprises armored, engineering, and infantry companies, withdrew from the Gaza Strip after 80 days.

The brigade operated in the areas of Zeitun, Shati, Shejaiya, Rimal, and the Central Camps, the Israeli military added. The IDF did not respond to CNN’s questions about whether the withdrawal was temporary, what was behind the withdrawal, or how many troops it involved.

Israel And Hamas Agree On Medicine For Hostages, Aid To Gaza

Another CNN report said:

Qatar says it has brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas that will see medicines delivered to Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for the delivery of medicine and humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.

“Medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in the Gaza Strip, in the most affected and vulnerable areas, in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza,” the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday in a statement posted on X.

The medications and aid will leave Doha on Wednesday and head to Egypt before being transported to Gaza, the ministry added. It is unclear when the medicines are expected to reach Gaza.

Relatives of the more than 100 remaining hostages believed to be alive in Gaza have been calling for medications to be passed on to their loved ones.

It has been more than three months since Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostage. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group for the victims’ families, say that each new day in captivity further endangers their lives and health.

At least a third of the hostages have chronic illnesses and require medications, the forum said in a report released last week, adding that “others suffer from illnesses related to the harsh captivity conditions, which include mental and physical torture.”

Severe shortages of medicines and medical supplies in Gaza have led to operations being performed on children without anesthesia, according to UNICEF and a British surgeon who led an emergency medical team at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza.

Key Broker

The Qatari announcement comes days after the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said the director of Mossad, Israel’s  spy agency, David Barnea, had reached an agreement with Qatar on the delivery of medicines to hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Qatar played a key role in brokering an agreement between Hamas and Israel that led to the brief truce in November and the release of more than 100 hostages, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which helped facilitate the release of the hostages in November, has been unable to visit the remaining captives in Gaza and does not know where they are, it told CNN.

It is unclear if the Red Cross will help pass the medication to the hostages. Over the weekend, an official familiar with the discussions told CNN that the Red Cross would not have a role in the deliveries.

The medicine is destined for more than 40 hostages thought by Israel to need it, according to the official, who also said that Hamas only agreed to the deal if more medicine was sent to hospitals and Palestinians in Gaza.

Throughout the war, Israel has allowed a limited amount of aid and medicines to enter Gaza but far more is needed, humanitarian groups say. The UN has complained that Israel has been rejecting missions to deliver supplies to northern Gaza.

An estimated 1.9 million people, or 85% of Gaza’s population, are now internally displaced, says the UN, while only 15 of the enclave’s hospitals remain operational.

More Than 10,000 Children Killed

At least 10,600 children have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said. And the UN emergency relief chief warned Israel’s war has brought famine with “such incredible speed.”

17 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr Marwan Asmar

Israel is starving the Palestinian people of Gaza while the world watches. It looks on helplessly pretending it can’t do anything while the reigns of control remain in Israeli hands.

There are presently 15,008 food and supply trucks standing on the Rafah border waiting for Israel to allow them to enter Gaza and feed the starving and hungry – hundreds of thousands – people who came to assemble these to escape Israeli missiles and bombs.

These waiting trucks are donations from countries from all over the world as well donations from ordinary people, yet they remain sitting at the border because Israel won’t allow them to enter the devastated Gaza.

Don’t believe the view that says it is up to Egypt to let them in since it controls the border. While it may do that in theory, in practice it can’t because of the big Israeli guns from the air who constantly monitor the border and fires indiscriminately at it as a means of control.

In the past 100 days israeli warplanes frequently shot at the border and the city of Rafah as part of its military campaign against its people. So in actual fact, it doesn’t control the border and its entry point in Gaza. And as proof of that is the over 15,000 trucks which would avert the starvations Gazans are experiencing and turn the horrible situation currently is under now.

These trucks generated by donations from different countries of the world and under the UN auspices and have food, medical and fuel supplies would go a long way to alleviating the deadly and critical situation of the Palestinian people in the 365-kilometer Strip. But as yet Israel says blank no.

Civilians are being collectively punished while Israelis take their time in looking for Hamas and other Palestinians fighters who can’t be found except in underground tunnels all over Gaza. But how do you catch them!

This Israelis have displaced 1.9 million Palestinians and forced them to move from one place to another, chasing them away from their destroyed homes and workplaces. The number of those killed currently stands at over 24000 not to mention the around 8000 dead under the rubble whilst the injured at around 59000. It’s havoc and catastrophe and needs a lot of aid to get it back on its feet.

Before 7 October the number of trucks daily entering the Rafah border daily was 500. After that they came to a halt and then barely trickled down. But now, these thousands of trucks lie congested on the border and nobody knows when they will be allowed to start moving again.

Dr Marwan Asmar has a PhD from the UK’s Leeds University is a contributor on Middle East affairs

17 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Andre Damon

The United States military carried out a new round of illegal attacks on Yemen Tuesday, the third set of bombings in just under a week. The latest round of strikes makes clear that the United States is escalating a broader war throughout the Middle East, with Iran and its allies as the central targets, amid the ongoing US-Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The US military said its strike early Tuesday targeted missile launch sites in Yemen, which the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels are using to target US warships providing logistical support for the genocide in Gaza. The latest attack follows strikes on Thursday and Friday.

Also on Tuesday, the United States reported that two Navy SEALs who were lost at sea last Thursday, and presumed dead, were on a mission to seize what the US claimed were weapons from Iran being supplied to the Houthi rebels.

The escalation of the war comes amid new and desperate warnings about the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, with the United Nations warning that “every single person” in Gaza faces hunger.

In a report published Tuesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights warned that Gazans now make up 80 percent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger around the world, as a result of Israel’s systematic bombardment and blockade of food, water, medicine and electricity.

The report warned:

Currently, every single person in Gaza is hungry. A quarter of the population is starving and struggling to find food and drinkable water, and famine is imminent. Pregnant women are not receiving adequate nutrition and healthcare, putting their lives at risk. In addition, all children under five – 335,000 – are at high risk of severe malnutrition as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase. A whole generation is now in danger of suffering from stunting.

The UN warned that hunger and malnutrition in childhood “causes irreparable physical and cognitive impairments,” and “will undermine the learning capacity of an entire generation.”

The UN report made it clear that Israel is the responsible party for the humanitarian disaster. It stated:

Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Since October 9, Israel declared and imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, depriving 2.3 million Palestinians of water, food, fuel, medicine, and medical supplies. This is against the backdrop of a 17-year Israeli blockade, which before this war made approximately half of the people in Gaza food insecure and more than 80 percent reliant on humanitarian aid.

It concluded, “It is unprecedented to make an entire civilian population go hungry this completely and quickly. Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and using food as a weapon against the Palestinian people.”

In a meeting with a Biden administration official, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu allegedly declared, “There is no humanitarian disaster in Gaza,” according to news reports in the Israeli media.

Against the backdrop of last week’s hearings at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, US officials have only doubled down on their support for the genocide.

In an interview with CNBC, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked to respond to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration that Israel will continue its onslaught on Gaza in defiance of The Hague.

To this, Blinken replied, “From day one, we strongly supported Israel’s right to defend itself. We strongly supported its right to try to ensure that October 7 never happens again.”

In a separate statement in the interview, Blinken declared, “What we’re focused on is trying to make sure that October 7 never happens again. That should be the bar. That should be the measure.” He proclaimed, absurdly, that “Israel has made good progress.”

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden spoke with German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz and the two leaders “reaffirmed their support for Israel’s right to self-defense.”

The US media, meanwhile, is escalating its demands for a wider war throughout the Middle East. In an editorial titled “Iran and the Houthis Don’t Get Biden’s Message,” the Wall Street Journal declared: “Iran’s Houthi proxy militia keeps firing missiles at US ships, and two Navy SEALs are missing at sea after a mission to seize Iranian-made missile parts bound for the Houthis.”

Saying “it sure looks like the Houthis and Iran are at war with the US,” the Journal demanded an even more aggressive military response.

As of Friday, the death toll in the Gaza Strip stood at 31,497, according to the Euro-Med Monitor, including both those officially reported dead and those who have been missing for more than 14 days, most likely buried in the rubble.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that between Monday and Tuesday, 158 Palestinians were killed and another 320 people were injured. The UN noted, “On January 15, in the early morning, 20 people, the majority women and children, were reported killed when a house was struck in the Al-Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.” In a separate attack the same day, “at about 19:00, 12 people were reportedly killed and another 12 injured when a house between the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah was struck.”

In a statement on Twitter, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, declared that she “never thought we would witness mass starvation of these proportions used in the 21st century.” She continued: “Yet here it is in Gaza, after 100 days of bombing, with insufficient food, fuel, and water allowed in.” She added, “Children are dying first. Adults will follow. Before our eyes.”

Originally published in WSWS.ORG

17 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Shamsul Islam

According to the Supreme Court of India (Ayodhya Judgment dated November 9, 2019), “The exclusion of the Muslims from worship and possession took place on the intervening night between 22/23 December 1949 when the mosque was desecrated by the installation of Hindu idols.” [Supreme Court Ayodhya Judgment, pp. 921-22] The idol of Ram Lalla (Ram as child) which was placed under the central dome of in the Babri Mosque (claimed to be the exact place where RAM took birth) was made of metal and was of nine inches tall. It was the idol which was worshipped that time onward and continued to be worshipped after demolition of the Babri Mosque on December 6, 1992 in the make-shift temple by Hindus.

However, on January 22, 2024 a 51-inch stone idol of Ram Lalla will be consecrated through a Brahmanical  ritual called as ‘pran-pratishtha’ (putting soul into an idol) ceremony ) in the newly builtRam Temple at Ayodhya.  “On January 22, 2024, PM Narendra Modi will perform the Pran Pratishtha ceremony under the guidance of Pandit Laxmikant Dixit along with other 121 Vedic Brahmins from across the country.”
[‘Ayodhya Ram Mandir: Know Pran Pratishtha Ceremony details here’, The Times of India, Delhi, January 05, 2024. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/106562761.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst]

Since, PM of a democratic-secular polity of India is conducting this ritual, not only worshippers of Ram but common Indians too have every right to ask what will happen to the deity which was worshipped as Ram. Digvijaya Singh, former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, a practising Hindus has raised the same issue by asking: “Where is the idol of Ram Lalla over which the conflict happened? Why has the old idol not been consecrated?” [‘Where is old idol of Ram Lala, asks Digvijaya, The Times of India, Delhi, December 04, 2024.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/106529546.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst]

PM Modi must take the nation in confidence about the status of already consecrated idol of Ram. Will there be two consecrated idols in the Ram Temple or old idol will be deprived of ‘pran’ or soul? Is there going to be a ‘pran aparatishtha’ (depriving the idol of soul) ritual for the discarded idol?

Swami Dayanand Saraswati on idol Consecration

RSS and PM Modi glorify founder of Arya Samaj, Swami Dayanand Saraswati as barrage of the Hindu nation. It will be pertinent to know what Swami said about idol worship and consecration of idols. All those interested must read chapter 11 of his masterpiece, Satyarth Prakash (Light of Truth). In this book dealing with this issue he raised following issues which RSS and Modi must respond:

“If as you say that the God comes into the image when invoked, why does not the idol show signs of consciousness and why does not the image also leave when the God is asked to depart? Whence does it come and here does it go? The fact of the matter is that the All-pervading Spirit can neither come into and idol, nor, leave it. If you mantras are efficacious that you can summon God, why can you not infuse life into your dead son by the force of the very same mantras? Again why can you not bide the soul depart from the body of your enemy?”

“The soul is possessed of consciousness, while idol is dead and inert. Do you mean to say that the soul should also lose its consciousness and become lifeless like the idol? Idol worship is a fraud.”

“Being All-pervading He cannot be imagined to exist in any particular object only. To hold to the contrary would be tantamount to believing that the sovereign Lord of the earth rules over a small cottage to the exclusion of His whole Empire and would be an insult to Him. In like manner, it is a blasphemy against God to imagine Him as existing in one particular object only… If as you say that the God comes into the image when invoked, why does not the idol show signs of consciousness and why does not the image also leave when the God is asked to depart? Whence does it come and here does it go? The fact of the matter is that the All-pervading Spirit can neither come into and idol, nor, leave it. If you mantras are efficacious that you can summon God, why can you not infuse life into your dead son by the force of the very same mantras? Again why can you not bide the soul depart from the body of your enemy?”

“There is not a single verse in the Vedas to sanction invocation of the Deity and vitalization of the idol, likewise there is nothing to indicate that it is right to invoke idols, to bathe them, to install them in temples and apply sandal paste to them.”

“The formless Supreme Spirit that pervades the universe can have no material representation, likeness or image.” YAJUR VEDA 32: 3.”

Destruction of Ram Temple by Muslims: A fact not known even to Goswami Tulsidas who lived during those times

It is no ordinary religious inauguration of a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya to be slated for January 22, 2024. It has clear political and polarizing agenda attached to it. Underling this character of the inauguration PM Modi declared that “Ram Bhakts have waited for 550 years” to see it happen.

‘Celebrate Diwali across country on January 22, on the day of Ram temple ceremony: [PM Modi at Ayodhya’,  The Indian Express, Delhi, December 31, 2023, https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/celebrate-diwali-january-22-ram-temple-ceremony-pm-modi-ayodhya-9088953/#:~:text=With%20folded%20hands%2C%20I%20am,the%20evening%20of%20January%2022.%E2%80%9D]

It is not only in India but almost 60 foreign countries where Hindutva organizations are active amongst Hindus; the January 22 is to be celebrated because “After 500 years of struggle by Hindus, Bhagwan Shri Ram Mandir is being inaugurated.” The thrust of the celebration programmes is that Ram Temple at Ayodhya is finally built after being destroyed by Muslims 500 hundred years back. It has been 500 year long struggle to see it happen.

[‘Hindu Americans organise car rally in Washington suburb to celebrate Ram Mandir inauguration’. https://www.telegraphindia.com/world/members-of-hindu-american-community-organise-car-rally-in-washington-suburb-to-celebrate-ram-mandir-inauguration/cid/1987478]

Such claims by Indian PM and his Hindutva co-fellows in the world are only spreading hatred against Muslims thus contributing to the Islamophobic narrative in India and abroad. Sadly, such statements are not only are in contempt of the Supreme Court Judgment on Ayodhya but also contradict ‘Hindu’ narrative of history.

It may be interesting to note that RSS archives have no document to prove that during the British rule since its inception in 1925 ever demanded building of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

Supreme Court inn its 1039 pages long judgment did not admit that Babri Mosque was built on the ruins of any Ram Temple. It is sad that while religious poison is being spread openly the Supreme Court remain a mute spectator while its findings are being mis-reported.

So far as the ‘Hindu’ narrative is concerned there is no mention of it in the writings of the most prominent worshipper of Ram to date, Goswami Tulsidas who lived between 1511-1623. He was the person who penned the Epic, RAMCHARITMANAS (Lake of the Deeds of Ram) in Avadhi language which angered the local Brahmins as the story of Ram was not written in Sanskrit. This was the work which mesmerized Hindus of India with the story of Lord Ram and the latter became house-hold deity of every Hindu home, specially in northern India. He penned his above mentioned work during 1575-76. According to the Hindutva version Ram birth-place temple was destroyed during 1538-1539. Thus RAMCHARITMANAS written almost 37 years after the so called destruction of Ram birth-place temple should have mentioned this destruction. But it did not mention it.

Are Hindutva zealots trying to say that the greatest story-teller and worshipper of Ram and his Court (Darbar), Tulsidas did not speak truth in his historic work? Is not it an attempt to question the credibility of Goswami Tulsidas? Are the Hindutva zealots trying to say that Goswami Tulsidas kept mum on the issue of the destruction of a temple at Ram’s birth-place due to some ulterior motives?

Ramzade Versus Babarzade

The inauguration of Ram Temple is blatantly being used to denigrate Indian Muslims. The building of the Temple is the defeat of ‘Babarzade’ (children of Babar) by ‘Ramzade’ (children of Ram).  It is pertinent to know about the nature of ‘Muslim’ rule in India. The Hindutva zealots demanding Muslim-free India must know that all ‘Muslim’ rulers survived due to the Hindu high Castes joining the ‘Muslim’ rulers in running their empires. How solid this unity was can be gauged by the fact that after Akbar no Mughal emperor was born of a Muslim mother. Moreover, Hindu high Castes provided brain and muscles to the ‘Muslim’ rulers faithfully. Likewise, Mughal rule established by Babar who was invited by a section of Hindu kings to seize India was the rule of Hindu high Castes also.

Aurobindo Ghose who played prominent role in providing Hindu foundation to the Indian nationalism confessed that Mughal rule continued for over a century due to the fact that Mughal rulers gave Hindus, “positions of power and responsibility, used their brain and arm to preserve” their kingdom.

[Cited in Chand, Tara, History of the Freedom Movement in India, vol. 3, Publication Division Government of India, Delhi, 1992, p. 162.]

Renowned historian Tara Chand relying on the primary source material of the medieval period concluded that the from the end of 16^th century to the middle of 19^th century, “it may reasonably be concluded that in the whole of India, excepting the western Punjab, superior rights in land had come to vest in the hands of Hindus” most of whom happened to be Rajputs. [Chand, Tara, History of the Freedom Movement in India, vol. 1, Publication Division  Government of India, Delhi, 1961, p. 124.]

The contemporary records prove that Aurangzeb rule was also the rule of Rajputs and Kshatriyas [members of the two of the four Hindu Castes in order of precedence after Brahmins]. Aurangzeb never faced Shivaji in the battle-field. It was his commander-in-chief, a Rajput ruler of Amer (Rajasthan), Jay Singh I (1611–1667) who was sent to subjugate Shivaji (1603-1680). Jay Singh II (1681-1743), (nephew of Jay Singh I) was other prominent Rajput commander of the Mughal forces who served Aurangzeb. He was conferred the title of ‘Sawai’ [one and a quarter times superior to his contemporaries] chief by Aurangzeb in 1699 and thus came to be known as Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. He was also given the title of Mirza Raja [a Persian title for a royal prince] by Aurangzeb. The other titles bestowed on him by other Mughal rulers were ‘Sarmad-i-Rajaha-i-Hind’ [eternal ruler of India], ‘Raj Rajeshvar’ [lord of kings] and ‘Shri Shantanu ji’ [wholesome king]. These titles are displayed by his descendants even today. This Rajput chief also gave his daughter in marriage to the son of Aurangzeb who became Mughal emperor after Aurangzeb. [https://www.indianrajputs.com/view/jaipur and https://www.indianrajputs.com/famous/Jai-Singh-II-Amber.php]

Rajput commanders fighting for Aurangzeb was no exception. Akbar’s battles against Rana Pratap were led by one of his brother-in-law, Maan Singh. Maasir al-Umara abiographical dictionary of the officers in the Mughal Empire beginning from 1556 to 1780 [Akbar to Shah Alam] is regarded as the most authentic record of the high rank officials employed by the Mughal kings. According to it Mughal rulers during this period employed around 100 (out of 365) Hindu high-ranking officials most of them being “Rajputs from Rajputana, the midlands, Bundelkhand and Maharashtra”. Brahmins followed Rajputs in manning the Mughal administration so far as the number was concerned. [Khan, Shah Nawaz, Abdul Hai, Maasir al-Umara [translated by H Beveridge as Mathir-ul-Umra], volumes 1& 2, Janaki Prakashan, Patna, 1979.] Interestingly, Kashi Nagri Pracharini Sabha [established in 1893] “committed to the cause of Hindi as official language” published Hindi translation of this book in 1931.

Another crucial fact which is consciously kept under wrap is that despite more than 500 hundreds of effective ‘Muslim’ rule which according to Hindutva historians was nothing but a project of annihilating Hindus or forcibly converting the latter to Islam, India remained a nation with an absolute Hindu majority. The British rulers held first census in 1871-72. It was the time when even ceremonial ‘Muslim’ rule was over. According to the Census report: “The population of British India is, in round numbers, divided into 140½ million [sic] of Hindoos (including Sikhs), or 73½ per cent., 40¾ millions of Mahomedans, or 21½ per cent. [Memorandum on the Census Of British India of 1871-72: Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty London, George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, Her Majesty’s Stationary Office 1875, p. 16.]

A poem by Iqbal, a Babarzada eulogizing Ram

The inauguration of Ram Temple at Ayodhya is being aggressively used to declare Muslims and enemy of Ram. This kind of pervert Hindutva mind-set has little knowledge of India’s past. Mohammad Iqbal penned one of the greatest poems in praise of Ram in Urdu which was titled “Imam-e-Hind” (spiritual leader of India).

Hai Raam ke wajood pe Hindustaan ko naaz
Ahl-e-Nazar samajhte hain us ko Imam-e-Hind
(India is proud of the existence of Ram
Spiritual people consider him prelate of India)

It is quite evident that he does not believe that Ram is leader of Hindus alone, otherwise he would have used the word Ahl-e-Hind (people of India) rather than Ahl-e-Nazar (people with vision). For him, the status of Lord Ram as a spiritual leader is not limited to the Vaishnavas or Hindus only. Lord Ram lives in the ethos of India and its people.

Talwar ka dhani tha, shujaat mai fard tha
Paakeegi mai, josh-e-muhabbat mai fard that

(He was expert in sword craft, was unique in bravery
Was matchless in piety and in the enthusiasm of love)

Iqbal saw in Ram a perfect role model for the national movement. He is brave, and can fight wars against any wrong.

Iqbal, accords Ram not only the status of philosophical fountain head of India but of the world.
Sab falsafi hain khita-e-maghrib ke Ram-e-Hind
(All philosophers of the west would have acknowledged India and are fan of Ram).

Deepavali for Ram or PM Modi

Deepavali (Festival of Lights) is the most popular Hindu festival in most parts of India. Deepavli is the celebration of Ram’s return to his kingdom with wife Sita and his brother Lakshman after defeating Ravan of Lanka. It is celebrated as victory of truth over evil.

Now Deepavli for Ram has a competitor which can be named as PM Modi’s Deepavli. Modi declared this plan during a roadshow in Ayodhya on December 31, 2023. According to him , “The whole world is waiting for the historic moment. With folded hands, I am requesting 140 crore people of the country that on January 22, when the consecration of Ramlalla’s idol takes place, light the Ram Jyoti in your house and celebrate Deepawali. The entire country should sparkle with lights on the evening of January 22.”

[‘Celebrate Diwali across country on January 22, on the day of Ram temple ceremony: PM Modi at Ayodhya’, The Indian Express, Delhi, January 01, 2024

https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/celebrate-diwali-january-22-ram-temple-ceremony-pm-modi-ayodhya-9088953/]

Thus Deepavali for Ram is being substituted by Deepavali for PM Modi when he appears in the attire of a rishi or Brahmin saint to put soul into the life-less idol of Ram. Interestingly, the Hindutva zealots have taken this call very seriously by calling Hindus to celebrate January 22 as Maha-Deepavali (Great Deepavali); Deepavali for Ram and Maha-Deepavali  for PM Modi!

Whose Ram? Common people banned from participating in Consecration Ceremony

Ram is known for protecting his people; uphold righteousness, compassion and kindness. Ram is equated with common women/men. His rule is described as Ram Rajya or a rule for the benefit of common people. According to Gandhi it essentially meant, “The land of dharma and a realm of peace, harmony and happiness for young and old, high and low, all creatures and the earth itself, in recognition of a shared universal consciousness.”

However, these are common Hindus who will not be allowed to join the ceremony on January 22^nd. It was made clear by none other than PM Modi who asked common worshippers of Ram not to crowd Ayodhya on January 22. He told them to come later at their convenience because “this time the navya, bhavya, divya (new, grand, divine) temple in Ayodhya is not going anywhere and ‘darshan’ will be available for centuries”.

https://indianexpress.com/article/political-pulse/celebrate-diwali-january-22-ram-temple-ceremony-pm-modi-ayodhya-9088953/#:~:text=With%20folded%20hands%2C%20I%20am,the%20evening%20of%20January%2022.%E2%80%9D

Sadly, PM Modi did not ask the rich, film actors, industrialists, leading sports persons to come later. In fact, 22^nd celebration participation was restricted to a galaxy of Very-Very-Very Important Persons. PM Modi overlooked the fact that the first invites should have gone to those poor worshippers of Ram who despite miserable life had contributed to the coffers of VHP for building Ram Temple. It may be relevant here to know that many of the invitees are not only meat-eaters but have been fond of beef.

Supreme Court Ayodhya judgment: Trickery over-rides justice

The Supreme Court of India has directly helped the VHP and PM Modi in becoming the only franchisees of Ayodhya Ram Temple project. The highest court of justice in India corroborated two important facts.

1. “The exclusion of the Muslims from worship and possession took place on the intervening night between 22/23 December 1949 when the mosque was desecrated by the installation of Hindu idols. The ouster of the Muslims on that occasion was not through any lawful authority but through an act which was calculated to deprive them of their place of worship.” [Supreme Court Judgment pp. 921-22]
2. “On 6 December 1992, the structure of the mosque was brought down and the mosque was destroyed. The destruction of the mosque took place in breach of the order of status quo and an assurance given to this Court. The destruction of the mosque and the obliteration of the Islamic structure was an egregious violation of the rule of law.” [Supreme Court Judgment pp. 913-14]

The Judgment also nowhere mentioned that Babri Mosque was built after destroying a Ram Temple in the past. [https://scroll.in/article/943337/no-the-supreme-court-did-not-uphold-the-claim-that-babri-masjid-was-built-by-demolishing-a-temple] Despite these findings which talked of “[The] egregious violation of the rule of law” and done not by a “lawful authority but through an act which was calculated to deprive them of their place of worship”, Supreme Court took a U turn handing over the site for Ram Temple building to the same group of Hindutva organization who had conspired in both the cases. Supreme Court to ensure that no Hindu competitor of RSS-VHP is allowed any participation in latter’s Ram Temple project disallowed claim of Nirmohi Akhada, the original claimant of Ram Temple at the site of Babri Mosque.  [Supreme Court Judgment p. 925].

It was apolitical judgment was made clear by the current Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud (who was one of the Justices in the Bench which gave unanimous judgment for building Ram Temple) when he stated: “”The case has a long history of conflict, of diverse viewpoints based on the history of the nation and all those who were part of the bench decided that this will be a judgment of the court.” [‘A judgment of court’: CJI Chandrachud on why Ayodhya verdict was kept anonymous’ The Week, Delhi, January 1, 2024. https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2024/01/01/a-judgement-of-court-cji-chandrachud-on-why-ayodhya-verdict-was-kept-anonymous.html] His above statement was, in fact, re-phrasing of propaganda material by Hindutva organizations. This Judgment legitimized the criminal acts of the Hindutva zealots; what Hindutva goons could not achieve on December 22-23, 1949 and December 6, 1992 was got delivered to RSS through this Judgment!

Conclusion

Today Ayodhya is being presented as a case of perpetual war of Hindus against Muslims. There cannot be a shoddier lie than this. During India’s War of Independence 1857 Ayodhya it was the same Ayodhya where Maulvis and Mahants and common Hindu-Muslims stood united in rebelling against the British rule and kissed the hangman’s noose together. Maulana Ameer Ali was a famous Maulvi of Ayodhya and when Ayodhya’s well-known Hanuman Garhi’s (Hanuman Temple) priest Baba Ramcharan Das took lead in organizing the armed resistance to the British rule, Maulana also joined the revolutionary army. In one battle with the British and their stooges, both of them were captured and hanged together on a tamarind tree at the Kuber Teela (razed for the new temple) in Ayodhya.

This region also produced two more great friends, belonging to different religions that made life hell for the British sponsored armies. Acchhan Khan and Shambhu Prasad Shukla were two such friends who lead the army of Raja Devibaksh Singh in the district of Faizabad. Both of them were able to defeat the Firangee army in many battles, inflicting heavy losses on them. It was due to the treachery again that they were captured. In order to desist anyone from such companionships between Hindus and Muslims both these friends were publicly inflicted prolonged torture and their heads were cruelly filed off.

The Hindutva rulers of India led by PM Modi must understand that existence of Indian democratic-secular polity must not be sacrificed for securing victory for ruling India for 5 more years.

Shamsul Islam is a retired professor of Delhi University

16 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By M K Bhadrakumar

From the standpoint of affirming ‘solidarity’ with the regime of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the October 7 attack, India has swung away to the far horizon and has unceremoniously dumped the US-Israeli axis, which provided beacon light to Delhi’s West Asian policies in the past few years.

From a strategic asset, the Israeli connection is becoming a liability for the Indian government. Delhi spurned Netanyahu’s repeated entreaties to brand Hamas as a terrorist organisation — by the way, India never pointed finger at Hamas for the October 7 attack. It has resumed the traditional stance of voting against Israel in the UN General Assembly resolutions on the Palestine problem. The Netanyahu-Modi pow-vows have become infrequent.

This is a far cry from the controversial gesture by PM Modi during his ‘historic’ five-day visit to Israel in 2017 to pay homage at the tomb of the founding father of Zionism Theodor Herzl in Haifa . It is doubtful if any Indian prime minister would repeat Modi’s feat in future. With reasonable certainty, it can be said that the future of Zionism in West Asia itself looks rather bleak.

Again, for reasons that remain obscure even today, India decided to be a strong votary of the ill-fated Abraham Accords that purportedly aimed at ‘integrating’ Israel into the Arab fold but, in reality, to isolate Iran in its neighbourhood. Delhi never provided a rational explanation for such a dramatic shift in the traditional policy not to take sides in the intra-regional fratricidal strife in West Asia or identify with the US hegemony in that region.

Delhi followed up by enthusiastically lining up with a surreal venture called ‘I2U2’ which brought together India and the UAE with the US and Israel as a condominium to promote the spirit of the Abraham Accords. In an extravagant gesture, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid a 5-day visit to Israel to participate in ‘I2U2’.

Above all, Delhi, which hosted the G20 Summit last year and was supposedly highlighting the rise of the Global South in the world order, instead ended up arranging photo-ops for the visiting US President who hijacked the event and instead catapulted a phoney,  laughable idea as the main outcome of that historic event — the so-called India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC).

The US apparently incentivised Delhi by planting a patently absurd thought that IMEEC would toll the death knell for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China of course retaliated by just hoisting the BRI flag high all over the Maldives (population: 515,132 in the 2022 census) on India’s soft underbelly from where it is visible all over the subcontinent day and night.

However, Indian diplomats are quick learners and course corrections come naturally to them. Delhi has understood that such absurdities in its West Asian policy will do no good and may even be counterproductive as they raise hackles in the Arab Street. Thus, Qatar ticked off India recently by ordering the 15 Indian schools in Doha that cater to the needs of the largely-Hindu 700,000-strong Indian ex-patriate community to ignore Hindu holidays, especially Diwali.

Consistent with the championing of the Global South, India should have voiced support for South Africa’s brilliant initiative to petition the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to bring Israel to justice for its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. After all, it was in South Africa that Mahatma Gandhi had finessed the concept of resistance to racialism. But, alas, India lacked the courage of conviction and the moral fibre to do so.

It is too much to expect the ICJ to put Netanyahu in a cage and try him in the Hague court for his abominable acts against humanity. But there is a strong likelihood that with tacit western support, the ICJ may issue in the coming weeks some sort of interim order for a ceasefire. And in the present atmosphere, that can prove to be a game changer.

All this makes India’s decision to stay clear of the US’ harebrained idea of disciplining Yemen’s Houthis a sensible step. The theatre of the absurd playing out in the Red Sea with the Five Eyes in the cockpit is incredibly complicated. One main vector there is about the phenomenon of the Houthi resistance as such.

An old friend and Beirut-based editor-in-chief of the Cradle, Sharmine Narwani twitted about the quagmire in the Red Sea that awaits the Anglo-American attack on Yemen today:

“I honestly question whether the US or UK have carefully considered #Yemen‘s potential responses to this act of war. Ansarallah (Houthi) is an unusual member of the region’s Axis of Resistance. It marches to its own tune and its mindset is entirely devoid of western narrative grooming. There is no guessing at the full spectrum of its retaliatory palette, but I would not want to be an American or Brit in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, or any of the neighbouring waterways right now.

“It may be that Washington misread the Russian and Chinese abstentions at the UNSC yesterday (on Red Sea). Or, perhaps Moscow and Beijing dangled that bait so the US would miscalculate this badly. The Americans are now militarily engaged, supplying, or bogged down on 5 separate fronts: Ukraine, Gaza-Israel, Yemen, Iraq, Syria. US adversaries can easily hold out until the fatigue sets in; they are nowhere near depleted.

“Bottom line is I think the entire Global South is going to be wearing Abdul Malik al-Houthi t-shirts by springtime.”

Indeed, it is such prescience that is often lacking in India’s West Asia strategy. This is not a region for one-dimensional men. It has been a strategic mistake to be aligned to the US and its allies in the Indian Ocean under the rubric of ‘maritime security’. The erstwhile colonial powers are innovating Neo-mercantile mechanisms to transfer wealth to their metropolis. Why should Indians act as ‘coolies’, as during British rule?

Most important, India should be seized of the Renaissance that is sweeping through the Muslim countries in West Asia. It is epochal in its sweep and has cultural, political and economic dimensions — and will inevitably have far-reaching geopolitical significance. That is why, it becomes imperative that Delhi stops viewing the region though Netanyahu’s Zionist eyes. It is important to terminate India’s collaboration with the US and colonial powers such as France and the UK to interfere in the region on the pretext of maritime security in the Indian Ocean.

India has no reason to have institutionalised partnerships with the US Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT). In a conceivable future, the curtain could well be descending on the western military bases in West Asia. Delhi should grasp the reality that something fundamentally changed post-October 7 in the geopolitics of West Asia.

It is in sync with what Germans call the zeitgeist (spirit of the times) that Saudi Arabia is demanding that the security of the Red Sea is an international responsibility in cooperation with the riparian countries and UN support. Since 2018, Saudi Arabia has called for the establishment of a Council of States bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and in 2020, eight countries signed the Council’s founding charter, who include, ironically, Yemen. Saudi Arabia plans to host a summit meeting of the Council of States.

Today’s Anglo-American missile strike against Yemen should come as a rude awakening to India messaging that the very same western powers who are backing Israel are also escalating the conflict in Gaza and step by step transforming it as a regional conflict — all in the name of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. Unsurprisingly, Saudi Arabia, the regional superpower in the Red Sea, has called on the US to exercise restraint.

Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar served the Indian Foreign Service for more than 29 years. He introduces about himself thus:  “Roughly half of the 3 decades of my diplomatic career was devoted to assignments on the territories of the former Soviet Union and to Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Other overseas postings included South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey. I write mainly on Indian foreign policy and the affairs of the Middle East, Eurasia, Central Asia, South Asia and the Asia-Pacific…”

His mail ID : indianpunchline@gmail.com

Originally published in, Indianpunchline

16 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Joseph Kishore

Sunday marked 100 days of the imperialist-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. In just over three months, nearly 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, or approximately one out of every 100 people living in Gaza. This includes a staggering 9,600 children. More than 60,000—three out of every 100 people—have been injured. This is the equivalent, in percentage terms, of 3.3 million people dead and 10 million injured in the United States.

The bombing campaign has left more than half of all buildings damaged or destroyed. Only 15 out of the 36 hospitals in Gaza are even partially functional. Those that remain open confront an acute shortage of medical equipment, medicine and manpower.

As of late last month, it was estimated that 1.9 million people in Gaza, or more than 85 percent, have been internally displaced, forced into a tiny region less than one-third of the total area of the Gaza Strip, which is itself only 365 square kilometers. Diseases are proliferating under conditions of intense overcrowding, and lack of access to food, water, electricity and basic sanitation.

The past three months have seen one atrocity after the next—from the bombing of refugee camps and hospitals, to the murder of journalists and media workers (well over 100 so far), to the mass execution of prisoners.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the 100-day milestone of slaughter by declaring: “No one will stop us—not The Hague [a reference to the case brought before the International Court of Justice], not the axis of evil, and not anyone else.” Israel will continue “to the end—until complete victory,” he warned, which can only mean until every Palestinian in Gaza and the West Bank is killed or driven into exile.

The genocide in Gaza has sparked mass opposition throughout the world, expressed in protests of millions of people over the past three months, the largest anti-war movement since the protests against the US invasion of Iraq. It has exposed not only the criminality and fascistic character of the Israeli government, but the active support and complicity of the imperialist powers, above all the United States. For an entire generation of young people, the unequivocal support of the Biden administration for Israel’s actions is demolishing the lie that the Democratic Party is a “lesser evil.”

A globally coordinated protest on Saturday involved demonstrations in 120 cities in 45 countries. This included, most significantly, a protest of at least 500,000 in London—the largest in that city since more than 800,000 gathered on November 11—and a demonstration of more than 100,000 in Washington, D.C.

There is a marked contrast, however, between the spirit animating those attending the demonstrations and the perspective of those principally involved in organizing them. The politics of the latter is that of the impotent middle class, which leaves unsaid all the most important things that must be said, while directing opposition behind sections of the ruling elite responsible for the very crimes that are being committed.

The rally in London was co-organized by the Stop the War Coalition, which is politically led by former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. In his remarks, Corbyn, the personification of political cowardice, did not mention either the Labour Party or its leader, Sir Keir Starmer, who has fully backed the genocide. This is despite the fact that Starmer expelled Corbyn from the Parliamentary Labour Party based on fraudulent charges of antisemitism. The platform featured several Labour MPs who have opposed the Labour Party’s support of Israel. All advance the position that somehow the Labour Party can be pressured to oppose Israel’s actions.

The rally in the United States was organized by a coalition of Muslim groups along with ANSWER, which is associated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).

A request sent to the organizers by the World Socialist Web Site and Socialist Equality Party to speak at the demonstration was rejected. While a number of Palestinian speakers spoke movingly about the catastrophe in Gaza, the political line was provided by a handful of Democrats who could be found to criticize Israel’s actions, along with presidential candidates Jill Stein (Green Party) and Cornel West.

Among the Democrats was Congressman Andre Carson (Indiana), who declared that he saw in the demonstration “what it means to leverage our voting bloc.” Carson is among those Democrats (along with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others) who signed a letter addressed to the White House last year which, while expressing some criticism of Israel’s actions, concluded by thanking the Biden administration for what it “is doing to respond to this crisis, provide support to our ally Israel, and bring American citizens home safely.”

Carson avoided any reference in his remarks to the Biden administration or its support for the genocide, while concluding with a call for “re-electing those who represent us”—presumably himself and other Democrats.

The remarks of Stein, ostensibly running independently of the Democrats as a member of the Green Party, were entirely oriented to pressuring the political establishment, while not referring to either the Democratic Party or President Biden by name. “We have the power to say to the AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] White House and to the AIPAC Congress, that you are accountable to us, to we the people… We have the power to be instructing our elected officials what they need to do.”

The experience of the past three months, however, has demonstrated that the “elected officials” in both the Democratic and Republican parties respond to mass opposition not by being “instructed,” but by denouncing protests against genocide as antisemitic and seeking to criminalize them. The Biden administration, moreover, has responded to growing opposition by carrying out a major expansion of the war in the Middle East through the bombing of Yemen, threatening war with Iran.

Cornel West addressed the rally toward its conclusion. West specializes in a type of speaking that acts more on the nerves than on the brain, full of sound and fury that, if one gives it a moment of thought, signifies nothing. As typical in all his remarks, West shouted about “love warriors,” the need for “love in freedom and freedom in love,” “truth across the world rising again,” and other moralistic generalities.

West referred to Biden and other officials in the administration as war criminals, though again he made no reference to the Democratic Party itself, with which he has a long association. West concluded his remarks by declaring, “We are calling for more than ceasefire, we are calling for an end of the siege, an end of the occupation, and for Palestinians to live a life of dignity.” How is this to be achieved? Through what means and based on what perspective? West offered nothing, except the hope that Biden and Blinken would change their ways.

Excluded from the demonstration was any reference to the essential issues in the development of a movement against the genocide. Nothing was said of the history of Israel and Zionism or its role as a bulwark for imperialism in the Middle East. No one referred to the interests motivating imperialist support for the genocide, the three decades of unending war, the preparations for war against Iran, the relationship of this to the ongoing US-NATO war against Russia or the developing conflict with China. There was no reference to the working class or the growth of the class struggle throughout the world. The words “imperialism” and “capitalism,” let alone “socialism,” were not uttered.

The organizers wanted no references to any of this because it would cut across their orientation to the Democratic Party. This of course is why they refused to allow a speaker from the World Socialist Web Site to address the rally.

For masses of workers and youth, including those who have participated in the demonstrations, the urgent question is the development of a movement of the working class, on a world scale, in the US and internationally, including through mass strikes and other actions to stop the flow of weaponry to Israel.

The fight against the genocide is necessarily a fight against US-NATO imperialism, for which Israel is serving as an agent in the Middle East. The fight against imperialism is necessarily a fight against capitalism, through the conquest of power by the working class and the socialist reorganization of the world economy. This requires opposition to all capitalist states and the political parties of the ruling elite. It is only along this path that this war and all the wars that are being escalated and prepared can be stopped.

This is the essential conclusion that must be drawn from the 100 days of imperialist-Zionist genocide in Gaza.

Originally published in WSWS.ORG

16 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Countercurrents Collective

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a press conference in New York on Monday: The current instability in the Middle East may soon spiral completely out of control.

Guterres once again addressed the crisis triggered by the events of October 7, when Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 200 hostages. The ensuing Israeli blockade, bombing, and ground assault of Gaza has since killed almost 24,000 people, according to local health officials.

The civilian death toll in Gaza has resulted in widespread international condemnation of Israel’s actions, and has already drawn the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis into the conflict.

“Tensions are also sky-high in the Red Sea and beyond – and may soon be impossible to contain,” Guterres said, adding that he is concerned that “daily exchanges of fire” risk “triggering a broader escalation between Israel and Lebanon and profoundly affecting regional stability.”

The UN secretary-general has said that “the longer the conflict in Gaza continues, the greater the risk of escalation and miscalculation.”

While the secretary-general condemned the actions of Hamas, he also blasted the Israeli operation as “collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” saying it has caused an “unprecedented level of civilian casualties,” while noting that “the vast majority of those killed are women and children.”

Last week, the Houthis pledged to continue targeting Israeli- and U.S.-linked ships in the Red Sea “until the siege on Gaza is lifted.” The Houthis have also targeted British and U.S. warships operating in the area as part of an international maritime operation organized last month by the U.S. to safeguard shipping in the region. The “heightening tensions” also led Iran to send one of their warships to the Red Sea earlier this month.

U.S. and UK warplanes attacked Houthi targets in Yemen with around 70 airstrikes last Thursday and Friday. While U.S. National Security spokesman John Kirby stated that the strikes are having a “good effect,” a New York Times report claimed that around three-quarters of Houthi military assets remain intact.

Russia Condemns U.S.-UK’s Yemen Strike

Russia has condemned the strikes on Yemen, calling them “illegal” and saying they were carried out in violation of the UN Charter.

Houthis hit U.S. Ship With Missile

Yemen’s Houthi militants struck an American container ship with a ballistic missile on Monday, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The militants have vowed to target merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden in response to Israel’s war on Hamas.

On Monday afternoon, “Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and struck the M/V Gibraltar Eagle, a Marshall Islands-flagged, U.S.-owned and operated container ship,” Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said in a statement.

“The ship has reported no injuries or significant damage and is continuing its journey,” the statement continued.

Earlier on Monday, U.S. forces detected the launch of an anti-ship ballistic missile from Yemen, Central Command added, noting that this earlier launch “failed in flight and impacted on land in Yemen.”

The strike came less than a week after the U.S. and UK launched a military operation in the Red Sea, with the stated goal of keeping commercial shipping routes between the Arabian and Mediterranean Seas open via the Suez Canal.

This passage accounts for around 15% of the world’s shipping traffic, and with Houthi forces launching 28 attacks on merchant vessels as of Monday, major transportation firms including Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd have rerouted their ships around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, a far longer route between Asia and Europe.

Houthi forces have also targeted British and American military vessels operating in the region.

UK Prime Minister

In a speech to parliament on Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the UK is prepared to take further military action if necessary. American officials told the New York Times that the U.S. could also launch a second wave of strikes.

Türkiye

The U.S. and British bombing campaigns have been condemned by Türkiye. Moscow called the operations “illegitimate” due to the lack of UN Security Council permission, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the two nations of seeking to turn the Red Sea into a “sea of blood.”

Iran Fires Missiles At ‘Terrorists And Spies’ Bear The U.S. Consulate In Erbil

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it used ballistic missiles against an ISIS base in Syria and a stronghold of the Israeli spy service Mossad in Iraq on Monday, in retaliation for recent terrorist bombings in Iran.

Two explosions killed almost 100 people in Kerman on January 3, as pilgrims gathered to honor the late General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by the U.S. in 2020. Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) claimed responsibility. Last month, another suicide bombing in the town of Rask killed 11 Iranian police. It was blamed on the Pakistani-based group Jaish Al-Adl.

“In response to the recent crimes of the terrorist groups that unjustly martyred a group of our dear compatriots in Kerman and Rask, we have identified gathering places of commanders and elements of ISIS related to recent terrorist operations in the occupied territories of Syria and destroyed them by firing a number of ballistic missiles,” the IRGC said in a statement.

In a follow-up statement, the IRGC said it also used missiles against “one of the main espionage headquarters of the Zionist regime [Mossad] in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.”

The attack was “in response to the recent evils of the Zionist regime in martyring the commanders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Resistance Front,” it added.

“We assure our beloved nation that the offensive operations of the IRGC will continue until the last drops of martyrs’ blood are avenged,” the group said.

While the announcements did not specify the location of either strike, reports from Iraq indicate that the missiles struck the city of Erbil. Iran has attacked alleged Israeli targets in Erbil before, in March 2022, in reprisal over airstrikes in Syria that killed two IRGC officers.

The suspected Mossad base was near the U.S. consulate in Erbil, leading to mistaken reports that the Americans had been targeted.

An Iraqi security source told ABC News that four people were killed in Erbil, but that no American troops were among them. The same source said that “eight locations” near the US consulate had been hit.

Iranian media has circulated several videos purporting to show the missiles being launched. There were unconfirmed reports of multiple explosions and gunfire in Erbil, presumably from air defenses attempting to engage the incoming projectiles.

Major LNG Exporter Suspends Shipping Through Red Sea

A Reuters report said on Monday: A leading global exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), QatarEnergy, has stopped sending tankers via the Red Sea amid growing uncertainty about the safety of passage on the vital shipping route.

An unnamed source with knowledge of the matter told the outlet that at least four tankers that used to carry Qatari LNG were held up over the weekend following last week’s air and sea strikes by the U.S. and UK on Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Ship-tracking data shows that three of those tankers had loaded LNG at Ras Laffan in Qatar and were supposed to head to the Suez Canal but instead stopped off the coast of Oman on January 14, according to the report. The fourth tanker, which was heading back to Qatar, stopped along its route on January 13 in the Red Sea.

“It is a pause to get security advice, if passing (through the) Red Sea remains unsafe we will go via the Cape,” the source was quoted as saying. “It is not a halt of production,” the source added.

According to the LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) data cited by Reuters, Qatar shipped more than 75 million metric tons of the fuel in 2023, of which 14 million tons were supplied to buyers in Europe and 56.4 million tons to Asia.

Shipping giants have started sending their vessels, including those carrying LNG, on longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope after Yemen-based Houthi rebels instituted a de facto blockade through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. They have been attacking vessels thought to be linked to Israel in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians following the escalation of hostilities in Gaza.

The Suez Canal is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, accounting for about 15% of the world’s shipping traffic. According to a report by the IfW Kiel, global trade plunged by 1.3% from November to December 2023 as a result of the Houthi attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea.

Red Sea Blockade Undermining Global Commerce

A report by the IfW Kiel said: World trade plunged by 1.3% from November to December 2023 as a result of Houthi attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea.

The German economic institute said on Thursday that the volume of containers transported via the Red Sea had plummeted by more than half as of December and is currently almost 70% below the volume that would usually be expected.

The research shows that currently around 200,000 containers are being transported via the Red Sea daily, down from some 500,000 per day in November.

“The detour of ships due to the attacks in the Red Sea around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa means that the time it takes to transport goods between Asian production centers and European consumers is significantly extended by up to 20 days,” said Julian Hinz, director of the IfW Kiel’s trade policy research center.

“This is also reflected in the declining trade figures for Germany and the EU, as transported goods are now still at sea and have not already been unloaded in the harbors as planned,” Hinz added.

The IfW Kiel’s trade indicator for December shows exports from and imports to the EU dropped by 2% and 3.1%, respectively. The U.S. saw a 1.5% decline in exports and a 1% fall in imports, even though the route through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal plays a lesser role for the U.S. than for Europe, according to the report.

China’s trade bucked the trend, with both exports and imports up 1.3% and 3.1%, respectively. The increase could be likely due to the upcoming Chinese New Year, IfW Kiel wrote.

Shipping giants such as Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd started sending their vessels on longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa’s Cape of Good Hope after Yemen-based Houthi rebels instituted a de facto blockade through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. They have been attacking vessels thought to be linked to Israel in what they say is a show of solidarity with the Palestinians following the escalation of hostilities in Gaza.

Iran Confirms ‘Retaliatory’ Oil Tanker Seizure

An oil tanker has been boarded and seized by Iranian forces in Gulf of Oman, Tehran’s Navy confirmed on Thursday.

The St Nikolas – a Greek-owned vessel bearing the Marshall Islands flag – was taken in retaliation for last year’s incident in which the U.S. captured a cargo of Iranian oil from the same ship, according to Iran’s Navy.

The “seizure took place on a court order,” the Navy reported, as the “Suez Rajan tanker had earlier stolen an Iranian oil cargo and handed it over to the US.”

Under the name Suez Rajan, the vessel was in the spotlight of a legal battle last year, after the watchdog organization United Against Nuclear Iran reported that it was transporting Iranian oil to China in violation of U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. seized the vessel, and in the following court case, the charterers of the vessel pleaded guilty and received fines. The tanker ultimately cooperated with the U.S. and sailed to Houston, where nearly a million barrels of Iranian oil were confiscated. Iran then pledged to retaliate.

The St. Nikolas sailed under the name Suez Rajan until September of last year, and was carrying a cargo of crude oil from Iraq to Turkey when it was boarded by Iranian forces early on Thursday.

In a press briefing later in the day, White House national security spokesman John Kirby commented on the event, stating that the U.S. authorities “condemn this apparent seizure.” He demanded that the Iranian government “immediately release the ship and its crew,” calling Iran’s actions “provocative and unacceptable.”

The move comes at a tense time for the region, with both the Iranian and U.S. navies sending warships into the area. Iran’s Alborz destroyer was deployed to the Red Sea in early January due to “heightening tensions,” according to Iranian state news IRNA. The U.S. Navy sent warships to the area after attacks on shipping by Yemeni Houthi rebels, who have vowed to attack any vessel they see as “Israel-linked” until Israel ends its bombardment of Gaza.

Multiple U.S. Navy destroyers, along with warships from other nations, have operated near the Suez Canal shipping routes since December 19 as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian. Several have already come under attack from Houthi drones and missiles, while Houthi boats have been struck in retaliation over the past two months.

16 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Prof Richard Falk, Prof Joseph Camilleri and Dr Chandra Muzaffar

The genocidal violence unleashed by Israel in Occupied Palestine since October 7 has produced unspeakable tragedy and suffering for the Palestinian people. Such barbaric behaviour places the State of Israel outside the bounds of a civilized world. Israel has become a pariah state, and must be treated as such by the international community

Sadly, the response of many governments, especially in the global West, has been less than exemplary. The active support for Israel’s misdeeds extended by the United States and a good many of its allies can only be described as criminal complicity. Those governments and their leaders must also be brought to account.

The time is long past for debates about whether genocide has been committed or the US and other NATO members have been actively involved in the orgy of violence against the people of Gaza and the West Bank.

The evidence clearly indicates that the Israeli use of force satisfies the legal requirements of genocide, and Western governments have to varying degrees supported the commission and persistence of this crime of crimes. Bemoaning this ugly reality is necessary, but woefully short of enough.

We unreservedly condemn all forms of political violence directed at civilians, including the criminal elements of the Hamas attack of 7 October.  However, that attack provides no legal or moral justification for the genocidal onslaught against the Palestinian people, which has paved the way for ethnic cleansing and land grabbing. Every Israeli action since 7 October has accentuated the most objectionable features of its long occupation, and earlier policies of forced evacuation.

Saving Humanity and Planet Earth (SHAPE) BELIEVES THE TIME HAS COME FOR A BOLD RESPONSE, which is why we issue this call for urgent action on two different but closely related fronts.

The first front has to do with the immediate steps needed to stop the genocidal assault on Gaza. To this end:

• We call on governments everywhere to actively press, not just through words but by all nonviolent means at their disposal, for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and wholesale economic reconstruction in Gaza and the West Bank funded primarily by Israel and its Western backers, with the Palestinian people given full control of the rebuilding process.
• We call on Western publics to demand of their governments that they:
  • Join without delay the international call for an immediate ceasefire;
  • Stop all forms of diplomatic, economic and military support for Israel’s use of force in Gaza and the West Bank
  • Support South Africa’s application instituting proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which argues that Israel’s conduct in Gaza violates its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
• We commend and support the widespread and passionate public support for the suffering people of Palestine in Arab and other Muslim countries, and we remind the governments of those countries that they will be judged not by their words but by their deeds. Their response thus far leaves much to be desired.

Individual governments and key multilateral bodies, especially the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation but also BRICS, should:

• Spearhead a series of sharply worded resolutions at the United Nations, both in the General Assembly and the Security Council, with the primary aim of driving home the increasing diplomatic isolation of both Israel and its primary backer the United States
• Express their firm support for South Africa’s application to the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide and requesting the Court to order an immediate stop to violent actions of a genocidal character
• Support the appeal by Algeria and Chile to the International Criminal Court to indict those Israelis responsible for perpetuating acts of genocide.
• We urge all governments to consider the severing or at least suspension of diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, and launch an international campaign for an international embargo on arms sales and other forms of military assistance to Israel.

The second front has to do with creating the conditions for a just and sustainable peace, respectful of Palestinian rights under international law.

To this end we call on civil society everywhere – NGOs, religious and cultural organisations, labor unions, professional bodies, corporations and banks – to:

• Implement policies within their spheres of concern and influence supportive of Palestinian rights
• Consider the formation of an independent, non-governmental Commission of Peace, Justice, and economic reconstruction that brings together an eminent international panel of thought leaders and practitioners. Its brief would be to consult widely with Palestinian groups and intellectuals and propose a detailed transition to a new Palestine/Israel reality that fully respects the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and remedies the wrongs of the past, notably Israel’s illegitimate and brutal occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
• Establish a separate panel, comprised of eminent jurists, other experts and representatives of civil society organisations to consider ways in which the United Nations system can effectively exercise its authority in the resolution of the Palestinian question. Every avenue within the UN system should be considered: the UN Security Council, but also the General Assembly, including the possibility of using a Uniting for Peace mechanism (modelled on Resolution 377A), UN agencies, and importantly the office of the UN Secretary-General, with greater space given within the UN system for a prominent, concerted and sustained civil society intervention.

Issued by

SHAPE conveners:

Prof Richard Falk,
Prof Joseph Camilleri
Dr Chandra Muzaffar.

14 January 2024

Website: https://www.theshapeproject.com/

16 January 2024

Source: countercurrents.org