Monthly Archives: February 2020

Fueled by Pathological Self-pity, Trump and Netanyahu Plot Insurrections Against Democracy

By Chemi Shalev

The most ludicrous and concurrently repulsive trait shared by Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump is self-pity. Two well-to-do white men who reached the top easily, whose personal power is unparalleled and whose domination of their respective countries is as close to absolute as democracy can tolerate, are whining crybabies with a deeply ingrained sense of eternal victimhood. If it weren’t so ominous, it would certainly be hilarious.

Self-pity, as the meager psychological research devoted to the syndrome suggests, doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is associated with neurotic personalities and is often a manifestation of pathological narcissism. People who absolve themselves of responsibility for their own actions tend to direct their anger at external forces supposedly persecuting them or wishing them harm. British actor and writer Stephen Fry described self-pity as “the most destructive vice you can have.” Paraphrasing Oscar Wilde, Fry says of self-pity: “It destroys everything around it, except itself.” (more…)

Palestinians Stand in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Nation

The TransCanada Coastal Gaslink pipeline aims to steal Wet’suwet’en land, use resource extraction to solidify control over Indigenous territories, destroy the environment and violate Indigenous laws.

From the occupied Palestinian territory, we stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation and land defenders at the Unist’ot’en Camp and Gidimt’en who continue to resist Canada’s colonial incursions of their unceded territories. (more…)

New Hampshire billboards urge Democratic candidates to end aid for Israeli rights violations

Palestine Advocacy Project has launched two billboard ads calling upon American voters and the next President of the United States to end U.S. funding for Israeli human rights violations and restore humanitarian aid to Palestine. In 2015, the United Nations warned that Gaza could become “uninhabitable” by 2020 as a result of Israel’s U.S.-backed blockade and destruction of civilian infrastructure. 2020 has arrived, and Gaza’s approximately 1.8 million inhabitants sit on the brink of systemic collapse without adequate medical supplies, clean water, or electricity.

The billboards are located at 494 Elm St., Manchester, NH – near the campaign headquarters of several major Democratic candidates for President. The first billboard shows Mohammed, a young Palestinian boy standing in the rubble of his home in Gaza, after it was bombed by the Israeli military. The text reads: “Gaza 2020: Cast your vote for human rights.” Billboard #2 shows another child, Samah, standing in the rubble of her home and reads: “Cast your vote for human rights. End U.S. support for Israeli Occupation. (more…)

The Holocaust as a Pretext for Annexation

Zeev Sternhell

The joint operation by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu to grant American legitimacy to the annexation of Palestinian territories was leaked just as the memorial ceremony of the World Holocaust Forum was taking place at Yad Vashem. It’s hard to conceive of a more cynical combination: In Jerusalem, anti-Semitism was used to silence the expected worldwide opposition to the annexation plan.

And thus the anti-Semitism that brought catastrophe upon the Jewish people was turned into a cynical and shameless political tool by Israel. Jerusalem turned anti-Semitism into the ultimate weapon against any call for the removal of even a few Jews from the West Bank and against the idea of dividing the land fairly. To the nationalists, any policy that doesn’t completely mesh with the Israeli interest as they see it is tantamount to anti-Semitism. (more…)