The Government’s Incoherent New Measures in the North
I didn’t think the Government’s management of the pandemic could get any worse, but I was wrong. The measures announced last night, imposing new restrictions in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire, are a new low.
They were announced by Matt Hancock in a Twitter thread at 9.16pm – no, I’m not making that up. He really did announce restrictions affecting millions of people on Twitter less than three hours before they were due to come into force. Or should that be farce? It’s as though Matt Hancock’s script is being written by Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It. Oh, and the Government then published the new guidance two hours later – less than an hour before it came into effect – and then published further guidance this morning.
Let me see if I can get this straight. In Greater Manchester, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale, Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees, people from one household won’t be allowed to meet people from other households in their homes or gardens. That seems relatively clear, but the Government then added the caveat that you are allowed to mix with a person or persons in another household if the two households have formed a “support bubble”. A “support bubble” “must include a single adult household, i.e. people who live alone or single parents with dependent children aged under 18”.
Clear?
When asked about this rather complicated rule on breakfast television this morning, Hancock only added to the confusion.
“The law that we’re bringing in is that two households cannot meet in the area defined, but obviously any two households that are meeting should follow the social distancing guidelines,” he said.
Not only did that fail to make the advice any clearer, but by using the words “in the area defined” he muddied the waters even further. In its published guidance, the Government specified that people in the these areas should not “visit someone else’s home or garden even if they live outside of the affected areas”. So has the Government changed its mind about that? Or does Hancock not understand his own guidance?
Perhaps Hancock’s confusion isn’t surprising since the guidance is borderline incomprehensible.
For instance, someone from outside an “affected area” is not allowed to visit someone inside an “affected area” unless they’re attending a wedding or a funeral, in which case they can provided there are no more than 30 people in attendance. Oh, and you’re allowed to travel into an “affected area” if you’re “holidaying” there.
Clear?
There’s more of this gobbledegook. People in the “affected areas” will be allowed to visit pubs, restaurants, cafes, shops, places of worship, community centres, leisure and entertainment venues and visitor attractions, but only if they remain with members of their households while in those venues and don’t “socialise” with anyone else – unless they’re in their “support bubble”, of course.
In Leicester, where a local lockdown has been in place for the past month, pubs, cafes and restaurants will re-open on Monday, but the no-socialising restriction will apply, as will the other new rules.
You are allowed to meet people in the open air, provided it’s not in a private garden:
In line with the national guidance, you can continue to meet in public outdoor spaces in groups of no more than six people, unless the group includes only people from two households.
What if one of the two households includes someone from another household in their “support bubble”? And why public parks but not private gardens? Who knows.
The new law mandating these restrictions is going to be called “The Dog’s Breakfast Act”. Or is it the “Whack-A-Mole Act”?
In his Twitter thread, Hancock said this decision was “based on the data” and referred to “an increasing rate of transmission in parts of Northern England”.
The main evidence that the number of cases is increasing comes from the ONS, which claims it has discovered a slight increase in the number of people testing positive based on a nose and throat swab in recent weeks. Here’s what the BBC has to say about those data:
The figures are based on its infection survey, which takes swabs from people selected at random in homes in England.
The ONS estimates that about 1 in 1,500 people in homes in England are infected (roughly 36,000 people in total) with 4,200 new infections each day.
Both figures are up on last week, when it was estimated there were 2,800 new infections each day and that one in 2,000 people (28,000 total) were infected in homes in England.
Unfortunately, the ONS hasn’t disclosed whether it re-tested anyone to ensure the first test result wasn’t a false positive.
Even though these data show a slight uptick in the number of cases in the past few weeks – from 0.05% of the population to a whopping 0.07% – the overall number of cases is far lower than it was at the end of April (0.34%):
Can these data be used to justify the new measures? No. The ONS has produced a breakdown of the percentage of infected people per region, but it shows that the North West has fewer infected people than all but one other area (the South West) and lower than Yorkshire and the Humber, the East Midlands, the East of England, the South East and London, which is way out in front. If I lived in Manchester, I would ask why I’m having to endure these additional restrictions when a smaller percentage of my city is infected than London.
The BBC also published some data from PHE showing the number of new cases per 100,000 has increased in some parts of Greater Manchester, although it has fallen in Bolton and Rochdale:
Can this be used to justify the local lockdowns? Not really. In Germany, the trigger for a local lockdown is the number of new cases climbing to above 50/100,000. The only part of Greater Manchester that’s happened in is Oldham. Why are the people of Manchester having to suffer all these new restrictions when the infection rate is only 25/100,000?
As usual, there’s no rhyme or reason to the Government’s handling of the crisis. They’re just making it up as they go along. No wonder more than half of the British public don’t understand the lockdown rules.
Stop Press: A reader has emailed to point out that anyone from one of the affected areas who’s currently visiting someone in another area is now breaking the law and could be fined £100.
My mother-in-law is staying with us. She lives in Manchester. Now, according to the hapless Hand Cock, she’s breaking the law unless we make ourselves her support bubble. Whatever that means.
Boris “Squeezes the Brake Pedal” (Mistook it For Woman’s Thigh)
There was more bad news this morning. Boris held a press conference with Chris Whitty in which he announced that he was going to “squeeze the brake pedal” on the planned easing of lockdown restrictions on August 1st. Here’s the BBC’s summary:
On July 17th, the Prime Minister set out plans to further ease lockdown rules from 1 August to:
* Reopen most remaining leisure settings, including bowling, skating rinks and casinos
* Allow live indoor theatre and concert performances to resume with socially distanced audiences
* Reopen all close contact services including any treatments on the face, such as eyebrow threading or make-up application
* Allow wedding receptions for as many as 30 peopleThese changes have now been postponed for at least a fortnight, with the Prime Minister saying at a Downing Street press conference that “we should now squeeze that brake pedal to keep the virus under control”.
The changes to the guidance for employers, allowing them to make decisions about how and where their staff can work safely from tomorrow, will remain in place.
In addition, fans will no longer be permitted to attend the sporting pilot events allowing limited numbers of spectators at Goodwood, the Crucible and the Oval in coming days.
Again, no evidence was presented to show that the virus isn’t under control. On the contrary, PHE published data showing that the number of people turning up at hospital Emergency Departments with Covid-like symptoms has declined since its peak in early April:
It also published data showing the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 being admitted to hospital and ICUs has declined since early April and is continuing to fall:
SAGE Member Says Project Fear on Steroids Must be “Ramped Back Up”
A reader sent me this extraordinary comment made by Professor Robert West from University College London, a member of the behavioural science group that feeds into SAGE, on the Today programme. You really couldn’t make it up.
Round-Up
Here’s a round-up of all the stories I’ve noticed, or which have been been brought to my attention, in the last 24 hours:
- ‘Starkey and Cherry – cancelled for being old, white and male‘ – Strong piece by Andrew Mahon in Conservatives Global
- ‘One factor explains most of the differences in COVID-19 deaths across countries‘ – Good analysis by Lars Christenson in which he points out that the different Covid mortality rates can be almost entirely explained by the percentage of the population that’s male and over 80
- ‘When did the policy of “flattening the curve” so the NHS would not be overwhelmed turn into ruining our lives and wrecking the economy so nobody catches Covid, ever?‘ – Strong piece by Janet Street-Porter in the Mail
- Newsnight – There was a good report from Health Editor Deborah Cohen on Newsnight last night on whether the local lockdown in Leicester has been effective. Starts at around the 5m 25s mark
- ‘US GDP Suffers Record Collapse‘ – GDP has fallen by 32.9% in Q2, the biggest drop in US history
- Round-up of HCQ Studies – A round-up of the evidence from 65 different countries on the effectiveness of early treatment of COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine. It works
- ‘Deputy Chief Medical Officer For England: “Masks Not A Good Idea”‘ – “For the average member of the public walking down a street, it is not a good idea,” says Jenny Harries OBE, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England
- ‘Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet defy coronavirus to post better results than expected‘ – Amazon posted the biggest profit in its 26-year history, while Facebook, Apple and Alphabet all beat estimates
- ‘Do you have FOGO (that’s Fear Of Going Out)?‘ – Judith Woods points out that not going out could kill more people than the virus
- ‘When theatres reopen they’ll resemble prison camps‘ – Depressing piece by Lloyd Evans, the Spectator‘s drama critic
- ‘Anti-lockdown campaign raises £230,000‘ – Cheering piece in the Times about how much money Simon Dolan has raised for his JR of the Government. I get a mention towards the end, but Delingpole gets a photo!
Small Businesses That Have Re-Opened
A couple of months ago, Lockdown Sceptics launched a searchable directory of open businesses across the UK. The idea is to celebrate those retail and hospitality businesses that have re-opened, as well as help people find out what has opened in their area. But we need your help to build it, so we’ve created a form you can fill out to tell us about those businesses that have opened near you.
Now that non-essential shops have re-opened – or most of them, anyway – we’re now focusing on pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants, as well as other social venues. As of July 4th, many of them have re-opened too, but not all. Please visit the page and let us know about those brave folk who are doing their bit to get our country back on its feet – particularly if they’re not insisting on face masks! Don’t worry if your entries don’t show up immediately – we need to approve them once you’ve entered the data.
Forums Back Up and Running
I enjoy reading all your comments and I’m glad I’ve created a “safe space” for lockdown sceptics to share their frustrations and keep each other’s spirits up. But please don’t copy and paste whole articles from papers that are behind paywalls in the comments. I work for some of those papers and if they don’t charge for premium content they won’t survive.
We have created some Lockdown Sceptics Forums that are now open. Initially, they became a spam magnet so we temporarily closed them. However, we’ve found a team of people wiling to serve as moderators so the Forums are back up and running. Any problems, email the Lockdown Sceptics webmaster Ian Rons here.
“Mask Exempt” Lanyards
I thought I’d create a new permanent slot down here for people who want to buy (or make) a “Mask Exempt” lanyard/card. You can print out and laminate a fairly standard one for free here and it has the advantage of not explicitly claiming you have a disability. But if you have no qualms about that (or you are disabled), you can buy a lanyard from Amazon saying you do have a disability/medical exemption here (although it’s showing a delivery date of Sept 4th to 14th). The Government has instructions on how to download an official “Mask Exempt” notice to put on your phone here. You can get a “Hidden Disability” tag from eBay here and an NHS exemption notice for just £2.99 from Etsy here (see above).
And don’t forget to sign the petition on the UK Government’s petitions website calling for an end to mandatory face nappies in shops here.
A reader has been in touch to tell me about his wizard strategy for avoiding wearing a mask on his Ryanair flight to Crete:
Masks are to be worn on board Ryanair flights, of course, but not if you are eating or drinking. €27.50 seemed a bit steep for a toasted ham and cheese croissant, two half litres of still water and a double Hendriks and Britvic, but we had a tail wind down to Crete and they lasted the three hour flight.
Worth every pfennig.
Shameless Begging Bit
Thanks as always to those of you who made a donation in the past 24 hours to pay for the upkeep of this site. If you feel like donating, however small the sum, please click here. And if you want to flag up any stories or links I should include in future updates, email me here.
And Finally…
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
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Ffs. Are we already falling for the next thing?
Are we going to start throwing the old stones at each other over this by highlighting every idiot that offends us to galvanise our opposition?
This was an operation, Israel knew it was coming, they allowed it to happen, just like the US security apparatus did for their 9/11.
It times well with the collapse of the Ukraine operation, and the failure of the vax operation before that.
We are getting played and the players have no guilt, shame or remorse for inciting and allowing the mass deaths of innocent people…on all “sides.”
Get your skeptic hat on Will. That’s why we’re here.
Besides you can’t fulfil the apocalypse without war in the Holy Lands.
Great sceptical comment, thank you! I’m sure that you are correct, at least with some of what you say.
Certainly a disappointingly hysterical article from Mr Jones, worthy of the MSM..
What a load of utter garbage.
Why is it ‘utter garbage ‘?
Because anger and disgust have been activated, reason and lessons learned from past red flags are forgotten.
So you don’t know what a red flag is.
No one is asking you to.
Can you reason with the Israelis on the issue that they have stolen someone’s homeland? Just musing.
they haven’t
The Ottoman census states there were more Christians (9%)living in Palestine than Jews (3%) in the 1880s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Palestine_(region)
It has been written that Jew, Christian and Moslem lived harmoniously until the Ashkenazi Zionist’s from Eastern Europe and Russia raised their flag on that soil. Some claim the Askhenazi can no more trace their lineage to the tribes of Israel than a hottentot tribesman.
Take a
I believe that you are absolutely right: this is the next false flag. Everyone should read MiriAF on this – she’s spot on (as usual). As she says: ‘Israel has one of the most extensive and successful spy networks in the world (second only in power and scope to the CIA). Therefore, the idea that the vastly less well-resourced Hamas would have been able to plot these attacks completely under the radar is ludicrous – utterly fictitious and implausible’. We are being gaslit, yet again.
“best in the world” does not mean infallable. Terrorists only have to get it right once while those protecting themselves have to get it right every time.
I agree but I still think it extremely unlikely that he Israelis were unaware that this was about to happen. I’m afraid I am in agreement with MiriAF on this one (https://miriaf.co.uk/).
You are ofcourse entitled to think whatever you want.
I may be wrong. Time will tell.
Presumably the 5,000 Hamas missiles were brought in to Gaza at night time on camouflaged wagons; the paragliding fighters did their training in Afghanistan or similar and battle plan meetings were conducted in schools. Bullets and grenades were delivered by Amazon.
I see.
Funny————Maybe Hamas have Amazon Prime and get all their missiles with next day delivery. I would also recommend that new Double Air Frier.
If your going to make extraordinary claims you need extraordinary evidence. I hear a lot of people remark that America was complicit in 9/11. I hear them say the buildings could not possibly collapse in the way they did. Despite none of them being structural Engineers or architects. So what evidence have you? And I don’t mean a David Icke video.
Did I read that the Torah says something similar about we goyim?
Yet if she had said the covid vaxx is poison and ivermectin works against covid, she’d have already been suspended and they’d be preparing to strike her off.
If she feels so strongly, why doesn’t she pop on over and join the fight? After all, she thinks unarmed civilians should stay and fight people who are armed to the teeth. Off she goes, she can show us how it’s done. That would definitely be a win for everyone.
She certainly needs to be fired – how can any Jew or Israeli who might need treatment run the risk of having that as their ‘doctor’?
Thanks Jane, you said it for me.
Without question this woman is not fit to be employed in medical services. She should be sacked and put on the first available plane to Egypt.
If she wants to include politics as part of her Hippocratic oath then she needs to treat Palestinians only.
Mennah Elwan’s values do not belong in British society.
She wrote: “Israel kills Palestinians everyday, didn’t see anyone caring,”
Fact.
Because of msm indoctrination…
Yes sure she’s a bit bonkers, but sadly we have to seek far and wide to find professionals to work in the NHS nowadays.. As this young Egyptian medic shows, the perspective of what is happening in the Middle East is very different depending on which part of the world you come from..
She might possibly be a bit Leftie and woke, but she is primarily a Muslim from Egypt, and this is her perspective.
I am a huge admirer of Jewish culture and all that it has, disproportionately, done in the advancement of Western civilisation. However that doesn’t excuse the way the State of Israel has treated the Palestinians since 1948, most especially those incarcerated in poverty in Gaza since 2005.
If doctors conduct themselves according to the Hippocratic oath then politics would never crop up in the delivery of medical services. When politics interferes with medicine the medics should declare their position.
In the current climate, it’s regrettable that she has had her opinions publicised in this country, but she is entitled to them.
I don’t agree with them, but if that’s what she thinks, as a educated person currently living in the West, it’s not unlikely that many of her compatriots will be thinking likewise, perhaps with some justification.
I truly worry about her lack of empathy though.
One can understand why those living in Gaza are embittered but their grievance should be with the Arab countries who kept them trapped there since 1948 rather than resettle. However tragic in 1948 500000 Arabs left Palestine either forced out, frightened or following instructions from the Arab countries to leave to clear the way for their armies, to be replaced by the same number of Jews forced out from Arab countries. For example in Baghdad where Jews had lived for over 2000 years they were a third of the population and the largest community. There are none there now and very few Christians. In Israel 20% of the population is Arab, so Christian Arabs probably feel safer there. However tragic to put the numbers in some perspective at the end of the 2nd World War the boundaries of Poland were all moved west so Eastern Pomerania, Silesia and East Prussia became Polish and the western parts of Poland became part of the Soviet Union. 9 million Germans were expelled to the west to be replaced by 4 million Poles from what is now in Ukraine and Byelorussia.
Laughing off murder isn’t ‘a bit bonkers’
‘They had it coming’ isn’t an acceptable response.
You come to live here, you should reflect honestly on the privilege, and leave your garbage outside (although given the last few years I did struggle with that sentence.)
We’ve imported far too much of “other people’s politics” into our society.
We don’t need doctors so much that we should ignore such sentiments. She should be invited to leave.
No, we don’t ‘have to seek far and wide’, we could ad a G7 country train our own medical staff, and not poach them from other countries who can less afford their training.
In our drive for medical professionals and people it seems in every other line of work in this multicultural mass influx we are importing the whole worlds sectarian problems.
I think the main issue is, she will probably get away with this whereas if she had said that trans women aren’t women she would already be packing her boxes. Or maybe not, since she isn’t white.
how silly
‘incarcerated’ … who?
those who wish every last one of you were dead
when its an existential fight to the death I think sublets go out the window
If she was Christian her feet wouldn’t touch the floor. The BBC would be all over it till she was hounded out.
And her apparent lack of empathy makes her completely unfit to treat patients.
Indeed. All this muttering about false flags and why is the DS not more sceptical is rather irrelevant to this particular article. Yes, I believe there are some big question marks about what happened and why and I am leary of this leading to intentional escalation.
Nor do I believe the woman should be silenced, she is entitled to say such things in a free country – at least she shows herself for who she truly is.
There is a difference, however, between claiming to be standing on the side of people you feel are oppressed and you believe are standing up for themselves and showing outright glee in senseless slaughter of the very weakest in society, simply for the sake of slaughter (with the definite knowledge that the slaughter would automatically lead to more slaughter on the side claiming to be oppressed). If you are a doctor, you must be willing to treat any person who is injured or in need of care – if you feel like this, you are in the wrong profession, and you definitely have no business espousing these views if you are on the public payroll.
Absolutely.
So given that ”In war, the first casualty is the truth”, what do we make of this? I guess we’ll find out soon enough because no doubt they’ll revel in filming and uploading the atrocities they’re bound to commit.
”Al-Qassam Brigades threatened Monday that from now on, they will execute hostages if Israeli raids continue to target innocent civilians in their homes.
Abu Obaida, the spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, said: “We have decided to put an end to the Zionist crimes against our people.”
He continued: “Any targeting of our people without prior warning will be met with the execution of a civilian hostage.”
This is a developing story.”
https://en.royanews.tv/news/45107/2023-10-09
This was the most recent update from 2hrs ago;
”Hamas threatened to begin broadcasting the executions of Israeli hostages taken in Saturday’s attack against Israel.on Monday.
A spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, a branch of Hamas, warned in an interview with Al-Jazeera that the group would begin killing one hostage for each Israeli airstrike that lands in Gaza without forewarning. He added that the executions would be recorded and broadcasted to the public. Israel has carried out more than a thousand airstrikes in Gaza since the Hamas attack Saturday.
Israel has yet to respond to the ultimatum, but the Israeli Defense Forces have deployed tens of thousands of troops to the area around Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also warned that a ground invasion may be imminent, telling President Biden that “we have to go in.”
Israel has already cut off supplies of water, electricity and fuel to Gaza. So far, Israeli air strikes have killed some 560 people, according to Hamas-run authorities.”
https://www.foxnews.com/live-news/hamas-attack-israel-war
This is the way terrorism/war is conducted when one side has overwhelming military power. The weaker adversary creates publicity and outrage (aided and abetted by the Western media, of course, who lap it up, to justify their side’s brutality).
In a few weeks time, Palestinian fatalities will be in the order of ten times higher than Israeli ones, as they always are. This will be regarded as justifiable, due to Israel’s alleged moral superiority, despite it’s appalling treatment of the residents of Gaza over decades.
All Wars are Bankers Wars.
Some have lost the ability for compassion. Almost all perception is now sifted through a prism of ideology & indoctrination.
It may be time to think, for a moment, a little more clearly and ask the question
Cui bono?
“All Wars are Bankers Wars”….
They are, and who are the bankers……
Yes this documentary is doing the rounds. Did you watch it? I haven’t gotten round to it yet but everyone’s raving about it.
”This might be one of the most important documentaries that anyone can watch right now given current events and escalations between Hamas, Israel, Iran, and the US.
All wars are bankers wars.
If you are still caught up in the left vs right, Israel vs Palestine, Ukraine vs Russia narratives, treating geopolitics and war as if it’s a football game where you are rooting for one side to win as the real moral authority, then you need to take 45 minutes out of your day to watch this in full.
I’ve shared this documentary already weeks ago and a lot of people saw it and appreciated it, but I think it’s now more important than ever for as many people to see it as possible and to really understand the profound and eye opening truth behind those words, and how EVERY SINGLE conflict has had powers above it funding both sides with nefarious intent behind it and a broader agenda that is not in the true interests of the people.”
https://twitter.com/Inversionism/status/1711161404772806973
I have watched it and I agree, it’s important to watch as an aid to understanding that pretty much every significant conflict has, at its inception, a motive that is principally driven by private bankers. Division of people along lines of race, religion, gender, nationality, age, sexuality, etc are all opportunities to stoke hatred and further the interests of those that profit from the fallout of such tragedies.
We have already heard ‘it’s going to be a long war..’..ring any bells?
I find it strange how one doctors vile comments are now front and centre in such garbage as The Mail, as ever a rag to scream out state scripted rage for the mob. I am saddened to see them offered up here on the DS as to further the narrative. It also highlights how even here, where visitors may have learned over recent years to distrust mainstream narratives, have fallen into line in condemnation of one side over another.
Wherever one sits in their thinking on this and similar issues, it might be wise look inwards and consider what has lead us here, why and in whose interests is it
So the following are all bankers wars?
The French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, Cambodia’s Year Zero, the Invasion of Korea and Vietnam by China and Chinese backed guerrillas, Russia’s wars in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Syria, North Caucasus, Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Dagestan, Tajikistan, North Ossetia-Alania, Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Iran Iraq war.
There have been 32 Military Coups in Africa (look at the weapon of choice – AK47), there is the ongoing Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in India, the 45 left wing or Marxist guerrilla groups in South and Central America (there are only 3 US backed guerrilla groups); In other words the deliberate destabilization of sovereign countries.
In all the usual Marxist propaganda papers like China Daily or The Morning Star it is only ever the west, and particularly the US that is criticized for causing wars or daring to stop Marxists revolutionaries. Capitalism and colonialism is blamed for all the ills of Africa while the Marxist revolutionaries make every effort to bring about many ills using war and instability.
“Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Mao
“To produce a maximum of chaos in the culture of the enemy is our first most important step. Our fruits are grown in chaos, distrust, economic depression and scientific turmoil. At least a weary populace can seek peace only in our offered Communist State, at last only Communism can resolve the problems of the masses.”
Lavrentiy Beria
I think this lady puts it perfectly and I 100% concur with this. Civilians always come off the worst in war and yet callous scumbags are behaving like this is the World Cup.
”Pick a side? I side with the people. Civilians. All of them.
I’ve been to Israel. My father lives there, in Jerusalem.
I’m half Palestinian. But I have numerous amazing, lovely Jewish friends.
My doctor is Jewish.
The news, once again, isn’t giving you the whole truth.
The VAST majority of Palestinians are not a hateful or violent people.
On the contrary, they’re some of the most loving, welcoming, family-oriented, intelligent people I’ve ever seen.
They love their children, just like you do. They spend their time talking, dancing, sharing the most amazing food with extended family, every day.
They greet others warmly with hugs and kisses, always. They live their lives with a smile on their face, despite living in very oppressive circumstances.
The ones parading around dead babies or stoning women are a very SICK and FEW minority.
But they get all the headlines.
What happened to Jewish civilians is mind-bogglingly Horrific.
What’s happening to Palestinian civilians is mind-bogglingly Terrible.
This is not a situation to be cheering for any one side.
This is a complex, dark, TRAGEDY.
There are 2 million human beings crammed into Gaza. Most have no ability to leave.
50% of Gaza is children.
If you find yourself cheering the fact that they’re now cut off from food, water, electricity…
That children will now slowly starve to death or be blown up…
If you want to “wipe out” 2 million civilians…
I urge you to step back & evaluate where your heart is & what the media may be doing to you.
I encourage you to look deeper than the leading news headlines, meant to divide & elicit emotion.
If we have to pick a side, I invite you to join me in supporting innocent HUMAN BEINGS, of all types.”
https://twitter.com/NaturallyFTW/status/1711392992953606563
The Israeli authorities have been careful to state that they are at war with Hamas. Hamas is not the Palestinian people who Hamas clearly have not thought for, knowing the response their action would bring.
Yes exactly. Hamas need to be obliterated but they’re using the Palestinian people as human shields, who they blatantly couldn’t give a f*ck about or they wouldn’t have attacked Israel, slaughtering civilians like they did and not expect full retaliation, but now they’ve the hostages and will proceed with making demands and god knows how that will end. I’m just wondering what horrors I’m going to wake up to tomorrow morning. This is completely f*cked up. I can’t predict how this will end.
As I have commented earlier on the original numbers leaving Palestine to be replaced by a more or less equal number of Jews from Arab countries and resettlement then while not perfect should have been possible, given the example of Germany and Poland after World War 2; but for the absolute refusal of the Arab counties to try and work something out. Now it is much worse but most Arab counties seem now prepared to engage with Israel except for Iran, and it does not look like anything positive will happen before there is a change of regime in Iran.
She surely can’t retain her job since her views don’t align with those of her employers.
This is racist hate speech of the worst kind, and this woman should not be acceptable under any circumstances in this country.
Israel.. A gangster terrorist State…
https://fb.watch/nA4zf4ELPz/
The festival was held just outside the biggest concentration camp in the world.
It didn’t go down well with the inmates who have suffered 17 years of Israeli incarceration and 75 years of persecution and death.
Very good graphic. Unemotively, the slaughter at the festival was like a meeting of two realities, similar to migrants boats washing up on beaches full of tourists on the Canary Islands a few years ago.
“If there is an enduring image of how Israel so completely embodies the most obscene elements of settler colonialism, it is young, carefree Israelis holding a rave on the edge of an open-air prison, encaging 2 million Palestinians.
The Western media presents Hamas’ attack on this festival of dance as the ultimate savagery. And savage it was. But the much greater savagery is thinking it normal to party in full view of the torture chamber that is Gaza.”
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-israel-west-hypocrisy-jailbreak-stomach-turning
Agree, these younger generation Israelis have been indoctrinated with such superiority, did they honesty think the conduct of their country would never bear consequences.
I don’t condone any waste of human life but how can the Israelis think that this was not inevitable.
Funny all the downticks in response to your bar graph evidence.. I wonder how those people responded to the data evidence about Covid/excess deaths, vaccine injuries/deaths etc?
Either you believe the data or you don’t.
Quite, perhaps they think the data is fabricated, their msm bias is so indoctrinated even factual data fails to convince..
Astonishing considering, as I understood the DS was supposed to be a more open minded readership..
The downticks tell me that there are approximately 30 members of something like the 77th hovering around this site.
The woman quoted in the piece does seem to be getting away with speech that would not be tolerated by her employers were it directed at other minority groups, and it will be interesting to see if she is still in post in the next week or two.
As a free- speech advocate I can’t complain about what she is saying but the old adage about being condemned out of your own mouth seems to apply here.
This bar graph doesn’t illuminate in isolation and without context. At the hands of whom did they die? What was the sequence of events that led to their deaths? Is there a report that goes with that provides such context?
Here is the web page the graphic came from.
https://www.statista.com/chart/16516/israeli-palestinian-casualties-by-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank/
Thanks. Okay, read the accompanying text and it doesn’t really surprise me that casualties are much higher in Gaza given that Hamas’s MO appears to be to poke the bear and then hide behind civilians in full knowledge of what is coming. Interesting that UN appeals to cease fire after Saturday’s events; would they ask any other country to do the same?
The thought that a young vibrant person can, one moment, be active, happy and dancing, and then, a few hours later, they are viewed as ‘remains’, I find deeply sad.
I do hope this woman is fully up to date with all her boosters.
I’m late to this discussion , it’s raised some hairs ! More than most ! Let’s cut to the chase ! The situation in Israel / Gaza is a complicated mess & the festival attacks seem similar to the Paris Bataclan atrocities ! The article is based on this doctors view of the tragic events ! She will not be alone with these sentiments ! HOW can you be a Medical Professional & gloat over healthy people being destroyed ! It just shows that if you indoctrinate children this is what you get ! Will she be can celled ???.. let’s see !
It’s highly arguable that this entire situation was a completely cynical set up by Mossad and its “international partners,” – which usually means CIA / MI6.
Hamas, as is widely known, was an Israeli operation to counter the influence of the PLO.
Nobody can surely believe that they would have launched what is clearly a suicidal operation against a state which regularly shows what contempt it has for non jews; and which is heavily armed and completely ruthless and psychopathic whenever and wherever it shows its face, unless they were encouraged to do so, and probably supplied with rocket fuel too.
Those not supporting the Palestinians probably ought to stop clutching their pearls and go and live in Gaza themselves for a couple of weeks to understand what truly horrific conditions the occupiers force the aboriginals to live in – not least of which are the children, who are exposed to jewish nazism from birth, and thus are psychologically raped on a daily basis.
Thank you… The Israelis have made a rod for thir own back over the past decades by the desensitisation of the Palestinian people, as they are far more accustomed to death than the Israeli people.
Did the residents of Gaza not elect Hamas? Do 77% not approve of their tactics? The people of Gaza should seek better representation than those who will use them as human shields. You cannot reason with people who brutalise and rape young women, snap their legs in two and then parade them around. You cannot reason with people who have your obliteration front and centre of their charter.
And my tax is paying for this numpty…Nice….
It’s difficult to see how her statements comply with the Hippocratic Oath. I would not wish to be treated by a bigot who condones violence; I would not trust her to “first do no harm” ….. and I’m not even Jewish.
And Laurence Fox was arrested for comments on X allegedly supporting removal of ULEZ cameras, but this piece of merde’s remarks are OK? What’s Plod doing? Or could it be she is broadly in line with the thinking of the Left-colonised Establishment?
“Despite what you might think, no, Palestinians are not celebrating death. We do not look at the news and rejoice over the number of Israelis killed. We do not salivate at the sight of blood drenched bodies. Despite what you might think we are not evil. We do not look at death and feel happiness.
The “joy” you might be seeing is the idea that for the first time in history we might have a chance to reclaim our land. We might have a chance to end the occupation, we might have a chance to open Gaza’s borders, to visit our family without reprisal and to escape from torturous prisons.”
https://hebhjamal.substack.com/p/despite-what-you-think-palestinians?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=363132&post_id=137772419&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=6x3tl&utm_medium=email
There is/was in fact quite a lot of intercourse between those living in Gaza and Israel with a prospect of some normalisation, but this is ruined from time to time by Hamas and Iran
I don’t think Saturday’s actions will have gone any way to progressing those hopes and aspirations. Quite the opposite, in fact. Why does Egypt refuse to open its border with Gaza?
The Israeli occupation destroys the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian and Gaza borders, and all relief trucks return to Egypt as a result of the intensity of the Israeli bombing. “Two Egyptian workers were injured by shrapnel. “The only crossing linking Gaza in the world.”
Forgive me but Israel
doesn’t occupy Gaza, does it? It withdrew unilaterally in 2005 and dismantled all settlements there. Borders are tightly controlled, yes (the question is why). When were two Egyptians injured? Over the past few days since the attacks from Hamas? Or at some other time? Is the intensity of bombing a direct result of these attacks or are you saying Israel bombs the Egyptian border regularly?
Probably a bit late to the party but worth listening to Vanessa Beeley. Funnily enough she doesn’t think it’s a False Flag.
https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-9th-october-2023