In the Spectator, Douglas Murray argues that what is happening in Gaza is not genocide. “More than that – it’s not even regionally remarkable.” Here’s an excerpt.
Here is a figure I’ve never seen anyone raise. It’s an ugly little bit of maths, but stay with me. If you wish, you might add together all the people killed in every conflict involving Israel since its foundation.
In 1948, after the UN announced the state, all of Israel’s Arab neighbours invaded to try to wipe it out. They failed. But the upper estimate of the casualties on all sides came to some 20,000 people. The upper estimates of the wars of 1967 and 1973, when Israel’s neighbours once again attempted to annihilate it, are very similar (some 20,000 and 15,000 respectively). Subsequent wars in Lebanon and Gaza add several thousands more to that figure. It means that up to the present war, some 60,000 people had died on every side in all wars involving Israel.
Over the past decade of civil war in Syria, Bashar al-Assad has managed to kill more than 10 times that number. Although precise figures are hard to come by, Assad is reckoned to have murdered some 600,000 Arab Muslims in his country. Meaning that every six to 12 months he manages to kill the same number as died in every war involving Israel ever.
There are lots of reasons you might give to explain this: that people don’t care when Muslims kill Muslims; that people don’t care when Arabs kill Arabs; that they only care if Israel is involved. Allow me to give another example that is suggestive.
No one knows how many people have been killed in the war in Yemen in recent years. From 2015-2021 the UN estimated perhaps 377,000 – ten times the highest estimate of the recent death toll in Gaza. The only time I’ve heard people scream on British streets about Yemen has been after the Houthis started attacking British and American ships in the Red Sea and the deadbeat idiots on the streets of London started chanting: “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around.”
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
We knew all of this, of course, but I guess it does no harm to remind people of the reality and confront them with with their own convenient hypocrisy. ”No Jews, no news” is what it boils down to. Plain old antisemitism. Maybe the ”deadbeat idiots” that hit the streets in their thousands, causing mayhem, antagonizing and harassing people as they showcase their treachery and ignorance, would be interested in ISIS’ latest statement from last month, because this is what your terrorist heroes have in mind for you and your ilk;
”Lions of Islam: Chase your preys whether Jewish, Christian or their allies, on the streets and roads of America, Europe, and the world. Break into their homes, kill them and steal their peace of mind by any means you can lay hands on. Understand that you are the arm of the Islamic State hitting in the kuffar’s [infidels’] homelands, and are avenging the Muslims in Palestine, Iraq, Sham, and other Muslim countries. Solidify your plans and diversify the attacks: detonate explosives, burn them with grenades and fiery agents, shoot them with bullets, cut their throats with sharp knives, and run them over with vehicles.
A sincere person will not lack the means to draw blood from the hearts of the Jews, the Christians, and their allies, and thus ease the suffering in the hearts of the believers. Come at them from every door, kill them by the worst of means, turn their gatherings and celebrations into bloody massacres, do not distinguish between a civilian kaffir, and a military one, for they are all kuffar and the ruling against them is one…. Intentionally seek easy targets before hard ones, civilian targets before military one, religious targets like synagogues and churches before others, for this will satisfy the soul and will demonstrate the characteristics of the battle, as our battle with them is a religious one and we kill them wherever we come upon them in response to Allah Almighty’s command.”
https://pjmedia.com/raymond-ibrahim/2024/02/23/islamic-state-calls-for-bloody-massacres-of-all-western-civilians-n4926710
Excellent post. How many westerners know that no Muslim man, woman or child is guaranteed entry into their “Paradise” unless they have offed an infidel, or died trying to off one. It is one of the most fundamental tenets of Islam, and one of the two reasons they cause such chaos in the West, with endless attacks, murders, rapes and arson.
The second reason is that Muslims are taught that they must do all those horrible things in order to generate sufficient negative energy to allow their demonic “Mahdi” to take human form in the physical world. There is method in the madness.
Sadly it’s just another episode of; ‘Same Shit, Different Day’, with more examples of what you describe than you can shake a stick at. Sex crimes and stabbings seem to be their preference. The crime stats from various countries seem to reflect this. Three sex workers killed here;
”The man who was arrested in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene with a knife in his hand is said to be an Afghan asylum seeker. He was taken to hospital with minor injuries. At the moment we can only speculate about the suspect’s motive. According to “Kurier”, the Afghan could have entered the erotic studio as the last guest of the day, but was turned away and his honor insulted. The suspect is presumed innocent.
In any case, there must have been unbelievable scenes that took place in the red light studio in the 20th district. A neighbor discovered traces of blood and called the police. Shortly afterwards, the officers found themselves in a real horror. As the spokesman for the state police department, Philipp Haßlinger, explained, the bodies had massive stab and cut injuries. The victims were mutilated. The suspect, who was found a short time later in a park, had to be arrested by police using a Taser.”
https://exxpress.at/blutbad-im-sex-studio-verdaechtiger-ist-asylwerber-aus-afghanistan/
Douglas Murray has been fearless in telling the truth for years, earning huge respect for his courage. However, neither President Assad nor his father “murdered 600,000 Muslims”. Nor did they use chemical weapons against them. That is all Globalist Propaganda, just like Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction that were never actually found.
The Globalists hate President Assad and his father for driving the Globalist Puppets called the “Muslim Brotherhood” Terrorists out of Syria, and protecting Syrian Christians against relentless Muslim and Kurdish attacks. President Assad is highly respected by his Syrian people, another thing that annoys the Globalists always trying to smear him.
Unfortunately for the West, the Muslim Brotherhood then set up new headquarters in London, now under the avuncular gaze of Muslim Khan.
I find journalist Vanessa Beeley very enlightening about Syria and the maligned President Assad.
Except her disgraceful performance gloating in the attack on 7 October and hoping for more, supported by Robinson on Monday (9.10.23) has destroyed as well any vestige of support I had for UK Column. Prior to that I found her taking every opportunity to somehow blame Israel for everything disturbing to say the least. Then the background to her being a permanent resident of Damascus, would be interesting. Her father, Sir Harold Beeley was ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and even by the standards of the pro Arab Foreign
Office was notorious for his pro Arab sympathies, being part of the British delegation who generally tried to keep on British influence/control in the area after 1948 by eg.agreeing to the arming of Palestinians to take over areas vacated by the British.
It is true that some Israelis take seriously a Biblical prophecy that they will reduce Damascus to a pile of ruins, in revenge for some quarrel they had a couple of thousand years ago. Talk about holding a grudge…
They should remember what Buddy Holly once said:
“Never hold a grudge.
While you’re holding the grudge, the other guy’s out dancing.”
What’s really going on?
‘The war in Ukraine has rapidly depleted Russia’s resources, causing it to seek additional reserves, and Syria is one of the most obvious sources of military personnel with real combat experience.
Soon after the start of the invasion, a squadron of Su-25 fighter planes was redeployed to Russia. In August, an S-300 long-range missile system was reportedly shipped to the Crimea from the Syrian port of Tartus.
In addition, the Russian military has withdrawn from some areas of Latakia, which were promptly reoccupied by pro-Iranian Hezbollah fighters.
Experienced Russian troops are gradually being transferred to Ukraine….’
So the U.S. strategy of ‘weakening Russia so that it can no longer do the things that it has done in Ukraine’ is working well.
Yes, I also find the BBC and our beloved Government an outstandingly trustworthy source of information. Now, where did I put my latest copy of the Daily Bend Over And Take It….
I don’t.
But, wherever you may get your information, the Daily Where The Sun Don’t Shine, no doubt, if you still haven’t got the hang of what’s really going on, then try eating more fish…..
Let’s say all the above is true. Is it our job to police that region of the world? What are the plausible extents of Russian ambitions in the region and do they pose a threat to us or our allies?
We have two interests: ensuring ISIS in Syria no longer poses a threat to this country and its friends/allies and to monitor events regarding any potential breaches of the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which we are a signatory.
I imagine that we also monitor Russian military activity in Syria, a potential threat to our Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.
Alongside the Hmeimim airbase, from which Russia launches air attacks in support of al-Assad, Moscow also controls the Tartus naval facility in Syria, its only naval foothold in the Mediterranean, in use since the days of the Soviet Union.
Russia’s defence ministry said in January that Russia and Syria had restored the al-Jarrah military air base in Syria’s north to be jointly used. The small base east of Aleppo was recaptured from ISIL (ISIS) fighters in 2017.
Thanks. So now we are meant to police Syria too? How does ISIS pose a threat to the UK and how does police action/bombing/whatever in Syria diminish that threat?
We are meant to stand by our international obligations; nothing to do with Syria….or just remove our signature from the Chemical Weapons Convention. The choice is yours…..
Regarding ISIS, prevention is a better idea than reaction and this is worth preventing:
‘ISIS claimed the Paris attacks were a response to France’s campaign against its fighters and insults against Islam’s prophet, an argument that was also voiced by the ‘lone wolves’ who attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices and the Kosher supermarket in January 2015. ISIS has warned that France would remain one of its top targets but announced that the next attacks would include the capital cities of Rome, London and Washington, D.C.’
‘the Paris attacks of 13 November……killed 129 people and injured 352 more (in order) to destroy key components of Western culture….’
Well surely at any given point we should be revisiting those “international obligations” and checking they are still in our interests.
As far as ISIS goes, don’t the words you cite suggest we’ve made the situation worse by running a “campaign against its fighters”?
The War on Terror has not been a roaring success in my book – perhaps we could try a “minding our own business” approach for a few decades and see if that works any better. Or protect our borders more effectively.
If you are having doubts as to whether the Chemical Weapons Convention is in our interests then you have moved off to some place where I cannot follow.
And what end would leaving ISIS fighters to their own devices achieve?
The last Caliphate got as far as Istanbul. However much we might like to, we cannot just wish evil away….
Minding our own business, as an island dependent on overseas trade, has not served us well since before the Roman invasion……
No it is our governments job to ensure our security. That means protecting what is fashionably called our “:homelan” but also protecting our interests.
Because we are a world wide trading country we have interests all over the place. Despite the Net Zero fanatics we need hydrocarbons, steel, grain, meat etc which have to be shipped in. We have interests in international trade through shipping, insurance and legal services. We have interests in protecting allies and friends as we hipe thye will help us.
Above all we need to suppress violence and plans for it agains us. If we do not help Uklraine to resist Russia it will be another war closer to home and closer to critical interests of ours that we have to defend with our blood next time. Given the reluctance of politicians to spend enough on arms and their inability to find enough transgender and culturally diverse soldiers, actually fighting ourselves might be difficult.
Fair points but it seems to me these attempts to “protect our interests” backfire and do more harm than good. Getting into a war with Russia doesn’t seem to be greatly beneficial to us.
I think we should be looking to produce as much of our own hyrdocarbons as possible, and generate our electricity ourselves (NOT from “green” sources) as far as possible.
The whole idea behind support for Ukraine is so that NATO article 5 is not triggered by a Russian attack on a NATO member, something that will undoubtedly happen if Ukraine is defeated.
“Undoubtedly”. Which NATO members will be attacked? What exactly does Ukraine being “defeated” look like?
Why is Poland buying 1250 tanks, Finland and Sweden joining NATO?
They are a great deal closer to the action than we are.
Ukraine being defeated looks like a puppet regime in Kyiv similar to the puppet regime in Minsk, both part of the Russian ‘Union State’, with Moldova destabilised and the Polish Suwalki corridor under threat.
So you are now entertaining the idea that Ukraine will be beaten. I suppose that is progress. Keep up the good work.
The U.S. strategy of ‘weakening Russia so that it can no longer do the things that it has done in Ukraine’ is, by any measure, an outstanding success.
Meanwhile, in other news:
‘Russian milbloggers continued to claim on February 23 and 24 that Russian forces were responsible for shooting down the A-50, but offered many different theories about the shootdown. One prominent milblogger claimed that Russian authorities are investigating a Russian S-400 crew for shooting down the A-50 while trying to intercept Ukrainian missiles targeting the A-50.
Another milblogger claimed that a Russian air defense crew purposefully targeted the A-50.
Other milbloggers continued to claim that Ukrainian forces could not have shot down the A-50 because the aircraft was out of range of Western-provided Patriot air defense systems and complained that Russian air defenders are so systemically incompetent that they shot down five of their aircraft in February 2024.
A prominent Wagner Group-affiliated milblogger dissented, however, expressing disbelief that Russian air defenses are so incompetent as to have shot down so many Russian aircraft in such a short period and attributed the shootdown to Ukrainian forces instead.’
What a complete and utter shambles…….
Protecting ouir interests was considered first as a diplomatic task, backed by a realistic deterrent force, known colloquially as “speak softly but carry a big stick”.
We now substitute belligerence and threats for speaking softly and don’t have any serious sticks of our own, but rely on our big mate by aligning our stance with his.
UK to boost Ukraine’s artillery reserves with £245 million munitions package – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Doesn’t that mean our own Armed Forces will have only a box of bullets and 3 artillery shells left?
I call that US policy a fail. Russia has been enabled to massively increase its arms manufacturing, has been encouraged to revisit its entiry military strategy and has now evolved a realistic and effective battlefield methodology. In the process it has denuded Western arsenals and wiped out a large part of Ukraine’s manpower.
Yup, US strategy is working well.
A career for you in stand up beckons……
The war is a very good bargain for the United States.
The Ukrainians are paying the bulk of the cost but it is an opportunity for the United States to achieve major geopolitical objectives. These are:
Strengthen NATO’s presence in the Black Sea. Given that NATO is present in the Black Sea through member states and partner countries, the war increases NATO’s military presence across the region’s lands, airspace, and waterways.
Pull Ukraine and other Black Sea countries away from Russia while integrating them into the European Union, where they will be required to follow its rules of trade and production. The entire region becomes a place where the U.S. is in very good position to control what happens as the rules get made.
Washington aspires to create oil and gas pipelines that lead from Central Asia to Europe. Central Asia relies too much on China and Russia to export its energy resources. The war opens up multiple possibilities for alternative pipelines to run through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey.
So, in reality, the U.S. is grateful to Putin for opening up the Black Sea region to U.S. influence. That strategy is going outstandingly well. It just doesn’t want you to know that…….
Oops!
Selective Amnesia. ————Quite common these days amidst the sectarian clutter.
https://off-guardian.org/2024/02/24/whats-so-bad-about-world-rule/
Another cracking essay from Todd Hayen.
The myth of One World Government. Turdeau for leader?
Ok well that’s me done.
See you all, well I won’t, but it was nice getting to know many of the posters since the dark days of Lockdown.
Many many great contributions.
Alas, I can no longer justify paying money to read increasingly Zionist inflammatory crap.
Meanwhile, the scepticism has stayed on level 1 and hasn’t grown much. As such I can’t say there is much added value other than the occasional post on climate fear nonsense. Most of the rest is easy to find on the usual papers.
Best of luck to all as the wheels of the apocalypse turn and the war against us proceeds.
I know how you feel.
Before you go can you provide the briefest of rebuttals to the points made in the article?
Some of us have been talking about Syria for years.
These are the first downticks that ‘transmissionofflame’ has received this morning. Why?
The Gaza business has had a polarizing effect and it seems there are people on both sides of the issue who just see red whenever it is discussed, and won’t tolerate relative fence-sitters like me let alone the other side.
Please reconsider.
Too many on here have been brainwashed by the Israeli infested worldwide MSM propaganda machine. – and by definition don’t/won’t/can’t see it.
We have to try and open eyes. Much like on covid/jabs etc.
I see no brown/white/jew/arab in this.
I see 30,000 dead civilians murdered by a very effecient killing machine aka the IDF.
Nothing can justify that.
They want to wipe Palestine off the map – and that involves genocide. And they’re getting away with it, as ever.
At least we’re not banned (yet maybe) on here – try posting such thoughts on much of MSM, with the possible exception of X/twitter.
I agree with Sforzesca. If nobody fights brainwashing then lies become the truth. Of course, it is a personal decision but down-ticks can be a mark of pride!
Douglas Murray is paid to spout Zionist nonsense.
He is and was a lobbyist for Israel via Just Journalism and the Henry Jackson Society.
“Just Journalism is indeed no more than a Zionist mouthpiece.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20140128-just-journalism-or-just-zionism/
Assad didn’t kill 600,000 Arab Muslims, that was the terrorists backed by France, UK and the US (FUKUS) along with Israel.
Nobody killed 600,000 Muslims.
It has been estimated that Western wars have killed four million Muslims since 1990. http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/unworthy-victims-western-wars-have-killed-four-million-muslims-1990-39149394
Estimated by Muslims, trying to pump up the numbers to “Holocaust” levels. Not buying it.
Also estimated by trusted geopolitical analysts (who are white if Muslims bother your sensibilities).
Strange how the vast majority of The Daily Sceptic were slating Israel for forcing their population to take the experimental jab harming thousands. But when they literally kill tens of thousands of brown faced Palestinians the majority of the readers of The Daily Sceptic support them.
The Daily Sceptic has been taken over by racists.
Which demonstrates the ability of Daily Sceptic readers to differentiate between actions and policies, from the individuals/Nation States/cultures that commit to these policies. . It also demonstrates the tribalism of your mindset.
Is there a contradiction between disagreeing with Israeli policy on Covid ‘vaccines’ and having a degree of support for Israel ( and calling out anti semitism) in the face of Hamas genocidal terrorism?
You are very much part of the problem with your myopic viewpoint.
You’ve just proved my point that The Daily Sceptic has been taken over by racists.
And???? Like the boy who cried wolf too many times, no one is frightened by that word “racist” anymore.
“Racist” comes from “racialist”, which meant “tribalist” in the 1800s, defined as “loyalty to the traditions of one’s tribe”, or preferring to live and work in peace among your own tribe or ethnic group. There’s NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.
Tribalism is a marvellous natural survival mechanism, that has allowed humanity to survive for thousands of years.
When you get rid of natural protective tribalism, you go extinct.
And that’s what the Globalists want, for their Depopulation Agenda.
I’m all against the Global Elites depopulation agenda.
I’m also against racism just for what people are and not what people do.
Not all Muslims are terrorists.
Hear hear! Lee Harris telling it like it is over Lee Anderson’s predictable suspension ( 2mins );
”Lee Anderson was suspended for speaking the truth!
We’ve all seen these vile hate marches take over London every weekend, and he was just trying to articulate what a lot of people are thinking.
Suspending him makes the idiotic wet Tories look out of touch with the public!”
https://twitter.com/addicted2newz/status/1761442142059192779
What’s even more astonishing and commendable is that he refuses to apologise! The standard Globalist/Communist trick is to persuade people to apologise, then destroy them anyway. Never do it.
Agreed. Never apologize when you’re in the right just to placate others or save your own arse. Meanwhile, seeing a glimpse of London Bridge tonight…I can understand how Lee had to be given the heave ho, I mean, look at all of these far-right extremists, who are evidently the problem. Anderson, you’re a right fibber. Where’s the evidence to back up your crazy, factually incorrect statements?! Look at all of the far-right out causing chaos yet again! Never a weekend goes by…..tut-tut
https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1761456541343912440
Nice one!
I recommend this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Syria-International-Rivalry-Middle/dp/0300249918/
More edifying than Murray’s whataboutery.
I am surprised Douglas Murray hasn’t drowned in a puddle of his own spittle by now.
“Although precise figures are hard to come by, Assad is reckoned to have murdered some 600,000 Arab Muslims in his country.”
“Although precise figures are hard to come by …” and “Assad is reckoned …” are not very convincing statements, or let us say they strongly suggest the author recognizes he may be wide of the mark.
I saw a YouTube video some time ago of Assad sneaking out of his palace to do some shopping and being immediately recognized by first one and then a number of his citizens. They were all very friendly and he happily chatted with them while walking along the street, slowly collecting a large crowd. There was no security anywhere and Assad obviously felt perfectly safe wandering around. He is clearly a popular and admired political leader, no matter what western press may maintain.
One may ask how many innocent citizens in such countries as Afghanistan, Irak, Libya, Syria and so on, have been killed by US and NATO forces? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Is anyone counting?
But to argue that numbers of people killed in other conflicts were much higher than current Palestinian deaths and therefore Israel is not committing genocide is truly pathetic.
And when did western journalists ever report on the conflict in Yemen? Funny how some conflicts are drawn to our attention on a daily basis and others are not considered to be at all newsworthy. Why is that?
It’s interesting that, however many evil despots the West kills, another one always seems to pop up wherever there are western strategic interests.
What will be the next flag the perpetual flag-wavers choose. We had the yellow and blue of the EU and Ukraine and now the red,white,green and black of the Palestinians?
My candidate is the red, white and blue – no, not UK or USA, but Taiwan.
The West absolutely condemned and continues to condemn Assad. We don’t use the actual term genocide very much – but that’s because he was murdering his own people. Remember the USA actively supported the resistance until Putin decided to step in and support a fellow murderous dictator.
Yemen is a bit different. It was awful and I remember lots of appeals to stop it and get aid but it is hard to know who is responsible.
I suggest an alternate explanation: Assad doesn’t organize propaganda campaigns on its behalf which play on well-established hate-stereotypes about Germans like the government of Israel always does. Hence, few people beyond the semi-educated “TV news” middle class are aware of what’s going on in Syria. And hence, there are no large demonstrations in the streets.
If the war in Gaza was just another regional conflict, it would simply get ignored like all other conflicts in this region where Britain (and France) really f***ed everything up but didn’t bother to disarm the people and occupy their territory for about half a century due to brownish people in the middle-east killing other brownish people in the middle-east being singularly uninteresting to the so-called West for as long as these conflicts remain contained in this region.
But it’s different when Israel is involved because that’s a test-tube country whose ruling class has strong connections to Britain and the USA (foremost) and thus, also a lot of influence in the NATO satellite statelets all over continental Europe. We will be informed about events in Gaza no matter if we like it or not and most of this ‘information’ will have come from propaganda material issued by the government of test-tube-rael. Because of this, popular opposition to it manifests itself as well.
The case for Palestine is this.
1. Is there a nation of Palestine? Yes. The kingdom once ruled from Damascus by the Seleucids and the Umayyads might have been carved up differently after 1918, but Mandate Palestine as defined in 1922 contained a population which always had been there with a land, a language and a history. It has as good a claim to nationhood as, say, Belarus.
2. Does it have the right to exist? Yes. The UN resolution which ended the Palestinian mandate called for the partition of Mandate Palestine into two states of equal area both with access to surrounding states. The resolution was called the partition resolution and passed only because of Zionist campaigning.
3. Was Palestine the original aggressor? No. The moment Israel declared independence, it forgot all about partition. The Deir Yassin massacre and the ethnic cleansing of Jaffa took place before the outbreak of war. When the war began, Israel followed up every victory by ethnic cleansing. When the war ended, it prevented the return of refugees and nationalised their homes in defiance of a UN resolution.
4. Is Zionism a form of nationalism? No. It rejects the concept that the world is rightly divided into nation states of equal status existing by prescription, and that their inhabitants ought by default to live in that nation state, remain loyal to it when temporarily residing elsewhere, and aim to return to it in the event that they are forced to leave it.
I am genuinely baffled by the line the Daily Sceptic has taken on the issue. What are we asked to be sceptical about? Not Douglas Murray with his tendentious arithmetic (“although precise figures are hard to come by”) and misdirection of attention from Palestine to Syria. What is the difference between this and (“the highest since records began”) climate science?
And how does it fit with the Daily Sceptic’s line on immigration? The inhabitants of Palestinian refugee camps such as Rafah are the only genuine nationalists in this equation. They actually want to remain in, or return to, the land of their ancestors. The more such refugees the better.
I have renewed my subscription for one more month, but I see little point in paying for the privilege of commenting here for much longer.
Well said.
I’ve no doubts though that soon the DS will redress the imbalance by promoting articles which may even tend to support Palestine.
Lol.