War and Peace #256
By Hank Silverberg
I write this week with a heavy heart.
I am an American, but as a Jew, part of me is always with Israel even though I have never been there.
Over a thousand Jews living in southern Israel near Gaza were brutally murdered for no reason other than being Jewish.
More than a hundred people, notably from 36 different countries, were taken hostage.
So far, Israel's response has been restrained. And much of the world is probably on their side. But it may not stay that way.
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| (Courtesy Library of Congress) |
For the past 75 years, the Palestinians were kept poor and stateless, not by Israel, but by the same Arab nations of the region which called on them to fight Israel, but then pay little attention to them in between violent outbursts.
Jordan fought a war to push the Palestinians out in the 1970's. Egypt pushed the refugees into the Gaza Strip in the first place to keep them out of Egypt.
There have been several legitimate attempts over the years by the Israeli government, with American mediation at times, to create a two-state solution that would give the Palestinians their own home. The United States has given them millions of dollars to help create stability, jobs and infrastructure in Gaza and on the West Bank.
It has all failed, mainly because of Iran.
The regime in Tehran has pretty much bulked up Hamas, Hezbollah and even the corrupt and ineffective Palestinian Authority for more than a decade. It is in line with Iranian ambitions to restore the Persian empire from the 6th Century B.C.E. with their theological ideology.
The Israel-Hamas war should have us all on alert.
Hamas and Israel have clashed many times before, but potential for the war widening into something much bigger is greater this time than it has been in the past.
Some things to watch that should send out big alarms in both the U.S. and elsewhere:
1) Will Hezbollah, controlled by Iran, expand attacks on Israel from its haven in Lebanon?
2) Will Iran send additional sophisticated weapons to Hamas, possibly through proxies in Syria?
3) How will Israel enter the Gaza Strip with ground forces? They have already gotten some smart bomb components from the U.S. in an effort to limit civilian casualties, but there are bound to be many dead civilians anyway.
4) What will be the worldwide response once the civilian death toll inevitably climbs? And will some kind of humanitarian aid be set up that will help the average Palestinian refugee, but not help Hamas?
5) Will two U.S. Carrier Groups in the Mediterranean be enough to deter Iran and Syria from entering the battle or enough to irritate the Russians, who have been cuddling up to Iran for years?
6) Will the rest of the world start to pressure Israel to stop once civilian casualties mount? And will there be domestic pressure on PM Benjamin Netanyahu from within Israel for the same reason? You may remember the mass protests in Israel against his right-wing leadership over the past year.
7) Will the international nature of the hostages have any impact on world opinion?
And this one is key:
Will the conflict spread outside the region with terrorist attacks in Europe of the U.S.?
One thing already lost was a diplomatic initiative by Israel and Saudi Arabia which was about to recognize Israel for the first time. That's been delayed, if not eliminated. And Iran and Saudi Arabia have broken the ice between them. The Saudi Crown Prince and the leader of Iran had their first ever phone conversation over what is going on in Gaza.
One thing is certain. Israel has the right to defend itself, and given the nature and brutality of the Hamas attack, Israel's counter-attack will not be short and will be deadly.
I have seen a lot of people offering prayers for peace. I remind you that all of those involved think God is on their side.
Psyched Out!
Call it a sophisticated metal detector. NASA has launched a $1.2 billion spacecraft toward a metal- rich asteroid called Psyche, that may be different from anything studied before. The craft is headed towards an asteroid considered the largest metallic object in our solar system. The probe was launched using a SPACE X rocket on October 13.
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| (Liftoff on Oct 13, courtesy of NASA Aubrey Gemignani) |
We will have to wait a while though. The spacecraft, also named Psyche, won't reach the asteroid until 2029.
There are over a million asteroids in our solar system, but most are composed of rock. Some are a mixture of rock and ice, but a few, classified as "M" type asteroids, are made mostly of metal--mostly iron and nickel. Scientists believe Psyche is between 30% to 60% metal. It is the largest of the "M" class at about 220 kilometers across. The theory is that it may be the exposed core of some ancient protoplanet as old as 4.5 billion years.
The mission is three years behind schedule because of delays related to the Covid-19 pandemic that produced a staffing shortage at NASA.
One other intriguing aspect of the mission--the spacecraft will fly past Mars in 2026 using the red planet's gravity to speed up a rendezvous with Psyche.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03165-5
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/psyche
PragerU
Have you ever heard of PragerU? It's a right-wing school curriculum that has been cropping up across the country, even in public school districts.
It's all in response to the myth that Critical Race Theory has somehow taken over the schools, which is a totally false allegation.
In the past the group has produced five-minute videos for teenagers and college students.
PragerU though, is more dangerous than a few parents complaining about the contexts of "bad books" that they haven't read.
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The Montana Free Press has highlighted a few inaccurate things in the PragerU curriculum, which is presented in five-minute videos.
・A cartoon Booker T. Washington distorting the history of the Civil War. And brushing over the Jim Crow era.
・A narrator explaining that embracing climate denialism is akin to participating in the Warsaw Uprising.
・An instructional video telling girls that conforming to gender stereotypes is a great way to embrace their femininity.
・A dramatization of the supposedly civilizing, benevolent era of British Colonial rule in India.
The Montana Human Rights Network says the curriculum casts doubt on climate change and the brutality of slavery and dismisses well documented incidents of discrimination.
To put this into perspective, a news release from PragerU, trying to sell the curriculum, says this about local school board members and teachers:
"They are sick and tired of curriculum laced with radical political agendas--from Critical race Theory and gender fluidity to overt anti-Americanism."
The curriculum was founded by right-wing talk show host Dennis Prager. The company describes itself as the world's leading conservative non-profit that is focused on changing minds through creative use of digital media.
The trouble is, much of the curriculum is hogwash.
Just one more example: a video in which a cartoon of Christopher Columbus says:
"Slavery is as old as time, and has taken place in every corner of the world, even amongst the people I just left. Being taken as a slave is better than being killed. I don’t see the problem.”
In fact, Columbus enslaved thousands of the indigenous people he encountered in the New World and sent hundreds home to Spain to be sold into slavery. Many died en-route.
The so-called "curriculum" is nothing more than right-wing propaganda pushing a political agenda, and should have no place in public schools.
The company claims that more than 700,000 parents, grandparents and educators have subscribed to PragerU.
If you have kids in school, it's a good idea to ask them what they are learning and how they get their information. In some school districts you may have to counterattack this propaganda with facts.
PragerU, Creator of Controversial Social Studies Videos, Now Has a Toehold in Schools (edweek.org)
Dumbest Quote of The Week
This week's dumbest quote comes from one of those talking heads that my regular readers know I have little tolerance for. It's not that they give their opinion, although I am never sure why the average person needs to be told what to think. But I have little respect for the talking heads because their opinions are often based on falsehoods, distortions or just plain lies. I will credit my wife for finding this week's dumbest quote on her newsfeed. It comes from the often misinformed Laura Ingraham, who often has the wrong "angle" on her Fox News talk show.
She managed to twist Joe Biden's speech about the Israel-Hamas war into the legal mess faced by Donald Trump.
Biden had used the phrase "Let's be real clear: There's no place for hate in America."
So what "angle" did Ingraham take?
She said :
If he's really against hate, then he should call a prosecutorial cease-fire against his political adversaries like the former president and direct his DOJ and DHS to stop making conservative Americans feel like they're the enemy or like they're the violent extremists out there."
Trump and his co-conspirators are on trial in an American courtroom for allegedly breaking the law. It's not about hate, it's about the law.
Note to Ingraham: many conservatives don't want to be associated with Trump and his ilk, or any of the people who stormed the Capitol building in 2021 because they believe in the rule of law.
The prosecutions are not about politics or hate. They are about the law.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
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HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
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