RANT: READ THE FINE PRINT, PEOPLE!

 

 

HERE'S SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: Read the following news item from BBC World News:

 

“The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 57,500 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

Most of Gaza's population has also been displaced multiple times. More than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed; and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.” (BBC, July 8, 2025)

 

SO? News is news. Right? Well, not entirely. 

 

IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH, BBC notes that 1200 “people” were killed by Hamas militants on October 7. The total number of Israelis killed may be slightly lower, around 1100, but it should be noted that 373 “people” were Israeli Defence Force members. Hamas fighters engaged with IDF troops stationed in kibbutzim and military posts adjacent to the eastern border fence with Gaza where the Palestinian breakout occurred. That civilians were shot and killed by Hamas fighters, I have no doubt. How many is unclear. What is clear is that one of the main objectives in the Hamas attacks was to take hostages back to Gaza and use as leverage in future negotiations. 

Not all the dead were civilians, then. In addition, there are reports claiming scores, if not hundreds, were killed by IDF “friendly fire” authorized under the so-called “Hannibal Directive”, to prevent Israelis from becoming hostages. Finally, there is speculation that October 7 was allowed to happen, that Israel had forewarning of the Hamas operation but let it occur to have an excuse to launch a major operation into Gaza. In the fog of war, we can only grope for answers by familiarizing ourselves with a variety of sources in the hope that at some future time clearer answers will emerge. But some backstory and alternative views add ‘colour’ to what’s written and argued as the black and white final say in such matters.

 

THE SECOND PARAGRAPH SAYS: “More than 57,500 people have been killed in Gaza…”  Ignoring, for now, the low-ball estimate from the Gaza Health Ministry (with some studies suggesting twice that number), note the passive voice in the report: “have been” killed…. By what? A tsunami? Bigfoot? It just sort of happened? No. They were killed by Israeli bombardments, gun, and tank fire. Nearly two-thirds of the victims were children up to the age of eighteen and women, both of which are unlikely candidates for Hamas militia membership. Hence they are non-combatants and the large number of civilian deaths in Gaza cannot be excused by IDF claims they are "collateral damage". It's clear (or should be) that civilians are fired on deliberately by Israeli soldiers. It’s that kind of neutered, washed-out reporting on the part of the BBC that makes everything seem ‘equal’ and differences disappear, so that we can call what’s going on in Gaza a “war” between Hamas and Israel, instead of what it really is—something more akin to shooting ducks in a barrel. The military strength between Hamas and Israel is not comparable. Israel has one of the largest and best equipped militaries in the world, certainly in terms of weaponry and its air force. Hamas has small arms for the most part, grenade-launchers, etc., and crude missiles it launches periodically into Israel. It’s called a war, but a slaughter is a better description with Israel's main target being the Palestinian civilian population. The IDF claims it only targets Hamas fighters, but the world sees the truth. How many dead children does it take to put paid to the lie around this  unconscionable practice?

 

THE THIRD PARAGRAPH is similar in depicting the destruction of Gazan homes and critical infrastructure passively as “damaged or destroyed” without saying who's done the destroying. The article gives the impression of two armies waging wars across the territory causing destruction in their wake, with each side equally to blame. There is no weighing of responsibility or blame here. In reality, all the destruction of Gazan infrastructure has been caused by Israeli bombs and missiles. Such subtle reporting bias draws our attention away from the actors by only reporting on the actions in the conflict, as if some force of nature caused the water treatment plant to explode or the hospital to collapse. It suggests bad shit just happens. What can you do?

The BBC article says Gazan infrastructure has “collapsed”. But, what caused the collapse? Too much toilet paper in the pipes? No. Israeli bombs have made Gaza uninhabitable by deliberately and systematically destroying the enclave’s infrastructure [Hospitals, schools, mosques, public buildings, stores, businesses, water and sewage facilities, thermal electricity plants, gardens, orchards,  you name it--even graveyards!] BTW, attacking a civilian population in such a manner is a war crime under international law. It's a form of “collective punishment” and illegal under the Geneva Convention. 

 

👉BUT I THINK the most disingenuous sentence is the final one: "...there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter.” Again without saying why. The first three are due to Israel’s blockade, begun in March, which stops all but a trickle of food and humanitarian aid from entering. It doesn’t say that Israel is using hunger as a weapon to corral and control 2.1 million Gazans. Thus: starving babies, war crimes--you know the drill. And the reason there is no shelter in Gaza is because Israel has bombed the place back to the Stone Age, turning the majority of Palestinians into refugees inside their own land. If I’m wrong, could someone please ‘spain to me what my own two lyin' eyes are seeing?😕  

 

👉If we don’t get reporting and analysis from a variety of sources, with varying viewpoints and details, how are we able to judge what’s true or at least ‘truth adjacent’ these days? Happy news gathering, all ye Truth Seekers!

 

Cheers, Jake. ____________________________________

 

 

 

 

RANT: HEAR NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL, SAY NO EVIL

 

 

FUN FACT: Just a short note on the censorship front: I was reading a post on the website, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), a pro-Palestinian advocacy group, and it had a link to the messaging service Instagram (it’s like X). I thought I would check it out to see if there was additional information around pro-Palestinian censorship on university campuses that we've been hearing so much about recently. I had to set up an account with Instagram to access postings there and lost a few more brain cells deciding on yet another “username” and “password”. I read the post, but it was the same as on CJPME’s website. So, I closed Instagram and forgot about it until later in the day when I thought I would check to see if I’d written down my username and password correctly. I logged back in only to find I‘d been locked out of my account for breaching some “community standard” or other and had sixty days to appeal (what?) or my account would be deleted (boo-hoo!).

I CAN ONLY CONCLUDE—since I’d used Instagram once in connection with the above-mentioned pro-Palestine post—that my sanction had to do with accessing information and opinion critical of Israel, the Israel lobby, and the Zionist donor class here in Canada.

IT SHOULD be noted that Instagram is owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. And Meta's owner, the American billionaire Mark Zukerberg, has his nose so far up the Deep State’s and Israel-Firsters’ collective ass that his baby-blues have turned a turgid brown. In other words, Instagram discourages the free exchange of information and ideas that run contrary to the narrative they wish to shape, which, I can only conclude, is pro-Israel no matter what. And that, kemosabe, is called censorship—an important must-have for discerning fascists everywhere.*

 

 

Cheers, Jake. _____________________________________

 

* And no, I don't think someone is out to get me. It's just that I've ran afoul of some search algorithm on Instagram. Fuking AI's! Next stop, it's SkyNet, baby!  

 

JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE!

 

WELL, this is quite a day, one where Julian Assange is one step closer to being a free man. Today, he left London in a private jet to Bangkok en route to the American Protectorate of the Northern Marianas Islands in the Pacific Ocean. On Wednesday, he will make a final court appearance there* and plead guilty to one (trumped-up) charge under the U.S. Espionage Act, namely the crime of “conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate national defense information.” Then he will join his family in Australia as a free man. It’s part of a plea deal made with American authorities that will see him plead guilty to a single count and be released for time served. Julian has spent the past 12 years in confinement, first in the Ecuadorian embassy, in London, having requested political asylum there in 2012. Then, when a new president was elected in Ecuador (and after Wikileaks published an exposé on corruption within the Moreno government), he was expelled in 2019 and subsequently jailed  in Belmarsh's "high security prisoner prison" in SE London until now. Though he was only charged with "breaching the Bail Act" (usually a misdemeanor offense), when he requested asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, he ended up spending over five years at Belmarsh (nicknamed "Hellmarsh" because of conditions there) living in a 2 by 3 meter cell, 23 hours per day, while his extradition case made its way through the courts. He was in the same prison along with rapists, serial killers and terrorists. What purpose was served by jailing him when home arrest or other measures could have been used by the British government to ensure he didn't flee the country? He should have been out on bail while his extradition hearing proceeded. But the years he spent in Belmarsh were meant to punish and demoralize him, of course, perhaps to the point of suicide. Such are the dark machinations of our elites. It was an outrageous and brazen abuse of power by  British and American authorities to deny Julian Assange justice.

WITH his health, both mental and physical, deteriorating, and prospects of extradition to the United States on “espionage” charges looming ever closer, this sudden reversal of fortune comes as a great joy for family, friends, and supporters of Julian around the world. That he will, at last, be free and united with his family after his ordeal is a blessing. But it is galling to recall that Julian's only 'crime' was acting as a journalist/publisher and doing journalism, i.e., reporting news and shedding light on government wrong-doing and corruption, news that is in the public's interest to know. And he has suffered greatly for simply doing his job.

 

👉FINALLY, a cautionary note should be added to this tale: the several charges leveled against Julian under the U.S. Espionage Act were in force until very recently when public opinion and complaints from the Australian government (Julian is an Australian citizen) that "enough is enough," no doubt raised White House concerns that President "Fried Brains" Biden was losing support among young voters who, by and large, favour Assange and his journalism.¹ Julian will plead guilty “to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents,” with the rest of the charges withdrawn. But even this reduced charge and its verdict have serious implications for journalism around the world.¹ Julian’s years of confinement and his guilty plea to a single (bogus) charge of "espionage" will have a chilling effect on journalists, going forward, who will have to decide how diligent they will be when investigating the state and holding the powerful to account, especially when consequences like the ones Julian suffered may be in the offing for them. Stay tuned.

 

Cheers, Jake.____________________________________

 

* Julian bordered a private jet en route to Thailand then to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. colony protectorate northeast of Australia, where he will have his plea bargain adjudicated. Julian did not want to enter the U.S. mainland for his sentencing hearing because he feared U.S. authorities would find some excuse to keep him in custody. I thought Julian would be “lawfared” to death and would die in prison while his legal carousel just kept spinning and spinning. So, some good news for a change.😄

 

1. In addition, the ungainly-named AUKUS alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States is a new initiative to project Western power in the Indo-Pacific region and the U.S. wants to keep Australia happy and thinking itself relevant. It's another reason for the U.S. to go for the plea deal.

 

 

FREE! JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE! FREE! JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE! FREE! JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE!