Open mike 29/10/2023
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6:00 am, October 29th, 2023 - 59 comments
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- Treasury warns deeper recession worsening Budget deficit
The gift that keeps giving: David Seymour has now opened a split in the coalition over the future of National’s promise to build a new medical school. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / TheKakaKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and ...21 minutes ago - Weekly Roundup 22-November-2024
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Record Numbers: The Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, which began at the tip of the North, and the tail of the South, on 11 November, culminated outside Parliament on Tuesday, 19 November 2024, in one of the largest demonstrations in New Zealand’s political history.ACCORDING TO TE ARA, the Ministry of Culture ...2 hours ago - The Rush To Blame “The Activists”
Activists are such easy scapegoats. The right and center have been conditioned for decades to roll their eyes at all protests. The left are easily aggravated over students leading movements they see as belonging to grownups, who have more important concerns like the economy and whether the trains come on ...2 hours ago - Cutting Through An Inundation of Dipshit Racists
Hi,Watching New Zealand from afar offers a strange perspective. It can be a good thing — distance from Aotearoa helped keep me sane while I reported on abuse at New Zealand’s biggest megachurch over the course of a year. It helps fuel my silly podcast. But it can also be ...3 hours ago - This is bad news
The speech yesterday by Treasury’s Chief Economic Advisor warning that the books are in worse shape than forecasted looks like it’s part of a softening-up process for either more cuts or a longer wait to get back into surplus. The speech was a highly unusual public preview of Treasury’s Half-Yearly ...4 hours ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2024
Open access notables Projected increase in the frequency of extremely active Atlantic hurricane seasons, Lopez et al., Science Advances: Future changes to the year-to-year swings between active and inactive North Atlantic tropical cyclone (TC) seasons have received little attention, yet may have great societal implications in areas prone to hurricane ...13 hours ago - Chicken Kiev
Chatting in the supermarket this morning, I found I needed to lunge for the chicken drumsticks.Coping mechanisms: who hasn’t felt a greater need for them lately?When it all gets too much, I turn to demonstrating handy butchery hacks.It wasn’t that she’d said anything wrong, our friend, not at all. We ...16 hours ago - The year is 2024 and it’s 1984
This is written in response to the highly significant open letter from a group of economists that was today addressed to Christopher Luxon. The year is 2024, and it’s 1984. The country is reeling from a record Olympic medal gold haul, while the globe grapples with the choice of the ...17 hours ago - The IPCA has failed
Back in 2022, RNZ took an in-depth look at the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority and its handling of killings by police. These are the most serious test of oversight, and you would expect the police's use of lethal force to receive the most severe scrutiny. But despite the police regularly ...21 hours ago - Thursday 21 November 2024
The Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti arrived at Parliament on Tuesday – the size is being debated but estimates range from 42,000 to 100,000. The Prime Minister is defending not attending due to some of the organisers being affiliated with Te Pāti Māori. The national gang patch ban came into force ...21 hours ago - ‘These budget cuts are counter-productive and make no sense’
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Nicola Willis’ budget cuts are under fire from economists for having no clear rationale and worsening the recession. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, November 21: The news at ...1 day ago
- The end of policing by consent
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- 27% of kids going hungry, up from 21% in a year
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- Young Maori take over
Neither Wellington nor Parliament has ever seen anything like it before. The Police said there were more than 40,000 but however many there were, yesterday’s Hikoi to Parliament was a monumental event. It was almost three times the Foreshore and Seabed martch of 2004 and many,many times bigger than ...2 days ago
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The government's Treaty Principles Bill is up for its first reading today - bought forward in a rush in a desperate effort to avoid the hikoi which is currently marching on Wellington. But the Prime Minister won’t be there for it – he’s literally running away to Peru! But he ...1 week ago
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Good morning, and I’m sorry I’ve been away for a couple of days.I’ve been focusing on the Hikoi, and also testing out sentiment on the Treaty Principles Bill. It’s complicated, and the Treaty Principles Bill will be debated in the House today. The Government’s own lawyers have told them the ...1 week ago - Government must vote down ACT Members Bill that would undermine workers’ rights
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The Treaty Principles Bill is set to have its First Reading in the House today, as the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti continues. More than 40 KCs have written to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General outlining their “grave concerns” about the substance of the Treaty Principles Bill, while an academic and ...1 week ago
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National Government’s backward-looking climate policy has seen New Zealand fall seven places on the Climate Change Performance Index to 41 out of 63 countries measured. ...20 hours ago
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When the Government says it has reduced the number of people in emergency housing, what it means is it is stopping people from accessing it in the first place. ...23 hours ago
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The Government is turning its back on children by not only weakening child poverty reduction targets, but also removing child mental wellbeing as a priority focus in their Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy. ...23 hours ago
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Today, Hīkoi mō te Tiriti arrived in Wellington, with thousands gathering to march in unity against the divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...3 days ago
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Kua hinga te manawa kairākau o Te Rua Tekau Ma Waru Tiwhatiwha te po! Kakarauru i te po! Ka rapuhia kei hea koe kua riro! Haere e te Ika a Whiro ki o tini hoa kua ngaro atu ki te Pō ...2 weeks ago
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- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
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The Green Party says the need is greater than ever for Aotearoa New Zealand to pursue an independent foreign policy. ...2 weeks ago
- Government action provides Southland farmers more time to meet plan requirements
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Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...2 days ago
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Tēnā koutou katoa. Mr President, Excellencies, Delegates. New Zealand, and all nations represented here today, are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Our households, businesses, and economies are bearing the costs of its effects. The choices we make now will shape the severity of these impacts for generations ...2 days ago
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- Final push needed to get to Smokefree 2025
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- New diplomatic appointments
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- Better coordination of anti-scam efforts
With the launch of Fraud Awareness Week, the Government is committing to new coordination efforts across industry and government to combat online scams, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Online financial scams are a growing problem for New Zealand. New data released today shows that Kiwis lost nearly ...4 days ago
- Minister to consider 7AA select committee report
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Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane, Laos. “We need to take every opportunity to engage with our international partners, given the increasingly unstable geo-political situation,” Ms Collins says. “New Zealand has a long-standing commitment to this ...4 days ago
- Launching the White Ribbon Ride
The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Karen Chhour, was on hand to wish riders well at the start of the North Island leg of the White Ribbon Ride in Whakatāne this morning. The ride helps mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, ...5 days ago
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Construction on the next stage of the SH1 Papakura to Drury project will begin early next month, with the contract for works awarded to Fulton Hogan, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. "SH1 Papakura to Drury is a key project that will drive economic growth and productivity, reduce congestion, and enable people ...6 days ago
- NZ signs trade deal with Costa Rica, Iceland and Switzerland
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has signed a pioneering trade agreement that prioritises New Zealand’s sustainable exports at a ceremony during APEC in Peru today. “The Agreement on Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS), between Costa Rica, Iceland, and Switzerland was concluded in July of this year and opens up significant ...6 days ago
- Government and iwi work together on aquaculture
Five new Aquaculture Settlement Areas will help ensure Ngāi Tahu shares in the opportunities aquaculture offers for Southland’s economy, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. “The Aquaculture Settlement Areas (ASAs) I’m announcing today set aside space so the Crown and Ngāi Tahu can assess their potential for aquaculture development. ...7 days ago
- Government launches review to ensure electricity market is fit-for-purpose
The terms of reference for a review of the performance of the electricity market have been released. The review, initiated by the Coalition Government during the power crisis in winter will look at whether current regulations and market design support economic growth and access to reliable and affordable electricity, Energy Minister ...7 days ago
- Speech to Social Investment Hui: Jack and his whānau need our help
Kia ora koutou katoa. Nau mai, haere mai, piki mai. Ki te mihi atu ahau, ki te manwhenua nei, Te Atiawa, Ngāti toa rangatira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you, Andy, for your introduction. Let me acknowledge you as the new Chief Executive of the Social Investment ...7 days ago
- Minister of State for Trade heads to Brisbane for PACER Plus meeting
Minister of State for Trade Nicola Grigg has travelled to Australia to attend the PACER Plus Ministers Meeting in Brisbane. “Trade plays a critical role in driving employment, economic growth, and improving the standards of living in the Pacific Region. The Government is strongly committed to supporting Pacific Island countries ...1 week ago
- RNA editing is the next frontier in gene therapy – here’s what you need to know
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- Humans are killing off the old and wise animals that hold nature together. Here’s what must change
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- A man scouring Google Earth found a mysterious scar in the Australian outback – and now scientists...
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- Design as a movement: how First Nations people take ownership of their cultural stories through fash...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Greenhow, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Bond University Linda George/Shutterstock The ten-year anniversary of the death of much-loved Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes falls on November 27. The 25-year-old’s life was tragically cut short in 2014 when a bouncer ...54 minutes ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Gomes-Ng, Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Former New Zealand prime minister John Key has three white rabbits painted on his helicopter, a nod to his “massively superstitious” habit of repeating “white rabbits” three times at ...3 hours ago
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Labour claims Government is ‘cherry-picking’ smoking trends data to hide decade-first increase in daily smokers The post Smoke and mirrors in heated tobacco debate appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
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- Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 22 November
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 22 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
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The post Daily crossword, Friday 22 November appeared first on Newsroom. ...4 hours ago
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A framework for global carbon trading under the Paris Agreement is finally nearing completion at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan after years of halting talks.Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is one of two ministers tasked by the COP29 hosts with landing a long-sought deal on Article 6 of the climate accord, ...4 hours ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Richard Marles is an ambitious man who hasn’t given up the dream of one day reaching the top job. But, despite being deputy prime minister, his profile is much lower than that of Treasurer Jim ...10 hours ago
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The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.
You know things are desperate when an ED nurse of 40 years experience complains “ What’s going on, the games gone soft” over to much TMO interference.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/10/27/a-red-card-could-ruin-the-rwc-final-why-the-game-needs-fairer-rulings/
Wayne Brown and T-MO winning by a goldmine.
That’s what bloody happens when you change the government. Useless bloody Nats it’s all their fault.
Send a losing minister from a losing government to a RWC final and look what happens 😁
NZ elected a National-led council of thieves on October 14.
The All Blacks are beaten in the Rugby World Cup final two weeks later.
God is punishing us for our sins.
Penance has been paid.
All is not lost. We’ll have at least two further chances to win the RWC under our new government.
Politics and sport do mix.
There are a few parallels with the 2023 election result and the All Black loss over the weekend. First, we all lose at times. Second, sometimes there's not much in it, and what will the TMO say as the results are reviewed on November 3? Third, how will the new coach/captain/new players perform? Fourth, look what happens when players don't perform, are sin-binned, are seduced into playing overseas or just plain drop the bloody ball or miss the posts.
Well, at least we weren't beaten by the Aussies!
Oh…… the Black Caps just were.
And we, the crowd, we just have to go back home and get on with it, each other and whatever it is that the world, weather and wars dish out to us.
With his gf called 'susie'..what do you..expect?
Hold that Christopher Luxon photo-op ….
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2023/oct/28/rugby-world-cup-final-new-zealand-v-south-africa-live-score-updates
Wayne Barnes. Slip of the digit. Correction to my previous comment.
Heard rumours that the TMO can now go back so far in advance to rule out an ABs try, Wayne Barnes has finally called the forward pass from 2007…
Which forward pass do you mean—the one by the All Blacks before McAlister's try or the one by the Tricolours before Jauzion's?
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-middle-east-67246761
Darkness and almost total silence. All forms of communication has ceased.
6 million Jews died under a fascist regime. Millions more dying or going to die under a new fascist regime – a Jewish regime.
My support for the right of Israel to exist in its present form has run out.
Yeah I don't know what to think about Israel anymore tbh. My only certainty in all of this is to get rid of Netanyahu and Likud & their fellow travellers and from there we need to proceed.
I just hope all the innocent civilians from both sides are okay and that they live to try to establish something new from the ashes of all of this.
Do you question the right of Russia to exist?
Millions ….(remember the saying about new MP’s in parliament) …
By that what do you mean?
I'm talking about the millions (anything from 1 to 6 ) who will die if Israel continues on its present path under the current administration.
Russia? A false dichotomy.
Why would that happen on their current path?
Israel is 'currently' bombing Gaza into the ground.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/oct/28/israel-hamas-war-live-gaza-phone-and-internet-cut-off-as-israel-intensifies-bombardment
No more than some rebel held cities in Syria.
It is more. Gaza is supposed to be, practically, a separate state.
But, as with all power holders, Israel is able to dictate when the West Bank and Gaza are considered autonomous, and when they are not. It changes depending on their interests.
It's also why they will never win and will always consider themselves under threat, forever. I think they and they leaders simply prefer it this way.
Gaza is in that grey area of being self governing, but under border control because it is supposed to be part of a future Palestine state – one realised by some two state peace settlement (or otherwise they will be like the Korean peninsular is with two states).
The best course would be for Gaza to be a separate state (and control of its own borders – it would still need secure water and power sorted) and then merge with the WB when the PA gets control there.
UN administration is the best course, but expecting the UN to actually solve anything …
"…will always consider themselves under threat,…"
That's because they are always under threat and if you aren't aware of that then I suggest you do some research and learn the facts about Israel and the surrounding states in the middle east.
Is Russia a false dichotomy?
Generally the rule is – if a nation starts a war the regime is defeated, occupied and undergoes regime replacement.
But Russia would still exist as a nation state.
Ok
So like the US for most of its lifetime?
The building of the Russian state took centuries of expansion.
From a new world settlement into the interior after 1789, then 1846-48 vs Mexico, 1898 vs Spain for the US of A.
Don't forget Hawai'i in 1893, up till then an independent kingdom, internationally recognised as such.
The first monarch to circumnavigate the world was from Hawai'i
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal%C4%81kaua%27s_1881_world_tour
Fascinating story.
There’s a reason why Tories go on holiday there. They’d love all the culture and touristy appropriation, but with sovereignty imposed by gunboat. That’s what the Treaty ‘reviews’ etc are.
I feel that "right to exist" discussions are essentially meaningless and don't help. I'd start from the position that all extant states have a right not to be made non-existent, especially by force, which is already the case in international conventions. Whether any settler-colonial state ever had the right to be created is a different question and it's solely of academic interest – we have to deal with the cards history has dealt. None of this means that states have a right never to be pressured to change their constitution, laws and behaviour.
Fully agree. Israel does have a right to exist but not at the expense of trying to annihilate another nation's citizens, most of whom are innocent of any acts of terrorism.
So you believe that there is an attempt to annihilate Gaza residents, because of the military action there, but not so in Ukraine?
Is this based on the number of deaths, the number of refugees, or the cut off of power etc compared to that in Ukraine?
Are you seriously holding up the war in Ukraine as sufficient reason to slaughter more than 6 thousand innocent civilians in Gaza? More than half of which are children? Israel has continued, from its inception, to find ways to eliminate the inconvenient native population. Beginning in 1948 with the murder and displacement of over 50 % of the population. The destruction of 50% of villages. The ruins of which some of the settler communities invaded by Hamas were built on.
Its about the most pathetic excuse for supporting war crimes that I've come across
Argue the point. Which was the absurd and indefensible claim made.
To which you added your own
Risible. Few were killed, and some of the displaced left because of the coming Arab army invasion. Over 90% of Jews in Arab nations were displaced (most) or killed (few) at this time and all Jews either killed or displaced from the West Bank.
Another lie. I was challenging a false accusation. War does not create a license to slander.
PS The death rate of children in war tome as a consequence of bombing is a function of the population demographics.
Imagine thatnotso long ago, in any givencountryyou are familiar with, halfof the entire populationhadbeen forcibly expelled within a year, halfofits villagesandtowns wiped out, leav-ingbehindonly rubbleandstones. Imaginenowthe possibility that some-howthis act will never make it into the history booksandthatall diplomatic efforts to solve the contlict thateruptedin thatcountrywill totally sideline, ifnotignore, this catastrophic event.
From Ilan Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. This is documented history told from the perspective of the victims. Pappe further states that if the Yugoslav ethnic cleansing had not occurred then the UN definitions of this war crime would have fit the history of Israels ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Sure, but Pappe here mentioned nothing about killings of Palestinians (only some were).
And he does not mention some Arabs within the area left rather than be in the war zone (presumably because they were not allowed to return), or that some of the refugees were in the area that Israeli territory expanded into during the 1948 war (Gaza to WB land bridge for example).
Pappe does not mention the equivalent matters of the killing or expulsion of Jews from areas the Arab armies occupied. As with the break up of Yugoslavia and with the 1947 partition, when there is war rather than acceptance of established or agreed upon borders there is death and displacement. Something we can see in the Donbass etc.
Rubbish. Learn some history. You should start by learning about what happened in 1948 especially when you're making comments about the supposed "inconvenient native population"
Your comment is a pathetic excuse for supporting the murder and rape by scumbag terrorists of 1000's of innocent civilians including the cold blooded murder of babies. Hope you realize that Hamas views you as a useful idiot.
I made no such claim. An attempt to justify some petty fogging point for the sake of it?
Apart from both being being led by bloody minded right-wing politicians with fascist tendencies, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's invasion of Palestine are two different wars in two different places for [largely] two different reasons. A person is allowed to comment on one without reference to the other. FFS.
You made the claim that Israel was
It's an outrageous slander, and without any evidence of similar outrageous claims against other nations engaged in war, it could be called one based on anti-Semitism.
Play the anti semitism card all you like. This isnt the UK. From Mondoweiss we know that current thinking of both an influential think tank linked to Netanyahu and Israeli Intelligence Ministry is to move the population of Gaza out of Gaza into tent cities in the Sinai. Do you know the correct name for these plans? It's called ethnic cleansing. It's a war crime and it has been continuous since before 1948.
Sure.
And even in the UK it is known that
1.Egypt does not want to see refugee camps in the Sinai (nor would Jordan want to see that).
2.As per the Mondoweiss report – Egypt is building residential apartments in 2 satellites cities off Cairo to cater for a growing population (and to modernise housing) not to house Palestinians.
The stated plan is to end Hamas rule of Gaza and to hand over responsibility to someone else for that area.
How before 1948?
And from 1948, if there had been no threat from 5 Arab nations to destroy the state of Israel, there would have been no displaced people – just 2 states with an Arab minority in one and a Jewish minority in the other.
'I am for compulsory transfer; I do not see anything immoral in it.' David Ben-Gurion to the Jewish Agency Executive,June1938
Or from the same source
“It should be clear to us that there is no room in Palestine for these two peoples. No ‘development’ will bring us to our goal of independent nationhood in this small country. Without the Arabs, the land will become wide and spacious for us; with the Arabs, the land will remain sparse and cramped”
Yosef Weitz 3 years later in 1940
But what they were offered was the partition plan and they accepted the terms of it.
But for the attack by the 5 Arab armies …. there would have been 2 states and a larger Arab minority in Israel and more Jews living in Arab nations as they did before 1948.
It was not continuous 1948-1967.
It became more questionable after 1967, not having a peace with surrounding states would have been the only valid reason not to set up a self governing Palestinian state then.
It does seem that Likud (Irgun and Stern origin) – government from 1977 – is the party in Israel that has tried to return to that pre 1948 ambition.
It began with the settlement building and then the land for peace deal with Egypt to secure that border. Then onto incursion in Lebanon (and then their first resort to the hostage swap). And being so willing to show how tough they were each provocation would be followed by the now over used (and faintly ridiculous) term "non proportionate" response.
With Likud there were now two actors who want to win it all and not abide by the international consensus of 1947-48. The irony is that the extremists see each other as the reason why they can win.
PS The Israeli unity government includes "Blue and White" (currently more popular than Likud in the polls), so whatever agendas some on the right have for Likud, there are still some limits on them.
Would you call Jewish Voices for Peace anti semitic? Or are they just self haters? Their call for a cease fire and justice for Palestine shut down New York Grand Central
Why, have they called the war against Hamas in Gaza an attempt to “annihilate” the residents there? And if they did, it might be better referred to as either anti-Zionist (Neturai Karta like) or anti-Israeli government policy because it was not sourced in anti semtism.
Some oppose the option to war against Hamas because they want to negotiate over hostages (or at least as first option). Others oppose Israeli policy on the West Bank. Clearly some Jewish groups do both.
It’s about 50-50 in Israel on the former, but they keep electing Likud led regimes …
Try scrolling through one or two of the photos in this Reuters article about the massive protest by Jewish groups in New York. Read one or two of the placards they are carrying. I cant locate any referencing hostages. Plenty say things like "Don't kill kids like me! ", "Free Palestine", "No to genocide", "Israel is a terrorist state". So I think you may have a bit of an ostrich problem. Its amazing how much clearer the view is when you pull your head out.
It was a Jewish organised one, not exclusively Jewish – be observant. And (the anti-Zionist) NK appear to be the "Orthodox Jews" in the video.
And it was not a massive protest, it was large scale civil disobedience.
Or from the earlier Al Jazeera linked article
While Shabbat is typically a day of rest, we cannot afford to rest while genocide is unfolding in our names,” Rabbi May Ye, was quoted as saying in a statement released by the organisers.
Lots of horror from Jews at what the Israeli state is unleashing. Not sure where your 50/50 comes from. Just another one of your baseless reckons I reckon
No wrong again.
It’s about 50-50 in Israel on the former (opposing the military action because they want negotiation over hostages), but they keep electing Likud led regimes …. (despite their WB policy).
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-27/ty-article/israeli-poll-finds-49-support-holding-off-on-gaza-ground-offensive/0000018b-6faa-d1da-a1bb-6fba47b00000
According to you "I was accusing Israel of attempting to annihilate Gaza residents, because of the military action there, but not so in Ukraine."
Nonsense.
Now you claim that my comment was an outrageous slander? Really? You mean that Israel didn't know that its current bombardment of Palestine was going to kill ordinary citizens by the thousands and adding more thousands on a daily basis until they have been severely depleted? Somebody please explain it to them. (sarc.)
This is the comment I was an am objecting too. Stop evading.
And if bombing urban centres, civilian areas, was an attempt to annihilate the residents, then that would apply to near all use of air power in war for near a century.
This conflict is slightly unusual in that Hamas hides in bunkers below ground, in which it stores rockets and uses to move its forces.
Israel has a right to exist so does Palestine. Just without Netanyahu or his cronies and without Hamas controlling Palestine's future.
That’s my hope and dream: that they can both be at peace.
God Bless the UAW!!!
More wins, this time a tentative deal with Stellantis.
A look at the list of candidates for the Port Waikato by-election is disturbing for supporters of the left.
Neither Labour, the Greens or Te Pati Maori are standing candidates. Although there is a Gordon Dickson standing as an independent. This might be the same Gordon Dickson who was a Labour candidate for Selwyn back in 2014 but later fell out with the party.
The list is mainly made up of parties of the right, including the conspiracy theorists.
The nearest one gets to anyone from the left is perhaps Jill Ovens of the Women's Rights Party but I don't know enough about them to make an informed comment.
I can kind of understand that Labour doesn't want to, although its official reasons which basically is that it doesn't have the money are pretty damned weak, but the Greens not being interested in very disappointing to me.
If you are a supporter of the left in Port Waikato you may as well stay at home.
That no-one is prepared to put themselves up to give an alternative for the few voters that want to stand up against the NACT/conspiracy theorist alliance in this smug blue-arsed National fiefdom is sad.
Ovens has a solid left background. WRP policy looks left wing to me as well.
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-womens-rights-party/
The WRP Party didn't really feature in the general election coverage. With the focus on a single electorate, the fact that they are the only left party competing will give them a good opportunity to get some valuable publicity, at least.
My prediction is: less than half the registered voters will be bothering to vote anyway.
I'm in the electorate and will be staying home. Andrew Bayley is a dud MP, but he wears a blue ribbon so will have no problem winning.