In a new show dedicated to making sense of current affairs, “Weekly Roundup With Mark Weber,” host Fróði Midjord and historian Mark Weber provide insightful, “big picture” perspective on important events.
IHR News & Views
The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed
David L. Hoggan
Completely reset, expanded and reformatted new IHR edition! In this important, detailed study of the origins of the Second World War, Dr. Hoggan explains why Hitler decided to attack Poland in 1939, and examines the short-sighted policies that made war all but inevitable. The author dismantles the often-repeated charge of sole German responsibility for the war, which for many years has been a centerpiece of the prevailing narrative of twentieth century history. The eminent American historian Harry E. Barnes called this “the first thorough study of the responsibility for the causes of the Second World War in any language ... likely to remain the definitive revisionist work on this subject for many years.” With an introduction by Mark Weber, dust jacket, detailed index, source notes, extensive bibliography, map, and 30 photographs. Also available in softcover edition.
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Collusion: Franklin Roosevelt, British Intelligence, and the Secret Campaign to Push the US Into War
Mark Weber
Secretive and unlawful collusion by an American leader with a foreign power that subverts the US political process is not new. The most far-reaching and flagrant case was by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940-41. In the months before the US formally entered the war in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt did everything he could to get America into the global conflict without actually declaring war. The cooperation with British intelligence by the President and other high-ranking US officials during that period was quite illegal. Such collusion by the nominally neutral US to further the war aims of a foreign government was contrary to both US law and universally accepted international norms.
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On the Importance of Revisionism for Our Time
By Murray Rothbard
Revisionism as applied to World War II and its origins (as also for previous wars) has the general function of bringing historical truth to an American and a world public that had been drugged by wartime lies and propaganda … Revisionism brings to the artificial frenzy of daily events and day-to-day propaganda, the cool but in the last analysis glorious light of historical truth. Such truth is almost desperately needed in today’s world.
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A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby
Mark Weber
… Jews wield immense power and influence in the United States. The “Jewish lobby” is a decisive factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist interests are not identical to American interests. In fact, they often conflict. As long as the “very powerful” Jewish lobby remains entrenched, there will be no end to the Jewish-Zionist grip on the US political system and the American media, the Zionist oppression of Palestinians, and the Israeli threat to peace.
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Our Job in a Time of Crisis
Institute for Historical Review
Mark Weber explains why the work of the IHR in countering the forces of historical deceit, bigotry and cultural distortion is vitally important. An awareness of factual history is essential to an understanding of ourselves and the great issues of our age, says the IHR director in this five-minute video presentation. Unless and until the interests that have gripped our nation are clearly identified and discredited, he says, there will be no change in basic policies or direction.
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In a remarkable but under-reported address, one of America’s most prominent and influential political figures has acknowledged the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life. Joe Biden – now President of the U.S. – said that this has been the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural-political changes. “Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact,” Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders in Washington, DC.
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Suggested Reading: A Study Guide
Mark Weber
In an age when vast amounts of information from a wide range of sources are instantly available online, it can be difficult to sort out what’s reliable, useful, and trustworthy. In response to many inquiries over the years, here are recommended books on five important historical topics: The Second World War, American History, International Relations, Communism, Marxism and the Soviet Union, and, Zionism, US-Israel Relations, and the ‘Jewish Question.’ This listing is neither exhaustive nor final. Additional subject categories and titles are planned, and descriptions may be revised or updated.
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History and Historians
By Revilo P. Oliver
… The development of a working philosophy of history is the most urgent, as well as the most difficult, task of Twentieth Century thought … The future will always resemble the past because human nature does not change; men will always be actuated by the same basic desires and motives … The social and political questions of our day are all primarily historical problems. To think about them rationally, we must begin by consulting the record of human experience in the past. And we soon realize that if only we knew enough about history – and understood it – we should have the answers to all our questions.
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What Christians Don’t Know About Israel
By Grace Halsell
American Jews sympathetic to Israel dominate key positions in all areas of our government where decisions are made regarding the Middle East. This being the case, is there any hope of ever changing U.S. policy? … The answer to achieving an even-handed Middle East policy might lie elsewhere — among those who support Israel but don’t really know why. This group is the vast majority of Americans. They are well-meaning, fair-minded Christians who feel bonded to Israel – and Zionism – often from atavistic feelings, in some cases dating from childhood.
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Was Hiroshima Necessary?
By Mark Weber
America’s leaders understood Japan’s desperate position: the Japanese were willing to end the war on any terms, as long as the Emperor was not molested. If the US leadership had not insisted on unconditional surrender — that is, if they had made clear a willingness to permit the Emperor to remain in place — the Japanese very likely would have surrendered immediately, thus saving many thousands of lives … General Curtis LeMay, who had pioneered precision bombing of Germany and Japan (and who later headed the Strategic Air Command and served as Air Force chief of staff), put it most succinctly: “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war.”
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Liberating America From Israel
By Paul Findley
Nine-Eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the 9/11 catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president in recent decades had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The U.S. lobby for Israel is powerful and intimidating, but any determined president could prevail and win overwhelming public support for the suspension of aid by laying these facts before the American people.
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Our Mission and Record
Institute for Historical Review
In this five-minute video presentation, IHR director Mark Weber explains the Institute’s mission and record. “We strive to provide factual information and sound perspective on US foreign policy, World War Two, the Israel-Palestine conflict, Middle East history, the Jewish-Zionist role in cultural and political life, the ‘Holocaust’ remembrance campaign, war propaganda, and much more.” The IHR, is also explains, is an “independent educational center and publisher that works to promote peace, understanding and justice through greater public awareness of the past, and especially socially-politically relevant aspects of modern history.”
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The most widely anticipated speech ever given by Adolf Hitler was his address of April 28, 1939. It’s also widely regarded, even by his most vehement critics, as perhaps his most impressive address ever. It was a response to a much-publicized message from US President Franklin Roosevelt, who had called on the Chancellor to promise not to attack 31 countries. Broadcast on radio stations around the world, Hitler’s two-hour Reichstag speech was heard by millions. In the US, major radio networks broadcast it live. The next day, it was the leading news item on the front page of every major US daily newspaper. In his address, Hitler laid out his view of Germany’s place in the world, lucidly reviewed his government’s foreign policy objectives and achievements in recent years, and concluded with an eloquent, imposing retort to the US President.
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How Hitler Tackled Unemployment
By Mark Weber
To deal with the massive unemployment and economic paralysis of the Great Depression, both the US and German governments launched innovative and ambitious programs. Although President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” measures helped only marginally, the Third Reich’s much more focused and comprehensive policies proved remarkably effective. Within three years unemployment was banished and Germany’s economy was flourishing. And while Roosevelt’s record in dealing with the Depression is pretty well known, the remarkable story of how Hitler tackled the crisis is not widely understood or appreciated.
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Tactics of Organized Jewry in Suppressing Free Speech
Prof. Tony Martin – Institute for Historical Review
… I’m going to try to extract from my experience certain basic sort of tactics that I think the Jewish lobby has used over the years pertaining to my particular situation … The first and major tactic that I discovered in their attack on me was their reliance on lies — just straight-up lies. There’s no other way to describe it, just telling lies. Many of the categories that I will enumerate overlap, and many of them could also come under this general rubric of telling lies. But I think that if one had to isolate a single tactic, it was a tactic of telling lies. I think they’ve elevated telling lies to a very high artistic form.
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Why Germany Attacked the Soviet Union
Institute for Historical Review
As dawn was breaking on Sunday morning, June 22, 1941, military forces of Germany, Finland and Romania suddenly struck against the Soviet Union. The stunning news of this attack was announced to the world by German radio at 5:30 that Sunday morning, when Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels broadcast the text of a proclamation by Adolf Hitler to the German people that laid out his reasons for the historic offensive. Following that was the broadcast of Germany’s declaration of war against the Soviet Union. This was in the form of a diplomatic note to the Soviet government. Because Hitler’s proclamation and the German Foreign Office declaration explain at some length the reasons and motives for the fateful decision to strike against the USSR, these are documents of historic importance. With a foreword by Mark Weber.
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YouTube Censors 'Restrict' IHR Videos
Institute for Historical Review
In line with a recent crackdown policy, YouTube has “restricted” a number of independently produced videos of IHR talks and presentations. To watch a “restricted” video, the viewer must first click through a warning screen. Also, comments on the video are not allowed, and the number of views is not given. Even worse, YouTube will never “suggest” a “restricted” video to viewers, which is how many people find our videos. While YouTube claims that its “restriction” policy is aimed at videos with “inflammatory religious or supremacist content,” applying it to IHR videos is absurd. YouTube restricts our voice not because we have violated any objective standards, or because we have done anything wrong or illegal — but because it doesn’t like what we say.
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In 'Eisenhower's Death Camps': A U.S. Prison Guard Remembers
By Martin Brech
… In Andernach about 50,000 [German] prisoners of all ages were held in an open field surrounded by barbed wire. The women were kept in a separate enclosure that I did not see until later. The men I guarded had no shelter and no blankets. Many had no coats. They slept in the mud, wet and cold, with inadequate slit trenches for excrement … I encountered a captain on a hill above the Rhine shooting down at a group of German civilian women with his .45 caliber pistol. When I asked, “Why?,” he mumbled, “Target practice,” and fired until his pistol was empty.
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Stalin's War Against His Own Troops
By Yuri Teplyakov
… In August 1941 Hitler permitted a Red Cross delegation to visit the camp for Soviet POWs in Hammerstadt. It is these contacts that resulted in an appeal to the Soviet government, requesting that it should send food parcels for our officers and men. We are prepared to fulfill and comply with the norms of the Geneva convention, Moscow said in its reply, but sending food in the given situation and under fascist control is the same as making presents to the enemy … How great was Stalin’s hatred for those who had found themselves behind enemy lines. It made no difference: who, where, how and why? Even the dead were considered to be criminals.
News & Comment
Final Nail in America’s Coffin?
Ron Paul
When future historians go searching for the final nail in the US coffin, they may well settle on the date April 20, 2024. On that day Congress passed legislation to fund two and a half wars, hand what’s left of our privacy over to the CIA and NSA, and give the US president the power to shut down whatever part of the Internet he disagrees with. The nearly $100 billion grossly misnamed “National Security Supplemental” guarantees that Ukrainians will continue to die in that country’s unwinnable war with Russia, that Palestinian civilians will continue to be slaughtered in Gaza with US weapons, and that the neocons will continue to push us toward a war with China. It was a total victory for the war party. The huge spending bill is all about politics for Biden, yet so many Republicans simply went along with it.
Quotations From Chairman Maher, NPR’s New CEO
Christopher F. Rufo – City Journal
Katherine Maher has a golden résumé … As of last month, she is CEO of National Public Radio … On every topic, Maher adopts the fashionable language of left-wing academic theory and uses it as social currency, even when her efforts veer into self-parody … Maher’s general policy at Wikipedia, she tweeted, was to support efforts to “eliminate racist, misogynist, transphobic, and other forms of discriminatory content” … The new CEO of NPR, then, is a left-wing ideologue who supports wide-scale censorship and considers the First Amendment an impediment to her campaign to sanitize the world of wrong opinions. Maher is no aberration. She is part of a rising cohort of affluent, left-wing, female managers who dominate the departments of university administration, human resources, and DEI.
As Surgeons, We Have Never Seen Cruelty Like Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
F. Sidhwa, M. Perlmutter – Common Dreams
On March 25 the two of us, an orthopedic surgeon and a trauma surgeon, traveled to the Gaza Strip to work at Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis … As humanitarian surgeons we thought we had seen all manner of cruelty in the world, but neither one of us has ever experienced anything like what we found when we arrived in Gaza … We walked through the wards and immediately found evidence of horrifying violence deliberately directed at civilians and even children … As we got to work we were shocked by the violence inflicted on people. Incredibly powerful explosives ripped apart rock, floors, and walls and threw them through human bodies, penetrating skin with waves of dirt and debris.
China Has Over 200 Times the U.S.’s Shipbuilding Capacity
Video - The Wall Street Journal
China has transformed into a shipbuilding powerhouse over the past two decades, cementing its status as a major maritime power. In 2023, more than half of the world’s commercial shipbuilding came from China, while the U.S. accounted for less than 1%. Runtime: 8:24 mins.
‘Half of the Holocaust’: David Cole’s Final Word on the Final Solution
Video
David Cole lays out his considered view about “the Holocaust,” “gas chambers,” and the “six million” in this two-hour interview with Frodi Midjord, and looks back at how his views on this emotion-laden subject have evolved. Cole, who is Jewish, was famous or notorious especially during the 1990s as a prominent “Holocaust revisionist.” His widely viewed “Cole-Piper Auschwitz video,” based on his 1992 visit to the camp site, exposes some of the deceit of the familiar Holocaust narrative. During those years Cole also presented his provocative views on national television. He was a victim of physical violence by Jewish Defense League thugs. In recent years he has been a regular columnist for Taki’s online magazine.
Breaking Silence: My Secret Life, and Why I’m Still a Holocaust Revisionist
David Cole; Audio CDs. Two disc set.
David Cole breaks 18 years of silence to speak publicly for the first time about his challenges, achievements, and mishaps during the 1990s, and his remarkable new career under an assumed name. His articulate presentation at a special IHR meeting is packed with colorful anecdotes, humorous asides and eye-opening insights. This two-disc IHR recording includes an introduction by Mark Weber, and the meeting’s lively question-and-answer session.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Claims Nuclear Weapons Have ‘No Place’ in its Nuclear Doctrine
Reuters / The Times of Israel
Nuclear weapons have no place in Iran’s nuclear doctrine, the country’s foreign ministry said on Monday, days after an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander warned that Tehran might change its nuclear policy if pressured by Israeli threats. “Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program serves only peaceful purposes. Nuclear weapons have no place in our nuclear doctrine,” ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said during a press conference in Tehran. Tehran has always insisted its nuclear program was strictly for peaceful purposes … Following its unprecedented attack on Israel last week, the IRGC commander in charge of nuclear security Ahmad Haghtalab said last week that threats of a counterattack by Israel could lead Tehran to “review its nuclear doctrine and deviate from its previous considerations.”
The Fantasy of an Iranian Bomb
Seymour Hersh
It remains a classic moment in United Nations history. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the dignified setting of a General Assembly speech in the fall of 2012 to raise the specter of an Iranian nuclear bomb … In a report for the New Yorker [May 2011], I disclosed that a highly secret National Intelligence Estimate, whose conclusions were unanimously approved by delegates from seventeen American intelligence and counterintelligence agencies, found that there was no conclusive evidence that Iran had made any effort to build the bomb before or after the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 … As in 2012, there is still no evidence that Iran … has the capacity to produce the needed amounts of highly enriched uranium for a bomb … None of this has altered the view of the Israeli leadership that Iran … is a soon-to-be nuclear power.
Anti-Semitic Incidents in US Soared in 2023, Breaking All Previous Records, Reports Zionist ADL
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
Driven in part by a massive spike in antisemitic reactions to the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza, the U.S. Jewish community last year experienced an unprecedented increase in antisemitic incidents, far exceeding any other annual tally in the past 45 years. ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today released the final statistics for antisemitic incidents in 2023, reporting a total of 8,873 incidents of assault, harassment, and vandalism across the country. The total represents a 140-percent increase from 2022 – already a record-setting year … ADL today called on governor’s offices across the country to create their own state-level versions of the White House’s landmark National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, the first of its kind, comprehensive effort to address antisemitism from across the political spectrum.
Biden Should Not Follow Netanyahu Into War With Iran
Daniel Larison - Responsible Statecraft
… The U.S. is at considerable risk of becoming involved in a direct conflict with Iran thanks to the reckless actions of the Netanyahu government and the president’s lockstep support. This does not serve legitimate U.S. security interests. The U.S. cannot afford another conflict in the Middle East, and siding with Israel exposes U.S. forces to significant unnecessary dangers. The U.S. is under no obligation to come to Israel’s defense if Iran retaliates against an Israeli strike, and the president has no authority to commit the U.S. to fight a war for another country, especially when that country is not a treaty ally … This support makes the U.S. complicit in Israeli violations of international law, exposes the U.S. to intense regional hostility, and puts U.S. forces at greater risk in exchange for very little.
Netanyahu Wants War With Iran. Biden Can Prevent It.
Trita Parsi - Foreign Policy
… A broader war with Iran is exactly what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been seeking for more than two decades. Early in the war between Israel and Hamas, the Biden administration worried that Israel was set to expand the war into Lebanon … What neither Biden nor the Washington establishment fully appreciated was that Netanyahu has, since the late 1990s, sought to drag the United States into war with Iran. Netanyahu has an interest in prolonging the ongoing war with Hamas since the moment it ends, his political career is likely to end as well—and a prison sentence may soon follow if his corruption trial proceeds. Likewise, the hard-line Israeli leader also has a long-standing desire to enlarge the conflict to deal with what he perceives to be Israel’s biggest strategic threat: Iran.
The `Good War’ Myth of World War II, and Why It’s Dangerous
Mark Weber
How accurate is this hallowed portrayal of America’s role in World War II? As we shall see, it does not hold up under close examination … The three Allied leaders accomplished what they accused the Axis leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan of conspiring to achieve: world domination … Presidential deception to justify war did not start with George W. Bush. Americans who express admiration for the US role in World War II, and for Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential leadership, have little moral right to complain when presidents follow his example and lead the country into war by breaking the law, subverting the Constitution, and lying to the people.
US Vetoes Widely Supported Resolution Backing Full UN Membership for Palestine
Associated Press
The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 12 in favor, the United States opposed and two abstentions, from the United Kingdom and Switzerland. U.S. allies France, Japan and South Korea supported the resolution. The strong support the Palestinians received reflects not only the growing number of countries recognizing their statehood but almost certainly the global support for Palestinians facing a humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month … Some 140 countries have already recognized Palestine, so its admission would have been approved, likely by a much higher number of countries.
British Ex-Foreign Minister Calls Out Fellow Tories for Supporting Israel
Video - LBC (Britain)
Sir Alan Duncan, who served as a Minister in two British governments, has sharply criticized his Conservative Party colleagues for their support of Israel. Arms sales to Israel should be halted “immediately,” he says, because it is “morally unacceptable” to support “what is becoming a total catastrophe in Gaza.” Duncan wants pro-Israel “extremists” in his party removed from power. “The time has come” for them to be “flushed out,” he says in this LBC television interview with Nick Ferrari. As a result of these remarks, which Jewish groups have strongly condemned, Duncan is now “under investigation” by his own party. Runtime: 7 mins.
British Ex-Minister Urges UK to ‘Flush Out Extremists’ in Government Who Back Israeli Settlements
Politico
The Conservative Party is investigating a former minister who accused his Tory colleagues of “doing the bidding of Netanyahu,” and demanded the firing of Britain’s security minister. Alan Duncan, an ex-foreign office minister, on Wednesday took aim at British politicians who support Israeli settlement-building in the West Bank, and blasted the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) parliamentary group. He argued that the group, which includes several MPs, Lords and ministers and aims to promote ties to Israel, has too much influence on the government and does the “bidding” of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Stunning New Roman Frescoes Uncovered in the Lost City of Pompeii
CBS News
Stunning Roman frescoes have been uncovered by archeologists in Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by an eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 AD. Experts say the newly discovered frescoes are among the finest ever to emerge at the renowned archeological site … Two pieces dominate the hall; one depicts the Greek god Apollo trying to seduce the priestess Cassandra. The second piece shows Prince Paris meeting Helen of Troy … The team’s discovery was just one of a number of recent revelations from the site, after they found other mythological-themed frescoes in early March and then, just weeks later, a construction site that was being worked on right up until the eruption.
Iran’s Jewish Population Belies Claims of Tehran’s Genocidal Intent
Brian McGlinchey
For decades, Israeli government officials — chief among them, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — have accused Iran of plotting a new Holocaust against the millions of Jews who call the Zionist state home. Netanyahu has said Iran is “planning another genocide against our people,” and wants to “destroy another six million plus Jews.” Western journalists are quick to quote these claims, yet slow to publicize contradictory evidence — such as the fact that Iran is home to the Middle East’s second-largest population of Jews, who freely practice their faith, peacefully coexist within the Islamic republic and even have a seat in the legislature … There are 9,000 to 20,000 of them [Jews] in a land [Iran] where the Jewish presence goes back nearly 3,000 years.
Biden Must Walk Back From Netanyahu’s Iran Trap
Daniel Larison - Responsible Statecraft
… The Israeli government appears to want to goad Iran into a military response to divert attention from the slaughter and famine in Gaza and to trap the U.S. into joining the fight. The president has made it that much easier for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by volunteering to walk into the trap. The U.S. is at considerable risk of becoming involved in a direct conflict with Iran thanks to the reckless actions of the Netanyahu government and the president’s lockstep support. This does not serve legitimate U.S. security interests. The U.S. cannot afford another conflict in the Middle East, and siding with Israel exposes U.S. forces to significant unnecessary dangers.
Netanyahu is Trying to Drag the U.S. Into War With Iran
James W. Carden – The American Conservative
… Having destroyed the open-air prison that was Gaza (though without, it should be pointed out, doing much in the way of degrading Hamas) Netanyahu has set his sights on bigger things. What Bibi now wants is to provoke a wider war in order to bring the U.S. in and place American power in the service of his long-held dream of striking Iran … The IDF has slaughtered over 33,000 thousand civilians, including over 25,000 women and children, while barely making a dent against Hamas. But the last point matters little because the war was always about ethnically cleansing the Gaza Strip. And once that goal is in the rearview, Bibi’s war aims will transform and become about Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. As it happens, this is a war that Netanyahu and his neoconservative supporters have been thirsting over for many years.
`The Nasty Little Sparta’
Eric Margolis
… The current Gaza Conflict tells us just how much Israel now dominates Congress and the Democratic Party which gets a likely 50% of its fundings from pro-Israel donors. Moderate pro-Israel groups have been marginalized. Those in the media have been sidelined or fired. It’s the McCarthyism of the 21st century … No one in the tightly controlled US media or the Rothschild-dominated British Conservatives party would dare bring up the fact that the Warsaw Ghetto ravaged by the Nazis had 50,000 people as compared to Gaza’s 2.1 million trapped people … While Palestinians are being slaughtered or starved, Israel is busy trying to goad Iran into a major war … America has become the champion of Israeli expansionism. The Israeli tail continues to wag the bumbling American dog … The rest of the world will remember this.