When Mark Twain says that he burned down a house belonging to a widow and some orphans because it obstructed his view, we laugh, because we understand that it’s a joke.  But when Israeli settlers cut off farmers’ water to fill a swimming pool, it isn’t a joke.  In fact, “marketed as a tourist site for Israelis only, the pool has the explicit backing of the Israeli government.”

     Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank diverted a spring that was a lifeline for the Palestinian village of Fasayil, cutting irrigation pipes in June and converting it into a tourist attraction, leaving nearby farms barren.  For generations, Palestinians in Fasayil have relied on the water from the local spring supply to grow crops, adding to the local food supply and serving as a livelihood for many.  “Our water supply remains cut off to this day, depriving us of the water we depend on for our homes, our livelihoods, and our agricultural land,” said Saad Nemer, a Palestinian farmer.  

     “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat,” Ben-Gvir said, per a translation by The Associated Press.  “There are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people . . .  And for the terrorists, there should be no emigration.  We should just kill them one by one.”

     Which of those speakers sounds less than human ~ and just who are the terrorists here ?  I suppose the Israelis are composting the bodies of the murdered Palestinians to fertilize their crops, if they are not cooking them down into soap.  

     But I have already said enough about Israel in these essays.  I wish that old horse would die, finally, so that I wouldn’t have to keep flogging it.  I will simply observe that my greatest surprise and outrage is not for the Israeli crimes themselves, but for the fact that so many people in the world seem to continue to support Israel “no matter what.”

     I feel exactly the same way about Donald Trump ~ it is certainly no novelty to have rampaging madmen jerking the reins of the Donkey of State in one country or another, although the Donald is a particularly egregious maniac who ought to be confined to a straitjacket, urgently.  But how is it possible that such a raving narcissistic megalomaniacal idiot be allowed to continue his rampage, even as his antics seriously impact the ever more slender chances that the human race might manage to survive on our dying planet ?

Curriculum Vitae ~ links about the Author and his work.