“HEZBOLLAH FIRES AT ISRAEL IN FIRST STRIKE SINCE THE CEASEFIRE” reads the headline so it tells us all we need to know.
Of course those horrible Islamic terrorists are violating the ceasefire with those poor Israelis, which the good old democratic USA and France worked so hard to broker.
Ach ní mar a shíltear a bhítear, or at least not as the media headline would have us believing.
Further down, in the text, it actually gives a much fairer and accurate report and it turns out that this was the first
warning shot by Hezbollah after over 50 violations by the ‘Israeli’ Occupation Forces, which neither the ceasefire arrangers nor UNIFIL have done anything to stop.
But if you’ve only read the headline, as many do, it’s the message that remains in your head.
Even though the main text is fairly accurate, an important additional piece of information is missing. A Zionist source admitted that they are not acting in accordance with the actual text but rather in accordance with a “side document” of an agreement they have with the USA.
They still claim that they’re not violating the negotiated ceasefire agreement, however, even though the document upon which they’re relying was not part of the official ceasefire agreement, was not agreed with the Lebanese side or even disclosed to them at the time of signing!
You’d have to wonder whether Baron Munchausen, Charles Ponzi and Richard Nixon would be relied upon so uncritically by the western mass media today as are the ‘Israeli’ Zionist spokespersons who have been exposed time and time again in lying accusations and denials.
I suppose the answer is that a) it would depend on whether the lies in question suited their purposes or b) how long they thought they could get away with it.
After the some might say overdue missile response by Hezbollah, an official ‘Israeli’ source was quoted as saying that their artillery firing at Lebanon had come to an end. Well – for how long? And the airstrikes, drone flying, destruction of buildings and facilities?
By the way, this admission of “the side document” by ‘Israeli’ sources is not the first known reference to its existence; it was reported referred to in ‘Israeli’ media as soon as the ceasefire agreement was signed.
Over 54 IOF violations of the ceasefire agreement at time of writing, including:
○ Airstrikes on 11 different locations
○ Artillery shelling of four different locations
○ Raids from drones on five different locations.
Since the ceasefire agreement the IOF have injured and killed a number of civilians in shelling etc and drone-murdered a state employee on a motorbike, wrecked dwellings and a mosque, also a football pitch … and also advanced to occupy locations they were never able to during the war itself.
The agreement should have stipulated total Israeli withdrawal within a week – three months was unreasonable and asking for trouble.
The whole western imperialist cabal is in full cry desperately seeking a 21-day ceasefire both sides of northern occupied-Palestine and the Lebanon ´border´, as the ´Israeli´ Occupation Forces allegedly prepare/ carry out a ground invasion.
The concern of the western imperialists is not about the slaughter of mostly civilians in Lebanon, climbing towards a thousand this month but rather about the strong possibility of all-out regional war which would endanger the various western military bases and economic interests in the region.
Projectiles above Jerusalem, on Oct. 1, 2024. Iran has launched a missile and drone attack on Israel’s military airports and some other targets. (Photo cred: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
And also, if the Zionist leadership is serious, about an IOF ground invasion of Lebanon which the western powers fear will end not only in the defeat of the IOF as before in 2000 and 2006, but also in the collapse of the Zionist settler state itself, their most dependable ally in the region.
Fighting on two fronts is rarely recommended and the Zionists are engaged in Palestine mostly in genocide, it is true but also against the Palestinian resistance: the allied factions, Islamist and secular fighting a heroic struggle of defence.
Since the by far most aggressive phase of the Zionist genocide of Palestinians from October 8th last year, Hezbollah has been bombarding mostly military sites and movements and, to a much lesser degree, Zionist settler sites. In particular ´Israeli´ air defence and spying sites have been hit.
As a result, wide areas of occupied Palestine have been abandoned by settlers who are being accommodated at substantial cost to the Zionist state in hotels and even camps. On the Lebanon side, due to IOF barrages, the people have also abandoned their homes.
Hezbollah is a long-standing enemy of the Zionist state which in turn can be ´credited´with the creation of the organisation through its invasions of Lebanon and massacres both directly and through its proxy, the South Lebanese Army, for example in the Tel Al Zataar refugee camp.1
The only complete defeats of the IOF to date, with its European allies and superior level of armament, have been by Hezbollah on Lebanese soil. However Hezbollah´s bombardment of occupied Palestine from October 8th has been in support of the Gaza population against genocide.
Herzi Halevi, top commander of the IOF and Ori Gordin commanding their northern sector recently told their troops that they might soon be employed in a ground invasion of Lebanon in order to crush Hezbollah and two reserve Brigades of the IOF have been called up also.2
However a White House spokesperson recently stated that they did not believe that a ground invasion was imminent. In fact, they are probably hoping it is not because before even reaching Lebanon the infantry and armour will need to cross a large area covered by Hezbollah missiles.
While the IOF air force and artillery might hope to knock out their enemy´s launch sites their bombardments have so far failed to prevent the launching of Hezbollah missiles which have not only continued as before but reached further, including to the Mossad HQ near Haifa.
Upon entering Lebanon, should they reach that far, the infantry would need to confront confident, highly-motivated soldiers fighting in defence of their homeland against a hated enemy. In addition some Hezbollah have been battled-hardened in actual combat against western proxies in Syria.
This is unlike the IOF, mostly accustomed to attacking civilians and their support infrastructure, rarely engaging the Palestinian resistance at close quarters and, when they do, calling in air strikes. In Lebanon in the past, their superior military resources did not prevent their defeat – twice.
The various commentaries from the western powers have not promised any ceasefire in Gaza, only a resumption of talks. However these can go nowhere unless the Zionist leadership and in particular Netanyahu agrees to the terms broadcast in July and to which Hezbollah agreed.
These are the minimum required by Hezbollah: removal of all IOF forces from Gaza, opening of the Rafah gate and safe conduct for delivery of food, medicine and fuel supplies; exchange of prisoners; to be followed by reconstruction of the enormous damage to housing and infrastructure.
So far Netanyahu has refused to agree to complete removal of IOF forces from Gaza and whatever else he or anybody else says, without that there will be no peace or truce agreement in Gaza. And without that, Hezbollah will not cease their bombardment and there will be no ceasefire.
It may be that the Western powers are obliquely trying to pressure the Zionist leadership to agree to the realistic Gaza peace terms but without the removal of Netanyahu and his fascist support coalition this may be a false hope.
As I finished writing the above, the IOF announced a “limited ground offensive” on Lebanon despite the advice (if genuine) of the USA and of its western allies.
However, the Western Powers are not helpless in this, despite their public pronouncements; the closure of the supply chain of armaments and finance would force the Zionist ruling class to come to terms within days, certainly inside of a week.
This step they have refused so far to take and it remains to be seen whether they will take that action to avoid regional war, continue to risk it or indeed, enter that war regardless of the great danger for them and their future plunder of the region and strategic control of much of it.
If they truly want peace around Lebanon, they will need to have peace in Gaza, which means agreeing to the minimum and entirely reasonable terms of the Palestinian resistance.
If the Western Powers want a cessation of conflict around Lebanon and in Gaza, they will need to call off their attack dog. However, the dog is reluctant to acknowledge defeat and also fears that its days, in the longer term, are numbered.
Meanwhile, the Axis of Resistance have taken their own measures, Hezbollah bombarding deep into Zionist-occupied territory and all gatherings of IOF forces preparing to advance towards Lebanon, so far preventing them stepping on Lebanese soil, despite the fabrications of the Zionists.
And the long-awaited retaliation of Iran has arrived also, its missiles and drones hitting in particular the Zionist entity´s military airports, apparently with great success, destroying many of the US-made jets with which the IOF have bombed so many civilians and their infrastructures.
And there it rests while we await how the IOF and their allies will respond. Iran´s leadership have more or less told the Zionists: “Accept that as a just punishment for your attacks on our personnel and on our allies in our land. If you don´t, the next response will be a lot worse for you!”
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has promised, in the event of USA retaliation on Iran, to attack every USA base currently on their land (and long overdue to depart). And we add: “If it´s peace you want in Palestine, call off your dog and kennel it.”
Like that similar-sounding ailment affecting some males, most of us are not rising, at least not to the expectations of the electoral commission. Furthermore the problem appears to be no respecter of gender.
The issue, according to the Independent Electoral Commission, is that not enough of us are voting in elections. Only 49% turned out to vote in the Irish local (municipal) and European Parliament elections which means that more than half of registered voting age didn’t bother.
Well, so what? Why is that is troubling the IEC? It seems that generally, the authorities like to see a good turnout because it appears to signify that people believe that they really have a democratic choice through the electoral system and are actually exercising it.
If they don’t believe that they have a choice – or if the appearance of choice is not matched by the reality they perceive, the people might turn to other methods of deciding how the country should be run. And that might result in an outcome unwelcome to the ruling elite.
THE TWEEDLES
The Tweedledum and Tweedledee parties appear to give the electorate alternatives and though whichever party wins the capitalist system remains, it appears to give a choice – but a bet choosing between two horses of the same owner in a two-horse race.
Like both Tweedles in the folk nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass (1871), Tweedledum and Tweedledee are brothers and though they appear to be preparing for war with one another, they don’t actually fight, not in Western ‘democracies’.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee (or is it the other way around?). (Image sourced: Internet)
There are, after all, plenty of spoils to share between their masters. The creators of that wealth need to be controlled, fooled and, if necessary from time to time, repressed. “Red” social democrats and “Blue” conservatives have alternated to share power in the Western world for over a century.
In Ireland, the only European state which is a neo-colony and part of its land a direct colony, its national liberation unfinished, the Tweedles have been blue or green.
But for decades now the illusion of choice has been crumbling. There has not been a majority party government in Ireland since 1981, when Irish Republicans were elected during the hunger-strike campaign. All Irish governments since have been a coalition of one kind or another.
The Irish Labour Party, founded by Connolly and Larkin and far from their thinking for many a long year, has been in government a number of times but always in coalition – usually with the conservative Fine Gael, itself the product of a coalition that included the fascist Blueshirts.
Those years of government participation for Labour have thoroughly rubbed off the red paint of socialist opposition from the party. The Green Party, mixing a brand of concerns for the environment with those for society, has met a similar fate in coalitions.
Since 2020 the Irish state has had what is essentially a ‘national government’, a coalition of opposing parties normally only seen in times of war or under a fascist regime. The alleged political poles have joined in order to run the system for the Gombeen ruling class.
Though this gives stability for the Gombeen’s system their problem is that it has removed the illusion of choice. They might restore that illusion through the promotion of a third major party in opposition and the formerly revolutionary Sinn Féin has worked hard to fill that space.
In the 2019 General Election SF got the most representatives elected but insufficient to form a majority government, after which the Tweedles united, along with the Greens to make up the numbers to manage the State. But the Gombeens will hold SF in reserve, I’m thinking.
Harris of Fine Gael and Taoiseach (equivalent of Prime Minister) of the Coalition Government, commented on the closeness of his party and former Opposition party Fianna Fáil in votes, predicting “a Government of equals”1– but it’s not just in votes that they resemble one another.
Yes, I know I misspelled Government but I want to get this article out of the way. I’ll redo the cartoon sometime later and replace it.
RESULTS
I don’t think there is a great deal to be said about the actual results of the recent local and EU Parliamentary elections in Ireland but no doubt some commentators will be saying it anyway.
Of unwelcome interest is that five fascists of different groups got elected, three of them to Dublin City Council. The electoral Left lost some and gained some without big changes.
Independent socialists (and couple) Clare Daly and Mick Wallace both lost their EU seats but perhaps they and in particular Daly in Ireland would be more of an asset to the Left. Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan in Midlands North West, another left Independent, kept his EU seat comparatively easily.
Sinn Féin had what was for them a disappointing run but had some new people elected to local councils and two seats in the EU Parliament, losing an existing one. Many of their enemies in the Republican ambit, often former comrades, rejoiced in their misfortunes.
Understandable though that may be one wonders how those who have some faith in the party at the moment are to be disabused of their illusions without having seen them in government. On the other hand their twists and turns on the road there may have disenchanted many already.
IT’S NOT A CHANGE OF PARTIES IN GOVERNMENT WE NEED
For most of my life I have been aware that it is not a change between political parties but between socio-political systems that is the issue. But I do vote sometimes in order to help keep a useful and decent voice in a parliament or a local authority.
An Irish community activist pensioner years ago in London, Co. Galway Teresa Burke, was a member of the British Labour Party. After a General Election, she asked me had I voted. I replied that I hadn’t; I’d not seen a candidate that stood anywhere close to that in which I believed.
“Well then, you must take responsibility for everything the Tories do if they get in!” Teresa remarked angrily.
“I’ll do that, Teresa,” I replied, “if you’ll take responsibility for everything Labour does in Ireland if they get in!”
Teresa’s lips twitched slightly. She knew as well as did I that the British Labour Party had sent the troops into the Irish colony to quell the struggle for civil rights in 1969 and supported the Tories in introducing internment in 1971 and massacres that year and in 1972.
In 1974 police under a Labour Government had killed the first anti-fascist on a demonstration,2 framed a score of Irish people in four separate cases for heavy jail sentences3 and had passed the fascist Prevention of Terrorism (sic) Act.
Whichever party is in government, the social-political-economic system is run by the capitalist class which it benefits and they will fight tooth and nail to maintain that system.
The alternative-party-within-the-system idea, so dear to social democrats, has failed time and time again. It betrayed its supporters by becoming like what it opposed, or consistently failed to get elected or was undermined, betrayed and destroyed, like Syriza in Greece, for example.
But in the unlikely event that route should ever show signs of being successful, for the ruling class there remains the military coup.4
2Kevin Gately, son of Irish immigrants, a student at Leeds University, died from injuries received from a mounted police baton during an antifascist demonstration in Red Lion Square, London on 15th June 1974.
4The serialised for TV A Very British Coup (1988) with Irish actor Ray McAnally from the Chris Mullins novel (1982) is well worth watching for this scenario.
In Ireland, at this time small children will be in playgroups or nursery schools (if their parents can afford them), or in primary schools fearing or looking forward to assessments and turning in homework. In Palestine there are no longer any playgroups, nurseries or functioning schools.
Post-primary students in Ireland will be preparing for the Junior or Leaving Certificates, a high-stress situation for many. Palestinian children in Gaza don’t have to work about any of that, only about whether, their parents, friends, neighbours will survive the Israeli bombings and sniper attacks.
Or get enough to eat every day and dry warmth protection from the weather. There wouldn’t be much point in sitting the final post-primary exams in Gaza anyway, even if there were somewhere safe to hold them. The Israelis have demolished all their universities.
Even before last year, what would the young do with a degree in besieged enclave of Gaza? Yes, some could get out to other countries in the West or in the Arab world but, if they did, they knew there was never any guarantee of being allowed back.
Over all, there is a horrific statistic to add to all the others of Israel’s genocide in the past six months: the zionist state has killed 13,800 Palestinian children in Gaza and injured over 12,000, which is why some people carry bloodstained white bundles or empty nursery chairs on Palestine solidarity marches.
A common Zionist fabrication is that Palestine was uncultivated until they arrived. Whatever cultivation their settlers added was more than compensated by the Palestinian cultivated lands settlers stole and the destruction they have visited upon the Palestinian people.
The Chief Commissioner of the police force of the Irish state is reputedly “quietly pleased” with the change of name for the force he commands. “It describes the work we actually do” he commented at a press conference earlier today.
There were suggestions that the widely-supported name-change might be held up by bitterness at a recent vote of no-confidence by members of the force against the Commissioner, formerly senior officer in a colonial police force and of MI5 membership but this was not to be.
“He’s used to changes in the names of forces where he comes from,” commented a senior officer. “Besides the new one fits better than the earlier name for the force” he continued but seemed flustered when asked was he referring to the Royal Irish Constabulary.
Others have remarked that the new name gives a much more rounded perspective than the earlier suggestion of Landlord’s Protection Force. “The excellent mobilisation to guard ATMs in the recent Bank of Ireland give-away crisis has justified the new name,” commented the Justice Minister.
“The mobilisation was even more remarkable given that no crime was actually being committed”, said the Minister.
The force will henceforth be known as The Landlords and Bankers Protection Force (with apostrophes ruled out of order). The new insignia or emblem will resemble a tall apartment block with a bank on the ground floor, carrying also the acronym LBPF.
Far-Travelling Rightists
The reported words of a Clare TD this week struck a chord among some far-Rightists. Cathal Crowe TD complained that tourists arrive by coach at the Cliffs of Moher, take selfies against the sights, climb back in and are driven off to Dublin, with no benefit all to the local economy.
“Why not flip the model?” he asked, suggesting that tours could be based in the West and set out from there to take in the sights elsewhere.
“We’ve been doing the kind of tourism recommended by Crowe for a long time”, exclaimed far-Right activist Dara O’Flaherty, “organising protest trips up to Dublin from Galway instead of tours the other way around. But of course we don’t get credit for it,” he concluded bitterly.
O’Flaherty blamed “freemasonry in the travel industry” for the lack of acknowledgement they receive.
Andy Heaseman, from Dublin but currently based in Mayo, stated that he has travelled on his own and with others to Dublin, down to Limerick and Cork “and not only by public transport and shared car”, he claimed “but also by boat – until it crashed,” he concluded with a sad face.
Niall McConnell has also visited Dublin as well as other spots with Farright Protest Tours, while Herman (‘Monster’) Kelly has been to Dublin, Limerick and Ballyjamesduff, though being obliged to leave each town shortly after his arrival.
Niall Nine Lies McConnell used to descend from his Donegal fastness to pray the Catholic Rosary on streets in Dublin and elsewhere, in close proximity to Muslims or people whose lives violate his ideas of gender and sexuality but who somehow continue to defy him.
McConnell was baptised “Nine Lies” for among other things, informing a European gathering of fascists that immigrants outnumbered the Irish-born in Ireland. He’s been taking a break and, “as a devout Christian, most emphatically not a Black Sabbatical” as he pointed out to our reporter.
The title “most travelled Farrighter” must surely go to Dublin-based Phil Dwyer, who claims to have been to every protest against migrants, Muslims, mask-wearing during Covid epidemic, Covid vaccines and anyone not 100% male or female-orientated according to genitalia.
Phil, also known affectionately as “Kick the Dog” gained the nickname “Lederhosen” for recruiting ‘real Irish men’ for hill-walking together, organising such activities to counter the feminising effect he believes female primary school teachers are having on Irish boys.
Phil “Kick the Dog” Dwyer was a recruiter of “heavies” for attacks on antifascists until expelled from the National Party for publicly violating the grave of a female victim of male violence. Dwyer is capable of carrying on his noble crusade even in a taxi home after having a skinful.
Farright Protest Tours (Ireland) on their website recently challenged anyone to name a place to which their service had not travelled or a democratic right which they had not opposed.
The successful respondent will be presented with a copy of the 1930s My Struggle, translated from the original into English and signed by the Austrian author.
(Lots of images but text reading time less than 5 minutes)
Diarmuid Breatnach
As Palestinians and their supporters around the world mark anniversaries of the Return to Palestine demonstrations and Land Day, Israeli snipers kill Palestinian children. Dublin marks the day with a solidarity rally and exhibitions and talks by internationally-recognised Palestinian cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh.
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign organised a rally to mark the anniversary of the start of the Return to Palestine demonstrations last year and also Land Day. Sadly, marking a Palestinian anniversary usually involves marking the deaths of martyrs and this was no exception, as Israeli Occupation Force snipers killed four demonstrators, three of them 17 years of age.
Section of the Palestine solidarity rally at the Spire in O’Connell Street, as it was ending.
After the rally, of which I just caught the tail end because of the weekly Save Moore Street From Demolition campaign duty, I managed to catch the exhibition of noted Palestinian political cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh and to buy his book PALESTINE in black and white. Sadly, a prior appointment meant I had to miss his talk, which I would have loved to attend, especially as I dabble a little in cartoon-drawing myself.
The World (or its governments, including the Arab countries) ignores the oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli Zionists. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
Fortunately, Mohammad Saba’aneh was still there and was kind enough to autograph his book for me. When I took a photo of him with Fatin Al Tamimi, photographer and Chairperson of the IPSC, she insisted on taking a photo of me with him too – shukran.
Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh and myself. (Photo: Fatin Al Tamimi with my camera phone)
Photographer and Chairperson IPSC with Artist Mohammad Saba’aneh.
On Thursday, Saba’aneh had also given a talk at the National College of Art & Design, along with Tuqa Al Saraj, also a Palestinian artist but today based in Dublin.
Mohammad Saba’aneh was born in 1978 in Ramallah in occupied Palestine, where he still lives. He is a Palestinian painter and caricaturist who has been imprisoned by Israel because of his art. He has a daily cartoon in the Palestinian newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida and his work features in publications across the Arab world.
A veritable cartoon strip. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
HELPING THE DEAF AND THE TRAUMATISED WITH CARTOONS
Saba’aneh used caricature with deaf students to help them adopt another language to express their feelings and with children who witnessed an Israeli assault to help them psychologically. He took part in many workshops designed for children to develop critical thinking. Saba’aneh was responsible for organizing an international fair at Mahmoud Darwish museum in 2014 in which more than 100 international artists participated. Freedom House chose one of his works in 2016 as one of the year’s most important photos. His first book was published in the US in April 2017.
Children in Israeli Zionist jails — one of my favourites. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
INTERNATIONAL WORK AND RECOGNITION
Saba’aneh is the Middle East representative for Cartoonist Rights Network International and the Palestinian ambassador for United Sketches, an international association for freedom of expression and cartoonists in exile and participated in many international publications such as The truth has more than one face in Europe and Sketch of Freedom in the US. He. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2017 Marseille International Cartoon Festival Prix d’Or. Pulitzer–winning cartoonist Matt Wuerker described him as “an inspiration for cartoonists around the world.” Noted graphic journalist Joe Sacco has said of this work that it is a “gut punch that gets straight to the essence of the stark reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation.”
Life for children in Palestine under the Israeli Zionists. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
PROGRAM DATES:
Thursday 28th March – NCAD (Dublin), 7pm, Harry Clarke Lecture Theatre
Friday 29th March – TCD (Dublin), 3pm, Room LTEE1, Hamilton Building
Saturday 30th March – Dublin, 2.30pm, The Pearse Centre, 27 Pearse St
All of the above now over.
Monday 1st April – Waterford, 7.30pm, The Tower Hotel
Tuesday 2nd April – Limerick, 8pm, Perys Hotel
Wednesday 3rd April – Galway, 7pm, Black Gate Cultural Centre
Thursday 4th April – Maynooth University, 4pm, Venue TBC (Afternoon)
Thursday 4th April – Celbridge, 8pm, Celbridge Manor Hotel
End.
Judicial Justice under the Israeli Zionists. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
SOURCES:
Background information: Wikipedia and IPSC FB page
A nod to Michaelangelo’s the “Birth of Adam”. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
The cost of NOT boycotting Israeli products. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
Posters on railings outside Pearse House.
Praise for Sen. Frances Black’s Bill to ban imports from the “Occupied Territories”. Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
Artist: Mohammad Saba’aneh.
Symbols in Palestinian cartoons. The Key for the right to return is somewhat of an irony, as when the Christian Spanish Monarchs expelled the Sephardic Jews from Al Andalus, many of them also took the key to their house with them.
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