“Every missile or shell we fired was at a valuable target, at underground targets,” Eisenkot said in March “We have developed a capability that allows us to strike them.”

you know that's what this is really about, right?

gaza isn't just an open-air prison. it's a model of a city in revolt. such technology can ultimately be exported to countries like the united states, in the event of the outbreak of armed civil unrest.

the talk of colonialism is weird. it's maybe true from a certain perspective, but it's an effect rather than a cause, and the historical underpinnings of it are somewhat spurious. at best, these are two opposing colonial cultures. but, it really has nothing to do with the actual reality of why israel exists.

israel is an american military outpost in the middle east, necessary as a counter-balance against a tense alliance with the oil-producing arab countries. it's primary function is as a testing facility.

so, finkelstein claims there weren't any rockets being sent from gaza. maybe he means a statistical zero, because the system was ultimately designed to test the rockets that were sent at it for it to shoot down. so, of course it shot down some rockets. it's a test simulation to shoot them down.

comparisons to the holocaust are not exaggerated, and that's why i tend to avoid the term apartheid. apartheid is an economic idea - it's a slave class that existed, for the benefit of the rich members of society. and, so, what they did in south africa was allow a select group of blacks to enter the ruling class, while keeping the apartheid system mostly in place. that cannot happen in palestine, where the people are not being utilized as a slave class, but merely tossed aside as useless eaters.

the united states actually presented an apartheid system as a solution to the actual genocide that's taking place, which is how i prefer to describe it. john kerry wanted to build call centres in the west bank, and convert the palestinians into a pool of cheap labour for multinational corporations. that would have resulted in an apartheid, where palestinians are kept occupied with labour for the dominant israeli group, while being denied basic liberties and civil rights. but, israel wouldn't allow for this. they just want the land they're standing on.

so, referring to the situation as an apartheid actually deflects from the deeper reality, that israel is carrying out a genocide in slow motion, with the ultimate aim of complete expulsion - or annihilation.

but, to america, it's just a war game. and, americans ought to understand that, for what it is.

notwithstanding pull from outside forces, this geo-strategic position is necessary for as long as america relies upon oil as a dominant input into it's economy.

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.