One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. How many J6 "tourists" have been charged with terrorism?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/18/state-department-employee-resigns-israel-gaza

Israel NEEDS a buffer zone for ... the buffer zone it unilaterally annexed in 1981 (wink,wink)

Netanyahu says Israel will occupy Syria buffer zone for foreseeable future
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/18/netanyahu-israel-occupy-syria-buffer-zone-mount-hermon-foreseeable-future

@2 that veteran and former State Dept employee is clearly an antisemite and none of his child death toll numbers are credible. Israel has a right to exist! It's all Hamas's fault!

King County Metro driver killed:

Metro Transit Control Center to driver: "Fill in a security incident report and record your overtime for filling in the report."

That is code for, "Another day at the office, we don't give a shit about our employees, just keep the fucking wheels rolling."

Q: How many J6 "tourists" have been charged with terrorism?
A: None

"Diaz and a high-ranking employee had a romantic relationship that Diaz continuously denied."

The Seattle public employment version of a New York hush money case?

@2: The article says that Israel hopes to have local clans run Gaza, but they're too afraid of Hamas. Israel wants a two-state solution. Nobody likes writing about dead kids, but as long as Hamas is around perhaps it's good to get out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat.

@3, Since Israel and Syria never signed a peace treaty after the 1967 attack by Syria on Israel, there is no border recognized by treaty between Israel and Syria.

Both parties are still at war with each other and may use that means to try and achieve their territorial aims under the laws of armed conflict.

Likewise with Korea, and any number of unsettled border conflicts around the world.

@9 Yet you'll be outraged when the locals turn to asymmetric warfare because of Israel's failure to observe international law. The "laws of armed conflicts" is that the integrity of states HAS to be respected, not the opposite you doofus

You sound exactly like thumpus the neocon btw

@8 "Israel wants a two-state solution"

I have a bridge for sale. You'll like the lighting, guaranteed. Can send pictures if you wish.

Luigi will escape conviction on the most serious charges through jury nullification.

@11

careful.
they're gonna
think you're a Sympathizer.

Corps Amerikkkana
ain't Playin'. see:
the donold.

@10, Borders change via war all the time. Territorial integrity is established with a peace treaty that recognizes changed borders, if any, as a result of the war. So until there is a peace treaty between the parties, the territory of both parties is in flux.

Syria launched its war with Israel in 1967 with artillery. They tried again in 1973 with an invasion. When they sign a peace treaty with Israel, then, and only then, will both sides have legally recognized territory to guard the legal integrity of. Up until that point, there is no territorial integrity to protect, following international law, as you insist on in other contexts.

If you are going to be credible in demanding following international law in other contexts, you have to be consistent across the board and not be selective with that demand when it suits your case, and reject the approach when it doesn't.

@8: Failed as they were, there were the Oslo Accords and Arafat walked away from it, as a nation-less Palestine is a better card to play. Arab neighbors never wanted a separate Palestine, and they certainty don't care about Gaza horrors except for the anti-USA/Israel rage it generates.

@13 so if there are no established borders Hezbollah et al are entirely justified in launching rockets or otherwise attacking inside "Israel," which has no international legal definition? Am I following?

I’m not surprised New York is bringing terrorism charges (see late 90s / early 00s); however, I’m fairly certain dude will just be convicted of 1st degree murder (and aside, I can’t envision the sentences are remarkably different for those charges).

@tS -- hmmm!
this Schlogg AM's timestamp says 7:23
and yet the 1st comment's not til 9:21!
(my [cursory] earlier looks were Futile)
is this some sorta tS Chicanery?
wait'll The donold hears
about This.

@15, Lebanon and Israel have an agreed and recognized border. Lebanon and Israel have never been at war since 1949.

Israel is within its internationally recognized, inherent right to invade and bomb Lebanon to get to Hezbollah since the government of Lebanon permits them to use Lebanese territory to attack Israel.

Article 51, United Nations Charter:

"Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations."

I wouldn't get too excited about the wealth tax. The dept of revenue released a report about the feasibility and while its possible they noted its difficult to administer and the success rate of these taxes around the world has been limited with many being repealed.

https://dor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/Wealth_Tax_Study_Final_Report.pdf

This feels more like Inslee throwing something to the wind on his way out the door knowing he won't deal with it. I'm sure it will be discussed but I think we'll see the lowering of the capital gains tax when all is said and done. The increase in the B&O tax should be discussed more because that tax is based on revenue not profits and increasing it 20% could very well be a tipping point for many businesses.

Also a reminder the WA State Budget has grown from $53B to $65B from 2021 to now and this will make it an estimated $77B by 2027. That growth is mind boggling.

Regarding the bus driver. That is extremely sad but as @10 reminded us yesterday

"Nobody said that public safety wasn't an issue because it is always an issue but in spite a small bump in crime that has already largely subsided seattle's crime rate is at a 40 year low, like most of the nation despite what compulsive law and order types say:"

So need to worry. Carry on.

"After 15 years, Jill Biden teaches final class at Virginia community college." Headline at the Seattle Times.

So Jill Biden is literally making herself classless. :) All of us not taking or teaching a class are.

She will always have class in the non-literal sense, in my book. I wish she was going to be First Lady for 4 more years, but it is not to be. Sigh ...

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/judge-grants-california-rep-katie-porter-a-5-year-restraining-order-against-ex-boyfriend/

"Superior Court Judge Elia Naqvi said her restraining order will bar 55-year-old Julian Willis from contacting Porter or her family."

Bullshit! Porter's Capitol Police protective detail, if any, will. Porter's own defensive tactics and weapons will. Unless that order is printed on a six inch thick, really dense fiber, fire-treated piece of paper, that is big enough to cover her like body armor, it will do nothing to protect her.

@13 You are making shit up as you go along

Not only did the United Nations slammed Israel new buffer zone as a violation but the Security Council unanimously passed UNSC Resolution 497 which condemned the Israeli actions to change the status of the territory [Golan Heights] declaring them "null and void and without international legal effect", and that the Golan remained an occupied territory.

Any members of the UN shall abide by its charter (i.e. international law):

Charter of the United Nations
Chapter I — Purposes and Principles
Article 2(1)–(5)

All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

@19, A wealth tax drove all of high-paying tech companies and entrepreneurs out of Norway.

https://www.thefp.com/p/why-i-left-norway-unrealized-gains-tax

It could be useful in de-populating Washington State, and Seattle in particular, of tech companies and employees.

As a source of progressive revenue, not so much.

Let's have voters take their castor oil and approve and income tax, preferably one that reduces regressive sales and property taxes, in that order, dollar-for-dollar for the poor.

@19 Perfect illustration of how law and order types (and corporate media) will take any criminal event in isolation to pretend the sky is falling in spite of what the data indicates

My understanding is that Syria and Israel came to a bilareral arrangement in 74. Israel is currently taking liberties with it....because it can. Julani has already communicated his displeasure but also warned tangling with the IDF is not on the table now.

If we are now concerning ourselves with Syrias territorial integrity, better to be keeping an eye on Istanbul. Erdogan has made some remarkable statements of late, which I would say sound "neo-Ottoman." A Turkish invasion may be imminent, and it would not be far fetched to see Hatay become a fiefdom of the Turks. Then the not small matter of another stateless people, the Kurds.

Of course, none of this involves Israel, which for some folks, makes it all completely uninteresting. For this crowd staring into one of the world's most complex regions through a toilet paper tube does simplify things.

@18 wait, ok, let me see if I got this: Israel can attack within Syria because they don't have any treaties, and Israel can also attack within Lebanon despite their treaty because that's "self defense." Given all that, can the new rulers of Syria invade Israel, and can Hamas attack within Israel in self defense?

@25 is there a contingent rabidly arguing Turkey has a "right to exist" that justifies any and all incursions into and acts of war or human rights violations committed within neighboring territories? If so I'll happily engage with them like I do the pro-Israel zealots but I haven't seen any.

@26 (& 27)

tho their pretzel logic's
well-illustrated by
M.C. Esher's
Artistry

they'll follow it
to the Moon
and (some-
how! sad-
ly) back.

good Luck.

@25, You are correct; however, the agreement between Syria and Israel was for a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.

Ceasefires just set terms to cease fire in the conflict, not settle it. They don't set borders or other peace terms. They are temporary and transient in nature, in anticipation of future hostilities or a peace treaty.

The remedy for violation of a ceasefire, is to resume hostilities, which Syria is certainly legally free to do in response to Israel's actions invading the agreed ceasefire buffer zone.

@22, The U.N. can say all it wants. Until the two nations agree on a border, there isn't a legal one. There may be a de facto one.

Also what is the U.N. condemning? Violation of the terms of a ceasefire agreement to which they are a party. Perfectly within the U.N.'s right.

It begs the question, what army is the U.N., or Syria, going to use to forcibly push the IDF back to a border that one, or the other would prefer? When will a peace treaty be signed where all the parties agree on that border.

A treaty, without the right to forcibly enforce it, is just a request for another party to voluntarily do something. "Please, please, pretty, please." Oh that didn't work? Maybe shout it louder, put it in bold type or all caps, add more "please" words to the sentence.

It's kind of like laws. If the state doesn't have the right to corrosively force compliance, its not really a law, just hoped for observance of etiquette.

@24 or maybe we just don't go along with the gaslighting that "everything is ok" because reports of crime are down. What if there was an alternative explanation like people know the police are not going to show up or do anything because they are woefully understaffed and even if they do the restorative justice criminal system we have in place in KC means the focus of any proceeding will be all about how the offender feels so many people don't bother reporting crime anymore, particularly if its low level. That's just me spitballing.

@26, A country allowing its territory to be used by a third-party, to attack another country, is an act of war. (E.g. The Taliban allowing Al Qaeda to use Afghanistan as a base to plan and execute the 9/11 attack, and then doubling-down on that by refusing to turn over Al Qaeda ).

You would have a case regarding Lebanon having their territory unlawfully attacked if Lebanon had the will or means to stop Hezbollah attacking Israel from Lebanon. The government of Lebanon did nothing to stop Hezbollah.

Hamas is not a country. Gaza is not a country. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. They forcibly removed their own citizens. They have not attacked Gaza or Hamas since 2005 except in response to attacks from Gaza. So Hamas, or Gaza, has had no right since 2005 to attack Israel in self-defense.

Since 1948, Gaza and the Sinai has been disputed territory between Israel and Egypt. In 1978, the parties signed a peace treaty where NEITHER SIDE wanted Gaza. That created a lawless, extra-national territory in Gaza, which has alternately been controlled by whichever Palestinian power asserts itself in Gaza's civil wars. At present its Hamas.

Israel committed itself in the 1992 Oslo Accords to recognize the PLO as the representative of the people in Gaza and the West Bank, provided the PLO recognized the nation of Israel and its right to exist. Hamas was formed to oppose the PLO as a result of the PLO recognizing Israel and its right to exist, and won control of Gaza through a combination of votes and force. And here we are with Gazan's getting the life bombed out of them because Hamas continues to attack Israel from Gazan territory, and Hamas continues to be internationally lawful target of Israel's self-defense efforts from Gazan, or any other territory Hamas attacks from.

@3: Israel and Syria have been at war since 1948. If the Syrians ever get tired of losing territory to the Israelis, they can sign a peace treaty with Israel like Egypt and Jordan did. Until they do, the Syrian Arab Army best learn how to man a trenchline, lol!

Why no peace treaty? Well, Article I of said peace treaty would recognize Israel's right to exist. The Syrians don't believe Israel has the right to exist, so they ain't signing nothing. 😅 OK then, Syrians have it your way! Good luck against the 7th Armored Brigade, ha ha ha! Say, maybe the Iranians will come riding to your rescue! 🤣🤣🤣

As for Israel's entry into the UNDOF strip, the militias that overthrew Assad have begun operating in the strip. UNDOF is supposed to prevent Syrian armed forces from operating in the UNDOF strip, but UNDOF has proven no more effective against the Syrian militias than UNIFIL is against Hizabollah, lol! OK, fine, if the UN won't protect Israel, then Israel is happy to protect itself! 😃

Again, Syria can make all of this stop anytime it wants. Juuuuust gotta acknowledge's Israel's existence, that's all! Such a tiny thing, but so, so, so very difficult for some people, ha ha!

@25: Absolutely correct to call attention to Turkey’s decade-long, tens-of-thousands-strong incursion into Syria. The Turks now occupy an area of Syria triple the size of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and ten times the size of the UNDOF strip that AverageBob was moaning about. The Turks are in the driver’s seat in Middle Eastern military affairs right now, and there are some very ominous rumbles emanating from the territory they have seized in northern Syria. As you say, though, if it’s not Israel then it might as well be invisible to most American progressives, lol!

@31 crime reports being up means crime is up, and crime reports being down also means crime is up! Down is up and if you say otherwise it's gaslighting!

@18: “Lebanon and Israel have never been at war since 1949.”

Wrong. Lebanon and Israel have a ceasefire, but they remain at war. Israel can send troops into Lebanon anytime it wants, and vice versa. That's war for ya!

Even if Israel and Lebanon did have a peace treaty, which they do not, Israel would still have the right to attack Hizbollah within Lebanese borders. 😃 No peace treaty in the world can require a country to accept rocket fire and commando raids from a terrorist group while the terrorists' host nation sits on its hands, lol!

Lesson for Lebanon—and really, a good lesson for everyone, lol—is that it’s not a very smart idea to host a foreign-backed terrorist militia with 40,000 fighters and an abiding hatred of your most powerful neighbor! You are only borrowing trouble if you allow such a militia to take root on your soil! 😆

Slog commenters did a good job today leaving the Amber Kim story alone.

United Nations Resolution 497

Resolution 497 (1981) of 17 December 1981
The Security Council,
Having considered the letter of 14 December 1981 from the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic
contained in document SI 14 791 . "

Reaffirming that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible, in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations, the principles of international law and relevant Security Council resolutions,
I. Decides that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect;
2. Demands that Israel, the occupying Power, should rescind forthwith its decision;
3. Determines that all the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, '' continue to apply to the Syrian territory occupied by Israel since June 1967;
4. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the implementation of the present resolution within two weeks and decides that, in the event of non-compliance by Israel, the Council would meet urgently, and not later than 5 January 1982, to consider taking appropriate measures in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

Anything else is neocon justification for land grabs

@36 "No peace treaty in the world can require a country to accept rocket fire and commando raids from a terrorist group while the terrorists' host nation sits on its hands, lol!"

Hezbollah should just change its name to Lebanon Defense Forces and they can do all the raids they want, lol!

@38 So go over and stop them. I'm sure they'll listen to you. You're a man of action.

@31 Now you are lying because I explicitly said that public safety is always a concern. Public safety is part of the deal we made in the social contract so we should constantly work toward making it better but right wingers and corporate media falsely claiming that crime is through the roof to frighten their elderly constituencies and win elections is totally unacceptable. Same thing, more or less, applies to immigration btw.

@40 You don't get it. If your country signed the UN charter, it is obligated to enforce international law. Now, if you chose to return to a pre-UN, might is right world with what that entails just say so but don't pretend you are for justice

@38: Under UNSCR 497, Israel is required to stop imposing its laws, administration, and jurisdiction over the Golan Heights. It's not required to give the land back to Syria.

If Syria wants the land back, the framework to follow is set forth in USCR 242: Israel withdraws from Syrian land in exchange for Syrian recognition of Israel's right to exist, commonly referred to as the "land for peace" framework. So far, Syria hasn't delivered on the peace, so Israel is under no obligation to deliver on the land. 😁 See how it works? 😉

@39: "Hezbollah should just change its name to Lebanon Defense Forces and they can do all the raids they want, lol!"

Ha ha, not quite that simple. Lebanon is a country while Hizbollah is not, lol! Details, details! 😉

But Lebanon the country is at war with Israel for many decades, so yes, they are free to launch an offensive against Israel whenever they like. Course, the Israelis are free to do the same to Lebanon, so the Lebanese would be wise to be cautious, lol!

@35: Excellent explanation. As a direct result, no doubt, the bus driver is now less dead.

@42 I don't pretend I'm for justice. I'm for security against terrorist sneak attacks across poorly defended borders. These actions make Israel's borders more secure and reduce the chances of involvement by US troops. Of which I was one. So piss off.

@36, The Lebanese Government and Lebanese Military has never attacked Israel. The State of Lebanon has never sought to take out Israel, or its government. Likewise with Israel.

Israel's attacks in Lebanon have targeted the militias that Lebanon has been unwilling, or unable (more the latter I think), to stop from operating from their territory. Even when Israel invaded Lebanon, the Lebanese Military withdrew before them.

Going to war with Lebanon, and going to war with groups on Lebanese territory are two different things.

@35 or maybe we just trust our eyes and what our neighbors and community are saying??? There are lies, gd lies and statistics and right now I don't think crime repots are accurate not do the adequately capture the concern people have downtown and in some of the neighborhoods.

@41 now who's being hyperbolic. No one said its through the roof but its definitely a problem and is not "fine". Are you also saying you are ok enforcing immigration laws and Seattle should drop its sanctuary policies? I would be speechless if that was the case.

@38, Without an army to enforce its will, the U.N. can do what it always does. Pass feckless resolutions about as valuable as the ink and paper they are printed on.

Also note that they don't call on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights. Absent a peace treaty with the country that attacked them from the Golan, such a demand would violate Article 51 of their own charter. They even refer to Israel as the occupying power, without condemning the occupation. Their sole objection is Israel treating it as their own territory, rather than occupied territory, absent a peace treaty.

So the border won't be resolved, until and unless, there is a peace treaty between Syria and Israel. Israel's position will be: "We will agree to peace (ending the hostilities of war) when you give up the Golan." Syria is legally free to reject that, to try and take the Golan back by force, or to agree to that.

@39, That won't work absent the Lebanese Government making them that, which would require Hezbollah be willing to submit to and take orders from the Lebanese Government.

@42, No country is obligated to do anything the U.N. wants or another country wants. That is the very characteristic of being a country. You are sovereign and don't have to answer to anyone else.

If the U.N. wants to kick a country out of the U.N. for not doing something that the U.N. wants, they are free to do so. The U.N. never has.

@45, No he is less dead because he was killed with a knife, rather than a gun.

At least that is what Barth would have us believe. We are immune to being murdered in a world without guns.

The government tracks crime two different ways: reported crimes and a national survey that captures unreported crime, with the understanding that all crimes are not reported.

The rate of unreported violent crimes did tick up slightly in 2022 but it regressed in 2023. This is national data so not specific to Seattle but I think it’s safe to assume the directionality of unreported crime rate more or less tracks with the reported crime rate because the difference between them is consistent over time — when reported crime goes up/down, so does the unreported rate. Your perception of reality is always prone to bias so statistics, though imperfect, will always be more reliable.

https://bjs.ojp.gov/document/cv23.pdf

@47: “The Lebanese Government and Lebanese Military has never attacked Israel. The State of Lebanon has never sought to take out Israel, or its government”

Not correct. Lebanon went to war against Israel in 1948. The two countries remain in a state of war today. There have been any number of ceasefires and armistices over the decades, but there has never been a peace treaty. The formal position of Lebanon remains that Israel has no right to exist.

Being at war, Israel and Lebanon remain free to go hot against one another whenever either country wants. Israel’s recent attacks in Lebanon were aimed against Hizbollah, not the Lebanese state per se, but that was a matter of forbearance on Israel’s part.

The Middle East is a rough neighborhood, rougher than most Americans can appreciate! 😃

@50: nothing in your post is an accurate restatement of international law 😂

@37 I think it’s because most of the posters recognize trans rights (even if Ms Kim seems like a less than ideal cause to rally around - double patricide tends to rub folks the wrong way). My biggest concern is how easily the right can use the case as a broad attack against a community I love (because of the people I love). I feel like Vivian’s heart is in the right place - would love more coverage of inmates who don’t have Amber’s baggage.

@43 Resolution 242 calls for Israel to withdraw and for all involved nations to recognize each others' right to live in peace BUT military occupation is temporary and Israel has behaved as if its occupation of the Golan was permanent from the get go by destroying most Syrian villages, refusing the right of return to the more than 100,000 Syrians it scared off in 1967, developing Israeli settler colonies, exploiting resources, harassing the remaining Syrian population, etc pretty much like it did in Palestinian occupied territories. All of which is illegal under international law, and in some instances amounts to war crimes.

@46 I have a bridge for sale to you to if you believe that Israel will be more secure by annexing the territory of its neighbors. You don't appear to be a very good student of history.

and don't get all huffy. You started jawing at me. If you can't stand the heat, .... you know what to do.

@55: Aw my heart bleeds. 🤣 Those poor Syrians probably really regret trying to wipe Israel off the map all those times! What an oopsie! 🤣

oh well, if the Syrians ever get tired of those mean old Israelis beating them up, all they have to do is say the magic words: “Israel has the right to exist.” But hey it’s only been 76 years, they’re probably still trying to figure out the right way to say it, ha ha!

@46 a great way to avoid "terrorist" attacks is to not bomb and otherwise kill a population's women and children. Or ideally not to have waged your own terror campaign on a populace before stealing their land with the assistance of Western imperialist nations and institutions and oppressing them for decades.

@48 but local news anecdotes never lie or overstate the prevalence of crime, ever.

@55, Israel will never give up the Golan, unless someone militarily takes it from them.

Nobody let's someone position a knife by their throat in exchange for an agreement that the other party will never use the knife.

How is the U.N. doing at making its resolutions stick?

Remember the Gulf War. That U.N resoution worked wonders in getting Saddam out of Kuwait. Oh wait, it was actually a coalition army usibg force.

@55 Hey, BelowAverageBob, nobody is interested in your bridge made of straw. History shows terrorist governments only understand one language, one in which the United States and Israel are quite fluent.

@55: "Resolution 242 calls for Israel to withdraw and for all involved nations to recognize each others' right to live in peace BUT military occupation is temporary..."

Why? Because you said so? Res' 242 does not require Israel to vacate prior to recognition, or vice versa. They're equal parts of the same whole.

Anyone can see what you've been doing here, and it long ago became tiresome. You carefully select which UN Resolutions (or pieces of them) to quote, ignore anything you happen not to like, and then bully on and on and on about how Israel (and only Israel) must do yadda yadda yadda. The goal is to get Israel to return territory (which it seized after the country in question had launched a war/invasion against Israel from it) WITHOUT Israel getting anything in return-- most especially, a recognition of Israel's right to exist, as part of a lasting peace deal. How's that been working since 1967? Or 1948?

Egypt got the Sinai Peninsula back, as part of a lasting peace deal with Israel, which of course included recognition of Israel's right to exist (as part of mutual recognition). Is there some reason you're not advocating for Lebanon and Syria to do the same thing? Because if you do not give an answer, your audience is free to fill in the blank there. It certainly seems like you're very much in favor of a forever war in the region for some reason.

On that note, if you approvingly cite the results of imperial policy as a basis for an argument, your audience will tend to believe you're very much in favor of imperialism. If you approvingly cite the results of anti-Jewish policies, especially on territory historically belonging to Jews, your audience will tend to believe you're anti-Jewish. See how those work?

the Rein of The eltrumpfster? nyt:

Amazon Workers at Seven
U.S. Distribution Cen-
ters Walk Out

The retail giant
said it expected its oper-
ations to be largely unaffected
by the strike by some Teamsters union members.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/business/economy/amazon-teamsters-strike.html

well
what with
Bezos doing
His best to hand
it over to The donold
including grabbing the
Reins of his (heretofore)
Independent Editorial staff
at WAPO he’ll see the graffiti
on the wall and turn on the fire-
hoses against his “commie!” strikers

Relax:
It’s just
Capitalism!

@61 Yeah, I already cancelled my subscription to WaPo. Ends at the beginning of March.

@63 -- maybe too Late but Kudos.

we'll
ALL be
Marching by
this time, next
year: General Strike
or the National Guard
& maybe the Marines, too?

it's gonna be
Sides-choosing time
& (likely) coming up quickly.

@63 Nah, it won't reach that point.

@60 Welcome to the 20th century:

From The Law of Armed Conflict
"The annexation of conquered territory is prohibited by international law. This necessarily means that if one State achieves power over parts of another State’s territory by force or threat of force, the situation must be considered temporary by international law. The international law of belligerent occupation must therefore be understood as meaning that the occupying power exercises provisional and temporary control over foreign territory. It follows from this that measures taken by the occupying authorities should avoid far-reaching changes in the existing order."

https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/external/doc/en/assets/files/other/law9_final.pdf

Israel is in clear violation of international law in its occupation of the Golan Heights. and not only due to its annexation of the territory but because of the profound changes to the demographics, ownership of the land, deliberate destruction of property, discrimination against natives, etc .. that it started implementing from the beginning.

@63 no, Not for
@63, dummy
for @62

speaking of Tiresome

from our
Master Projectionist
Lording his Mastery over others

“Anyone
can see what
you've been doing here… ”

yep. bucking against yours
and others full-throated
endorsement of
a Genocide

WITH OUR TAX DOLLAR$

Thank You, averagebob.

“… and it long ago became tiresome.”
you mean ab's competing against
Your corporate narrative’s
wearing you out

“… and then bully on and on and on…”
well, there’s your Projection.

“about … [somebody] … must
do yadda yadda yadda.”

tiresome tiresome tiresome
you’re the Michelin Man

@64 -- I appreciate your optimism.

@56 we already know that you like posturing as an international law expert until breaking international law better suits your needs

@averagebob

soulless a i knows Nothing
More than it's Master's*
inputs -- or as They're
always saying the rot-
ten apple falleth not
Far from the rotten
apple tree.

*for Now.
the Genie'll
NOT be going
back into the bottle
but'll be Breaking said bottle
over its (former) "master"'s head.

ouch.

@67: lol, I don’t rest on my expertise. Every legal argument I make can and should be checked by anyone who doubts me. 😁

You’re correct that Israel is prohibited by UNSCR 497 from applying its civil law to the Golan. Israel’s occupation of Golan is lawful, but its application of civil law is unlawful. The proper body of law to apply is martial law.

When it comes to lawbreaking, though, Israel to Syria is like Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. They both deserve criticism, but the latter should make you much more outraged than the former… at least if you’re being honest! 😉

@65: Nope, the occupation is lawful. If Syria wants it back, then the hoop they gotta jump through is UNSCR 242. Land for peace, bitches, not land for nothing, lol!

@65: I know I chased you right out of Res’ 242 by pointing out it didn’t say what you claimed it did, but you should have read your next document a little more before moving to that goalpost.

First, if you follow the news, it’s always called the “Israel-occupied Golan Heights,” because the Golan Heights are in Syria, and Israel has occupied them, not annexed them. So, since Israel has not annexed the Golan Heights, your citation does not apply.

Second, you seem to rely on the nonbinding opinion at the end of your quote, “It follows from this that measures taken by the occupying authorities should avoid far-reaching changes in the existing order.” To this you added your own, completely undocumented, assertions about what Israel has done in the Golan Heights. None of this proves anything, your belief it does notwithstanding.

As @70 already said, Syria can ask Israel for a peaceful end to Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights anytime it wants, but that brings us back to the Res’ 242 you’d abandoned.

Finally, I’d like to thank you for validating my point, by behaving exactly as I’d described:

“The goal is to get Israel to return territory (which it seized after the country in question had launched a war/invasion against Israel from it) WITHOUT Israel getting anything in return-- most especially, a recognition of Israel's right to exist, as part of a lasting peace deal.”

Even if I’d written your comment myself, it could not have matched my description any more closely than it already does. Again, thanks.

@65 the continuous occupation of the Golan height is unlawful, just like the continuous occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful, because Israel has made clear its intent to annex the Golan through its policy of ethnic cleansing and its declaration of annexation. Just give time to the ICJ to focus on the Golan and it will conclude that the occupation is unlawful for the same reasons it concluded the continuous occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful.

Permanent occupation of Golan Heights is violation of international law : German Foreign Minister

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Wednesday that the permanent Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights is a violation of international law.

Baerbock added during a session of the German parliament to discuss the current situation, "If we want peace in the region, Syria's territorial integrity must not be called into question."

https://www.gulf-times.com/article/696973/international/permanent-occupation-of-golan-heights-is-violation-of-international-law-german-foreign-minister

@72 is for @70

@71 Dude, give it a rest with your nonsense

@72: Well, I guess if a German Green Party foreign minister say it, then it must be true, lol!

The good minister need not worry too much, though, because the Israeli occupation of the Golan is not “permanent.” The magic words are right there in UNSCR 242. The occupation ensures only so long as Syria refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

So far it’s been 76 years of non-recognition, but who know what the future will hold for Syria now that they have a new government? 😃 Something bright and lovely, I’m sure! 😄 Peace is right around the corner! 😂

I feel for the Syrians, I really do, but they have always been the architects of their own misfortunes. They can make all of this stop whenever they want. They just gotta take that teeny, tiny little step of acknowledging Israel’s right to exist. Really shouldn’t be this hard, no? 😉

@75 Unsurprisingly you didn't address the meat of my comment and chose to focus on the political leaning of the German foreign minister: Resolution 242 was written in 1967, 57 years ago during which Israel has made more than clear that its occupation was permanent, which makes the occupation unlawful just like the occupation of Palestinian territories is unlawful (even more so since Israel officially annexed the Syrian Golan Heights).

@76: Now you’re saying Res’ 242 is meaningless? I thought it was incredibly important, like all the way back @55.

Wouldn’t it just be easier for Israel and Syria to conclude a peace treaty, each recognizing the other’s right to exist, and scheduling a return of demilitarized territory, as Israel and Egypt did with the Sinai Peninsula? Have you an objection to that?

@76: well, Israel has held the land for all that time because Syria has refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist for all that time. The occupation looks permanent only because Syria’s intent to destroy Israel looks permanent. 😅

You expect Israel to return territory it seized during war while the war is still going on? That is your demand to Israel? Come on now, dude… 😂

@78 You still fail to address the policies of ethnic cleansing that started the day after invasion of Golan Heights, which indicate the objective always was a land grab. For Palestinian territories, length of occupation was only an element for which the ICJ found that occupation illegal. The same holds true for Golan where the same policies of land grabbing have been implemented for 57 years capped by a declaration of annexation. You are basically in bad faith, which we are used to by now.

@79: "...which indicate the objective always was a land grab."

Yes, but in the military sense: "Syria had supported pre-war raids that had helped raise tensions and had routinely shelled Israel from the Heights... Israel's strategic depth grew to at least ... 20 kilometers of extremely rugged terrain in the north, a security asset that would prove useful in the Yom Kippur War six years later." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War)

Turns out that making unprovoked attacks from a territory can cause the victims of those attacks to take said territory away. Go figure.

@79: lol, there’s no “ethnic cleansing” in any of the occupied territories, neither Palestinian nor Syrian, so you’re just out on your own there! 😄

As for the Golan, land for peace is the UN-endorsed solution. I think if you weren’t so blinded by hatred for Israel, you’d be able to see what a great deal for Syria the land for peace framework is. No reparations, no disarmament, no change of government, not even an apology. Just simple peace. As someone who believes both in Syrian sovereignty and in peace, it’s obvious to me that land for peace is the deal of the century. Maybe less obvious to you, lol!

If Syria feels raw about it, they can take their case to the ICJ. I’d love to see that pleading: “We intend to remain at war with Israel, but Israel should be required to return all territory we have lost in the course of that war.” That would make for a dynamite case, ha ha!

You’re right that Israel should not have applied its civil law to the Golan (although you are wrong to call it “annexation,” lol). Properly, Israel should be administering the Golan under martial law, not civil law. The Syrians could really put the Israelis in a tight spot if they ever acknowledged Israel’s right to exist! It would really teach the Israelis a lesson! 😉

@81 "there’s no “ethnic cleansing” in any of the occupied territories, neither Palestinian nor Syrian, so you’re just out on your own there! "

anyone doing a web search will see that many reputable ngo's including doctors without borders, Human rights watch, amnesty, etc .. and UN experts say that Israel is committing ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories, and has committed it in the past, so I suspect I am less "on my own" about this than you are

I am not going to go through blow by blow to debunk your usual tissue of half truths and lies because we have all better things to do.

how do we decide if it’s Genocide?
whilst it may only be a Massacre
(paid for by we the people)!
it’s Still murder on a
Massive scale

from Democracy Now:

Human Rights Watch:
Israel’s Extermination
and Genocide in Gaza

“Water is Life” became the anthem of the water protectors protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in and around the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota in 2016. Now, a cruel negative variant of that phrase applies to Gaza: “No water is death.”

Two million Palestinians trapped in Gaza have been subjected to an Israeli military assault for close to 14 months, including the purposeful denial of water.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a damning, 184-page report on this manufactured water crisis, titled, “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water.”

The report details how Israel has systematically deprived water to Palestinians in Gaza, and quotes Israeli officials who, in their own words, define this crime as official policy. Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for example, said on October 9th, 2023, two days after Hamas’s attack on southern Israel,

“We are imposing a complete siege…No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel – everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and must act accordingly.”

[someone pls call in
the Exterminators]
[oh and let US help
fucking PAY for It].

The Israeli military dutifully followed its orders, so much so that, on November 21st of this year, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Gallant and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

“What that statement of his [Gallant] and statements by other senior Israeli leaders in positions of control and command in the Israeli army over this issue of denial of access to water, their statements are evidence of an intent, and they were also carried out by the military and by the authorities,” Bill van Esveld, HRW’s acting Israel and Palestine Associate Director, who helped produce the report, said on the Democracy Now! news hour.

“It’s not just they said something and it sounds bad. What they said was actually what they did.

That’s extremely serious, and that is part of what led us to the conclusion of extermination.

That is a crime against humanity, of deliberately causing mass death. One of the ways that can be committed is by depriving people of what they need to stay alive, such as water.”

--by Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan
December 19, 2024

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/12/19/human_rights_watch_israels_extermination_and

so Are our genocide
Justifiers Vermin,
like Israel calls
Palestinians?

@83: You might want to talk to Bernie about using the word, “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza.

Is Bernie a “genocide Justifier”? Asking for a friend.

Love,

Berntongue

uh,
No, wormmy.
Bernie's a Democratc
Socialist. it's only you fascists
justifying bibi's fucking Genocide

tho you'll likely
Never understand;
keep trying. keep Twisting.

keep being our
Wormtongue.

@85: You really need to ask Bernie about using the word, "genocide," to describe what's happening in Gaza.

Meanwhile, I'm not a "fascist," but a member of an anarcho syndicalist commune!

Help, I'm bein' repressed!

well ok wormmy
wtever you say
my little Troll.
it's Nice to
have 'Fol-
Lowers'
(Stalk-
ers)!

@85: Thanks for calling me a "fascist." Not only does that, all by itself, provide near-ironclad proof that I'm not a fascist, it also functions as your backhanded admission you've got nuthin'.

@87: Dream on, pal. I'm just here to show you'll throw even Bernie under the bus, the instant he dares disagree with you in the slightest.

throw him
under the
fucking
Bus

Wormtongue.

do you have
any idea how
Ridiculous you
you are? no I guess
you wouldn't. your little
Dramas musta been a Big Hit

in junior high
small Wonder you
crafted your ai like that

thump
thump.

I'll want another
2-300 words
Before this
time tom-
orrow.

perhaps
it's Not a
Genocide

but a soon-
to-be Omnicide

"Oh, NO --
it CAN'T BE 'Omnicide'!
it's only a fucking Genocide!"

--Wormtongue
minimizing
as per
usual.

[gosh --
it's Super
EASY to Make.
Shit. Up! Thanks, wormmy!]