Apparently, yesterday, he kept falling asleep in court. Not a good look!

Fake snooze!

Can you imagine the outrage if a “western ” embassy was attacked? (US embassy in Nairobi being a similar parallel I guess)

I think the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aries is a much better parallel. In terms of outrage, at least. Certainly not in terms of who was killed though because in that one it was only civilians.

I’m not particularly worried.

Yup. For example, we had been under close protection by the Iron Dome for the past two weeks since the Iranian generals were eliminated. Our protection disappeared yesterday afternoon though, and that’s only 12 hours after being directly targeted by Hamas again, so it seems the powers that be think things are a lot calmer.

I am still yearning to be a starship trooper and have someone fall in love with me.

No suggestions on the love front but have you considered signing up for the Helldivers to hand out some democracy?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/553850/HELLDIVERS_2/

I have to admit that I have never heard of Genocide Watch, it seems to be run by about a dozen or so mostly undergraduates.

You have the name of the organisation, you have any number of search engines, and the most cursory of searches for “Genocide Watch” will tell you its Board of Directors consists of  thirty eight Professors, Doctors, United Nations advisors and legal experts. And yet your research on them leads you to think it’s run by about a dozen undergraduates. Does the same level of diligent enquiry inform the rest of what you write here?

Edit – and on that note I think I’ll give myself a 24hr timeout. Sometimes I don’t agree with what ernie says, sometimes it’s more that I don’t agree with how he says things, and whilst I’m more than happy to participate in robust discussions I feel I’m at risk of straying into “playing the man and not the ball” territory. See you tomorrow if this thread is still around.

So it’s the usual descent into flippancy and ignoring the matter at hand then, in this case the argument being predicated around a definition of genocide only meaning genocide when it suits. To be expected I suppose.

Interesting that you should be bold enough to consider the Raoul Wallenberg foundation not “serious” on the matter of genocide. Same goes for George Stanton. Do you know anything about the people and organisations you so casually denigrate?

I far as I am aware no one has claimed that the Oct 7 attack was an act of genocide

You must have missed the bit where lots of people claimed that the October 7th attack was an act of genocide then: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_genocide_in_the_2023_Hamas-led_attack_on_Israel

I have no idea what you mean by “gone off the deep end”, can you explain?

It’s fairly common vernacular meaning to take drastic action, or take an extreme viewpoint, or act in a reckless or agitated manner. For example, Moshe Feiglin saying “There is one and only (one) solution, which is to completely destroy Gaza before invading it. I mean destruction like what happened in Dresden and Hiroshima, without nuclear weapons… Gaza should be razed and Israel’s rule should be restored to the place. This is our country”.

We know no details of the experiences of the woman who was being interviewed in that clip so it is difficult to conclude that she must be lying.

If that’s the level of critical thinking required to make a statement then by the same measure it must be equally difficult to conclude that she is telling the truth, surely? And asking Jews about Palestinians whilst stood in one of the most fought over plots of land in world history, and not only that Jews in Zion Square, gathering place for the most politically vocal? No wonder she got some extreme views, and it highlights why opinion polls should be taken with a pinch of salt. For instance, you claim:

I don’t think that it is inconceivable that during her time in the West Bank she didn’t meet any Palestinians who espoused genocide against Jews, Palestinians don’t generally seem to use that narrative even if some individuals might.

But opinion polls show that 72% of Palestinians – including 85% of West Bank Palestinians, who Abby Martin clearly didn’t speak to – agree with the actions Hamas broadcast to the world on October 7th.

Oh, and the word “irony” was used in response to the word “selective”, not the word “synopsis”.

So, I’ve not read much of this thread and admittedly have little knowledge of this part of the world. But what happens if/when Iran has a go at Israel?

It’s unlikely – although not impossible – that Iran will launch an attack themselves; they have too much to lose by entering into direct confrontation in Israel. For example, I’m sure the Israeli government are waiting for the slightest justification to head over there and sabotage/destroy the Uranium enrichment facilities Iran has.

Instead it’s likely to be a collection of Iran-backed militias, ISIS in Iraq and Syria and Hezbollah, and maybe the Houtis, that do Iran’s dirty work for them.Things have certainly been heating up quickly. We had 40 or so missiles from Hezbollah overnight, although these only hit farmland in the north-east of Israel, and there has been a significant increase in IDF activities in both Gaza, the West Bank and the Israel/Lebanon/Syria border area over the last 24 hours or so which is only going to inflame tensions. How Israel responds I’m not sure, but they have been increasing their armed forces number in the north significantly over the last few weeks so I wouldn’t rule out some kind of entry into Lebanon with the goal of pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River.

Oh, and countless civilians on all sides will suffer. That seems to be the common thread running through all this.

I don’t think that it is inconceivable that during her time in the West Bank she didn’t meet any Palestinians who espoused genocide against Jews, Palestinians don’t generally seem to use that narrative even if some individuals might.

In contrast since Oct 7 there has been some dangerous genocidal rhetoric from Israeli leaders, political and military. So much so in fact that at the request of the South African government the International Court of Justice is investigating claims of incitement to commit genocide by Israeli politicians and military leaders.

It is reasonable to assume that these sort of sentiments filter down to many ordinary Israelis, governments generally tend to be more politically moderate than their voters.

Here we go again, making careful distinctions between “Palestinians” and “some Palestinians” but then in the next sentence extrapolating that because “some Israelis” have gone off the deep end then it surely is reasonable to assume that “ordinary Israelis” must feel the same.

I am not sure that your rather selective synopsis helps the thread either

Oh the irony…

I’m aghast at the number of attempts to detract from Hamas’ actions by referring to the language in their charter, and I wonder what the ultimate aim of those contributions are and how they can, in good conscience, be made in the face of the live-streamed atrocities Hamas committed and gleefully shared with the world last year. I haven’t seen anybody claiming that the Israeli government and the IDF have an unblemished record, but it seems when Hamas are concerned certain contributors get all Duck Soup: “Who are you going to believe? The Hamas Charter of 2017 or your lying eyes?”

I’m also curious why those posters’ championing of Palestine and the Palestinian plight seems to begin in 1920. Jews have lived in the Middle East for thousands of years. There’s lots of talk of 1967 borders and people being usurped from their homes and land, but prior to the creation of Mandatory Palestine it was more of a region within the Ottoman Empire than a tangible place with defined borders on a map within which you could stick a pin, and Arabs and Jews lived in the region together. And during that time there were plenty of incidents in which Jews were attacked and forced out of their homes, the largest of such being the 1917 Jaffa Deportation. If it’s about having a claim to the land, they were persecuted and forcibly removed from their homes and a significant percentage of them died as a result of either the abuse they suffered or starvation. Why do these people not get the same sympathy as Palestinians do now? Because they fled the land to escape these incidents they now have no claim to it?

I think October 7th pretty much shit all over any “we don’t hate Jews” that chapter 16 was trying to claim.

Edit: nevermind, for risk of falling foul of Post #1

it also acknowledges that a Palestine restored to 1967 borders is the “formula of national consensus”

I don’t think it does though. We’re reading their Charter from our perspective, where borders and lands etc. were as stated in various post-WWI declarations. The Hamas Charter chapter 18 says they do not recognise any of the various laws and documents and treaties that resulted in the creation of “Israel” as a safe place for Jews, nor the creation of any borders or any distribution of land. We should be reading their charter as if the Balfour Declaration and what followed never existed, because that’s the mindset of those who wrote it.

Yes. The Puffins Burrow, opposite Lewis chippy.

Well I never. I believe I bought some oven gloves off you a couple of weeks ago.

The IDF have now all but withdrawn from the Gaza strip

Word on the street is this is in preparation for an offensive on Rafah. They are still present around almost the entire border of the Gaza strip, and maintain a line that completely cuts off the northern third of Gaza from the south, from the 1948 Armistice Line to the Mediterranean coast.

israelpalestine.liveuamap.com seems to be a source of decent, up-to-date unfiltered news and tweets direct from sources on all sides. It’s certainly keeping me up to date with what to expect in the next week or so…

“Palestine can’t become a state until groups like Hamas, whose reason for existence to to destroy Israel…”

We’ve been through this already but no it isn’t.

Hamas’ stated intent as per their 2017 re-jigged charter is a reunification of Palestine as a single sovereign state from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west, and from Umm al-Rashrash (Eilat) in the south to Ras al-Naqurah (Kfar Rosh HaNikra) in the north. That covers the entirety of the country of Israel. How do you think Hamas can achieve this without removing Israel from the map?

I had this driving home from Aberdeen once. Would start normally but could barely get it above 1500 rpm so couldn’t get out of first gear. Turned out to be a small vacuum hose that had split just enough to pop off a connection somewhere once the pressure inside built up – no idea what it was for but obviously something crucial. Zip tie fixed it long enough to get home and replace the hose. Would be worth looking under the bonnet to see if there’s any pipes loose or open-ended fittings that look like they should have something connected to them.

You can’t purport to care one bit about the environment and own a dog.

Here’s Bruno doing his bit for the environment by catching the number 64 into town instead of getting in the car.

Image stored on Google Photos which has a CO2 cost of ~11.7 grams/year according to the Institute of Energy and Technology. That’s equivalent to the CO2 emissions of your average Land Cruiser travelling around 48 metres. Maybe double that actually, now that it’s hosted by STW as well. Which begs the question: can we purport to care about the environment whilst posting on STW…?

I know they’re not on your list but my mate swears by Silt wheels – https://siltmtb.com/

His son rides in some junior enduro thing in Ireland and he’s generally pretty hardcore, the wheels have proved indestructible so far.

I’m people and I’m pretty sure I’ve not carnaged anything.

Silly, reductionist perspective.

Who is behind the viral document stating that “there is no climate emergency”?

People point to one paragraph of the 2017 charter as if it is evidence of Hamas’ commitment to achieving peace and a 2-state solution but ignore pretty much all the rest:

Palestine, which extends from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west and from Ras al-Naqurah in the north to Umm al-Rashrash in the south, is an integral territorial unit.

Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine… Not one stone of Jerusalem can be surrendered or relinquished.

Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.

There is no alternative to a fully sovereign Palestinian State on the entire national Palestinian soil, with Jerusalem as its capital.

And hanging on to claims of 1967 borders doesn’t make sense from a Palestinian perspective anyway – pre-4th June 1967 Gaza was under Egyptian control and the West Bank was under Jordanian control. So Hamas claiming that’s what they want is directly opposed to their desire for a fully sovereign Palestinian state.

I think it’s more that their charter has been either worded extremely carefully to create ambiguity, or people are simply misinterpreting it. If you look at the language in detail:

Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus”

The emphasis is mine. There’s a fundamental difference between “Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967” and “Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, along the lines of the 4th of June 1967”

@somafunk apologies, you’re right, it’s was meant for @alpin

@somafunk

The BBC link contains the rambling wishes of a hard-right Israeli grandmother, not evidence of land in Gaza being sold to Israeli settlers. Indeed it specifically states the Israeli government has no policy of settling Gaza.

The Guardian link discusses what I already mentioned about illegal settlements in the West Bank and the word “Gaza” only appears in passing in the first sentence.

I’ve no desire to defend Israel’s illegal settlements, but I also think if we’re going to have an adult discussion about the situation then we should be absolutely clear on what is and what isn’t true.

Doubt there will be many Palestinians around given the there are Jewish organisations already selling off the newly claimed lands.

I’m not denying it, and certainly the issue of settlements in the West Bank is ongoing, but I can’t find anything about Israel claiming/selling off land in Gaza. Mind posting a link?

I liked it when he went fishing with Mortimer & Whitehouse.

Much better than when he tried to go fishing with Raoul Moat…

I’m unsure if it needs to be said that Israel ≠ Israelis, but I do wonder some times. There are a great many Israelis that despair at the actions of the current government here, but as usual we only ever hear about the fringe nutters on either side.

I work in Israel, I’m here at the moment wondering what Israel, Hezbollah and Iran are about to do, and I was here when the October 7th stuff kicked off. There was rightly a whole lot of disbelief and anger those first few days, in particular at the literal hours it took for any kind of response from the Israeli armed forces, and some of the videos I’ve watched from my Israeli colleagues will likely be playing through my head for the rest of my life. I could describe them but I doubt the complete and utter lack of humanity on display would be believed. There was certainly nothing I viewed that could be classed as a necessary organised uprising designed to highlight Palestine’s plight to the world.

I believe Israel has a right to protect itself against these kinds of attacks, and given Hamas’ stated intent to do it all again the first chance they get, I support them in rooting out Hamas to the very last one. I can just about persuade myself that the systematic squeezing of the Palestinian population to the far south has been a measured act to allow the IDF to sweep through the north destroying Hamas infrastructure and hunt down the remaining militants. This comes from a belief that ultimately Gaza will be rebuilt and there will be a managed return for all the displaced civilians. I, like very many of my Israeli colleagues, do not support some of the actions and decision-making displayed by the IDF but there has to be a realisation that as utterly shit as it is, in war there will always be civilian casualties. I wonder how many would have been marching on Downing Street to end the war against Germany should Twitter and TikTok and Facebook had been around to give talking head influencers a medium for their 15 second one-sided hot-takes on the fire-bombing of Dresden, for example, with no thought for the consequences of just packing up and going home.

The onus absolutely lies with the Israeli armed forces to ensure civilian casualties are kept to an absolute minimum. This is their gargantuan failing at the moment and it is a failing they must answer for. But whenever there are cries for immediate ceasefire my mind goes back to those terrible videos and what awaits Israel should Hamas get a chance to recuperate and resupply.

What large moka pot for serving two people a mug of strong coffee each?

Bialetti Venus – full stainless steel so doesn’t tarnish like the cheap aluminium ones, works on any hob, perfect coffee every time.

For me: what beard trimmer for around £50?

Lost mine somewhere during my most recent trip overseas. Don’t like actual shaving because I get crazy shaving rash. Not allowed to enter the marital home whilst sporting a full beard. Just need something that gives a uniform 5 o’clock shadow that I can then ignore for a few days.

Well that’s me told.

Or it would be if I gave a toss about another person’s opinion that has absolutely zero impact on my life.

Don’t want to derail the thread but why on earth do people go for an auto only licence?

Don’t want to derail the thread but why on earth do people give a toss about what other people do that has absolutely zero impact on their own life?

don’t know what sort of kinetic energy a 116,000 tonne ship carries when travelling at 8 knots

About 982 megajoules.

Some version of the 2012-ish VAG 2.0TDi engine in an estate? Skoda Octavia?

There’s a reason every other taxi you see is a diesel Skoda.

They don’t offer the all bells and whistles boilers necessary for weather compensation

I just checked and the first boiler on the list they offered me has weather compensation…

Could be worse Germany has ditched adidas for that horrible tick company.

I wonder if they’re going to be “playful” with the German shirt too. Think how much uniting and inspiring they could do with, say, a black, red and white flag.

No wait….

The fact that it is lit from the wrong side compared to the moon in the second shot makes me think it’s some kind of refraction/reflection happening inside the camera lens.

Well in the interests of completeness I went to see it and couldn’t turn it down. There are a couple of little gremlins to sort out – passenger window has a mind of its own, some LED DRLs are flickering and the drivers mirror doesn’t fold up – but I can sort all these. Other than that it’s like a new van. Cannot believe it’s got nearly 200k miles on it. My Dec 2017 car with 28k miles squeaks and rattles more.

I’ve got an AMD card in my laptop and got a while there was a particular version of the AMD Adrenaline software (which I think contains all the graphics drivers) that really didn’t jive with my hardware. I just had to revert to an older version for a few months and eventually when it updated to the next newest version it was ok.

Try a revert to the original Adrenaline software and don’t update to the newest version when it asks you.

Well I’m off to see it tomorrow, will give it a once over and if it’s no good I’ll message you @stanley to see what your mate has.

Good luck if FedEx are involved. They tried to charge me £131 VAT on £224 of stuff that attracted 4% duty. Free postage so it should have been less than £50 VAT. No amount of emails and me doing the maths for them could convince them they were wrong, they wouldn’t tell me how they’d calculated the £131, and then after 2 months of constant emailing they decided to return to sender citing “no contact from addressee” as the reason.

Useless.

Sounds like a book I read about a guy fed up at work so he buys a BMW FS800 and just sets off riding until his money runs out. Cannot for the life of me remember what it’s called. In a similar vein to the other book I can’t remember the name of about a guy travelling round the UK surfing.