Violet_Crumble

Violet_Crumble's Journal

June 9, 2025

Israel 'fighting our battle,' Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders declares

“If Jerusalem falls, Athens, Paris or Amsterdam are next,” Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders declared on Wednesday, speaking during a parliament session following the fall of his coalition government.

The Israel Defense Forces is “fighting our battle,” Wilders snapped at opposition leader Frans Timmermans (Labor Party/GreenLeft), who had accused him of cozying up to the “far right” Israeli government.

“The fact that our mothers in the West can sleep peacefully is because the mothers of Israeli soldiers lie awake, wondering whether their child will come home alive from a battle fought in the name of freedom,” said the politician. “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, and it has to fight the terror of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

Wilders slammed the left-wing opposition leader as a “stain” on the House of Representatives of the Netherlands for what he said were “statements that are almost antisemitic, about a country that is fighting for its existence.”

*snip*

Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, thanked Wilders for his support of the Jewish state, sharing translated footage of his remarks on X on Thursday.

https://www.columbusjewishnews.com/jns/israel-fighting-our-battle-dutch-right-wing-leader-geert-wilders-declares/article_24f45579-b3e6-5bc3-8f0c-92fa6af39c79.html

Pretty much hitting the bottom of the friends barrel when you have to thank Geert Wilders!

June 4, 2025

Former top US spokesman who defended Israel now says it 'without doubt' committed war crimes

In short:
Former State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said he did not believe Israel was carrying out a genocide, but it did commit war crimes while he was part of the Biden administration.

He did not say so at the time because his job was to speak on behalf of the US government, he said.

He also said the US "should have been tougher" on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and put him under more pressure to accept a ceasefire proposal.

--------------------------------------------------------

A prominent Biden administration spokesperson who defended Israel from allegations of war crimes now says Israel has "without a doubt" committed war crimes in Gaza.

Matthew Miller, who was the State Department's top spokesperson until early this year, sparred with journalists who raised the allegations or questioned American foreign policy in the Middle East.

He has now appeared on a Sky News UK podcast, conceding he believes Israel was responsible for war crimes while he was working in the administration.

Asked if Israel was committing genocide, Mr Miller said: "I don't think it's a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-03/matthew-miller-israel-war-crimes-us-state-department/105369528

May 30, 2025

If the horrors unfolding in Gaza are not a red line for Australia to take stronger action then I don't know what is

This is by David Pocock, the Independent Senator for.my hometown (Australian Capital Territory) and someone I've been proud to vote for in the last two federal elections.

Everyone knows the Australian government cannot end the war alone, but we do have an important role to play as a middle power, and it must be more than just words

Much has been made this week over Anthony Albanese’s strongest comments yet criticising the Netanyahu government’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza. While welcome, his rhetoric calling this an “outrage”, “unacceptable” and “untenable” feels inadequate in the face of what looks like a genocide unfolding in full view of the world.

These words have not been matched with any new “concrete action” of the kind being called for by what feels like just about everyone, and foreshadowed by three of Australia’s closest allies, the UK, France and Canada. The prime minister hasn’t been able to offer a satisfactory explanation as to why Australia wasn’t a signatory to this stronger statement of intent, choosing to move away from the mantle of middle power leader we’ve worn so proudly in times past.

The time for stronger global action is now. For too long the international community has failed to follow up words of condemnation with action. Palestinian people have been killed in their tens of thousands, two million teeter on the brink of starvation and the Israeli government continues to build new settlements in the West Bank. The pleas for help are becoming ever more desperate, like that of Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, who broke down while addressing the security council over the deaths of children in Gaza.

(Snip)

In June last year I called on the Albanese government to consider targeted sanctions against members of the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces. Almost 12 months and tens of thousands more deaths later, those calls continue to grow, including from within Labor’s own ranks.

We should have a consistent, values-based approach to how we respond to war and disasters and how we use our humanitarian program. This includes providing an equitable amount of aid and assistance based on need, not politics. Alongside this Australia must stop exporting weapons or parts of weapons that could be used to kill and injure civilians, and start providing emergency visas to the family members of Australians.

If the horror unfolding in Gaza is not our country’s red line for stronger action then I don’t know what is.

David Pocock is an independent senator in the ACT

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2025/may/30/gaza-horrors-australian-government-action-ntwnfb?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

May 6, 2025

Gaza will be entirely destroyed, Israeli minister says

Bezalel Smotrich says Palestinians will ‘leave in great numbers to third countries’, raising fears of ethnic cleansing

An Israeli government minister has vowed that “Gaza will be entirely destroyed” as a result of an Israeli military victory, and that its Palestinian population will “leave in great numbers to third countries”, raising fears of ethnic cleansing in the occupied territory.

The declaration on Tuesday by the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, came a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan for Operation Gideon’s Chariots, which an Israeli official said would entail “the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories”.

The Israeli threats to seize control of the territory permanently has stirred global outrage.

“We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s operations,” the UK’s Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, said. “Any attempt to annex land in Gaza would be unacceptable.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/06/hamas-israel-hunger-war-in-gaza

April 25, 2025

Bear's Den feat. Dermot Kennedy - Above the Clouds of Pompeii

I just realised after watching Bastille's Pompeii that Bear's Den also have a Pompeii song. Coincedence or what?

April 25, 2025

'Neo-nazis' boo Welcome to Country address at Melbourne Anzac Day dawn service

In short:
Political leaders have condemned booing and heckling during the Welcome to Country at the Anzac Day dawn service.

The Welcome to Country by Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown was met with boos and jeers by members of the crowd.

Police interviewed a 26-year-old man over the incident.

*******

Political leaders have condemned hecklers who booed Indigenous Australians at Melbourne's Anzac Day dawn service.

About 50,000 had gathered at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance on Friday morning for the dawn service.

But the solemn mood of the event was broken during a Welcome to Country address given by Bunurong and Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown, when members of the crowd began to jeer and heckle.

Some hecklers demanded the Welcome to Country be stopped, but were drowned out by applause from the rest of the gathered crowd.

Police were later seen escorting prominent neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant away from the service.

In November, Hersant was the first Victorian found guilty of performing an illegal Nazi salute in public and was sentenced to one month behind bars.

The ABC understands a group of far-right extremists were present at the Shrine.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-25/melbourne-anzac-day-welcome-to-country-hecklers/105215124

Fucking Nazi scumbags. I'm shocked that one wasn't wearing their obligatory masks to stop the White Rose Society from identifying them and outing them. This was soooo disrespectful on dual levels. One, to the memory of those who fell fighting the Nazis so fuckwits like him could disrupt a solemn ceremony. And two, to Uncle Mark Brown. He was dignified and didn't let them get to him. I would have jumped off the stage and punched the shit out of them.

On edit: Came back to say two things.

1. There are rumours round Canberra that there were attempts by pro-Palestinian protesters to disrupt the dawn service at the War Memorial. I haven't seen anything to confirm it yet, and hope it's not true, but the Anzac dawn service is not the time or place to protest about anything.

2. For any Americans reading who aren't familiar with Welcome To Country, it's not welcoming listeners to Australia. Just like Uncle Mark Brown isn't listeners Uncle. From Wiki: 'A Welcome to Country is a ritual or formal ceremony performed as a land acknowledgement at many events held in Australia. It is an event intended to highlight the cultural significance of the surrounding area to the descendants of a particular Aboriginal clan or language group who were recognised as the original human inhabitants of the area. For the Welcome to be recognised as official, it must be performed by a recognised elder of the group.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Country

April 8, 2025

Trump and Netanyahu Steer Toward an Ugly World, Together

By Thomas L. Friedman
Opinion Columnist

There was a time when a meeting between the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel brought only pride to both Israeli and American Jews, who saw two democratic leaders working together. Well, I know that I am not alone when I say that pride is not the emotion that welled up in me on seeing the chummy picture of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting in the Oval Office on Monday. It was disgust and depression.

Each is a wannabe autocrat, each is working to undermine the rule of law and so-called elites in his respective country, each is seeking to crush what he calls a “deep state” of government professionals. Each is steering his nation away from its once universal aspiration to be a “light unto the nations” toward a narrow, brutish might-equals-right ethnonationalism that is ready to mainstream ethnic cleansing. Each treats his political opposition not as legitimate but as enemies within, and each has filled his cabinet with incompetent hacks, deliberately chosen for loyalty to him instead of the laws of their lands.

Each is driving his country away from its democratic traditional allies. Each asserts territorial expansion as a divine right — “From the Gulf of America to Greenland” and “From the West Bank to Gaza.”

*snip*

Netanyahu — like Trump and thanks to Trump — feels a sense of impunity, a sense that nothing can take him down. That kind of thinking filters down and is what leads to incidents like the one last month in which Israeli forces killed 15 paramedics and rescue workers in southern Gaza, an incident that “the chain of command below simply lied” about, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer told Haaretz.

Fortunately, Israeli civil society has shown a lot of fight — much more than America’s so far — and no wonder. Because while Trump can denounce America’s elites to the cheers of his base, Israelis know their country cannot survive without its technical, scientific and military elites. Which is why this month, 18 former Israeli security chiefs — of the I.D.F., Mossad, Shin Bet, military intelligence and police — declared that Netanyahu was unfit to serve as prime minister, because his “conduct poses a clear and immediate danger to Israel’s security and future as a Jewish democratic state.”

To all who aspire to prevent a post-America, post-Israel world, I have only one message: This is the fight of our lives. I am all in — and I am not tired. How about you?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/opinion/trump-netanyahu-united-states-israel-autocracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-E4.COFa.1et2bmjRovEJ&smid=url-share

October 29, 2024

Bernie Sanders explains why a vote for Harris is the only choice...

Bernie's aiming this at any left-wing American who is thinking of not voting for Kamala Harris because she hasn't deviated from the Biden administration's stance on Gaza. While his logic and common-sense might not reach many Arab-Americans, there are young Americans who feel strongly about it, and there's also former DUers who I hope may be lurking and read this and reconsider their stance, especially if they're in one of the swing states. Take it from this Australian who dislikes your political system - a vote for a third party candidate this time round is a vote for Trump. If you're okay with that, then you can fuck right off and don't ever claim to have the best interests of the Palestinian people at heart.

October 1, 2024

His Mother Was Killed by Hamas. Her Death Transformed His Life.

It's too long for /TLDR folk, but for anyone else, it's very long, but well worth reading it all. Vivian Silver was a good woman who didn't deserve to be murdered like that,

The son of a peace activist brutally killed on Oct. 7 is determined to make sure that her dream for Israel does not die with her.

The day Vivian Silver’s home burned, her backyard was scattered with her grandchildren’s toys, a blue plastic boat upturned near a rubber duck. Vivian often spent days preparing for their visits, planning trips to the petting zoo and baking birthday cakes molded into the shape of a Barbie or a dinosaur. Her sons, Yonatan and Chen Zeigen, reminded her that she didn’t need to do so much, but Vivian measured her life by the way she made other people feel. The boys teased their mother: As a self-declared no-nonsense feminist, a renowned Israeli peace activist who was used to the sound of mortar fire, how had she stayed so soft?

Last year, in the days leading up to Oct. 7, Vivian was once again busily anticipating the arrival of Yonatan’s family from Tel Aviv. He and his partner, Maayan, would be packing their three floppy-haired children into the car for the familiar drive to his mother’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri, a desert village with socialist roots three miles from the border with Gaza. They were coming not only to celebrate Simchat Torah, the festival of the Bible, but also the 77th anniversary of the founding of the kibbutz.

But then Yonatan and Maayan changed their minds. It was time, they decided, to have their own private holiday. Be’eri, where they both grew up, was such a tight-knit community that a childhood nickname could stick to a person until they died. There, Yonatan would always be known as Vivian’s son. He wanted to separate himself: He and Maayan would build their own lives, create their own traditions. Yonatan, defiant and a little guilty, told his mother they wouldn’t be coming that day.

Twenty-four hours later, Yonatan woke up in Tel Aviv to the sound of sirens. Opening WhatsApp, he learned that hundreds of Hamas militants had crossed the border. Many of them had surged into his mother’s kibbutz.

Vivian, that morning, was utterly herself. Hiding in her safe room, as fighters came down her street, she cracked god-awful jokes in text messages to Yonatan. “Say something,” he wrote. “Something,” she replied. “I’m trying to keep my sense of humor.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/magazine/vivian-silver-oct-7.html?unlocked_article_code=1.O04.DTZX.SoH5YrWX8HQO&smid=url-share

June 26, 2024

Rogue to Victim: What Australia Sees in Julian Assange

Broad support for his release seems to have grown more out of resentment of his treatment by the U.S. justice system than concerns about press protections.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, received a hero’s welcome even before he was set to arrive back in his home country of Australia on Wednesday after pleading guilty to a felony charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act.

Australian politicians sprinted to publish statements supporting a plea deal that gained him his freedom. Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister who is now Australia’s ambassador to the United States, even joined him in the U.S. courtroom on the Pacific island of Saipan.

*snip*

He ended his standoff with the American government far from Washington, 14 years after he published classified military and diplomatic documents, revealing secret details about U.S. spycraft and the killing of civilians during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was a divisive figure then — a brave journalist to some, a reckless anarchist who endangered Americans to others. He became even more polarizing during the 2016 presidential election, when WikiLeaks published thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and from the Democratic National Committee that had been stolen by Russian hackers.

But after five years in a British prison, where he had married and became the father of two children, Mr. Assange had turned into a figure more appealing for Australians. Somewhere along the way, he became the underdog forced to endure superpower pique, and in a land settled by convicts, a rebellious bloke who had done his time and deserved to return home.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/26/world/australia/assange-justice.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2k0.pfUY.VmTDtBsPAUhb&smid=url-share

He's due to land here at about 7:30pm AEST. I'm glad he's free. It's been way too long...

Profile Information

Gender: Female
Hometown: Canberra
Home country: Australia
Current location: 149°7'51"E, 35°16'42"S
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