Straight off: Israel is committing genocide (i) in Palestine (ii), in clear sight.  Everyone knows it, even though there are deniers who are so blinkered and stupid that they cannot and will not live with the truth (iii).  Their denial is in itself part of the genocidal process (iv).  The U.N. produced a report, highlighting the parts played by third states in the genocide (v).  The current regime in Israel, desperate to cling to power, is a belligerent cartel who use the concept of antisemitism (vi) to cover their repulsive actions and criticism of Israel (vii).  As an atheist, I don't care for these terms in a religious sense, but that's not how it's being used.  Antisemitism is a political term.  It's been 'weaponised' to be used against anyone, including governments, as a deflector against their illegal actions.

That doesn't wash with me.  I see the reports of suffering, destruction, misery and death, inflicted on a weak and innocent people whose only crime is to exist.  The Israeli version of Lebensraumic (viii) territorial expansion does lead to an uncomfortable place - the question of the comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany (ix).  That's the state we are in.  The people who suffered in the Holocaust (x) could not have foreseen this situation.

I leave it to others to write and explain the full historical and political intricacies of the middle east.  They are complex, miserable and seemingly hopeless.  But we can't lose hope.  One day a new Israel and a new Palestine must co-exist.  The Two-state solution (xi) is the best way forward.  Israel is against it.  That's their problem and ours.  I hope that the Burnham government persists in their new approach to Israel (xii), no matter what the wails of protest from the fascists in Tel Aviv and Washington say.

Andy Burnham on Gaza:

Right now, I stand with the Palestinian people.  The genocide must stop.  The darkness must stop.  We must all stand up for Palestine in its hour of need.  Future generations will not forgive us if we say nothing.  If, as a species, we are to see war as the answer, we have failed.  War is a sickness, a tragedy and a failure.  We all, whatever our background may be, must be looking to create a better future than this.  My sadness is that I may not see it in my lifetime.

Please watch this video about the impact on children in Gaza:

If you would like to help, you can donate to the British Red Cross Gaza Crisis Appeal or the UNICEF Children In Crisis Gaza Appeal, as well as other organisations helping the people of Palestine.

(i) Wikipedia:  Genocide

(ii) Wikipedia:  Palestine

(iii) Wikipedia:  Genocide denial

(iv) Wikipedia:  Gaza genocide denial

(v) Report: “Gaza Genocide: a collective crime” by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967

(vi) Wikipedia:  Antisemitism

(vii) Wikipedia:  Weaponization of antisemitism

(viii) Wikipedia:  Lebensraum

(ix) Wikipedia:  Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany

(x) Wikipedia:  The Holocaust

(xi) Wikipedia:  Two-state solution

(xii) Wikipedia: Andy Burnham's Policy Towards Israel and Palestine