I can’t see you how you can possibly avoid using the term ethnic cleansing, without losing your last remaining shreds of integrity as a journalist, @adamparsons.
Lebanon's internal displacement rate is now 22.6 percent — more than one in five of its people. Over 1.2 million people, including 350,000 children, have been forced from their homes, with the IDF launching more than 1,840 attacks on Lebanon since March 2, killing more than 1,497 people and injuring more than 4,639.
Moreover, the language used by Israel Katz to describe his aims in Southern Lebanon is extraordinarily explicit and self-incriminating. He has confirmed that Israel's military would establish a permanent "security zone" inside Lebanon up to the Litani River, that hundreds of thousands of displaced residents would be "completely prevented" from returning, and that "all the houses in the villages adjacent to the border in Lebanon will be demolished in accordance with the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza."
The targeting of civilians for displacement specifically identified by their religion (Shia), combined with the destruction of their homes to prevent return, combined with the explicit statement that they will not be permitted to return — these are precisely the elements that international law identifies as forcible transfer and ethnic cleansing. Human Rights Watch has said that "the displacement of the Shia population looks less like a temporary military necessity and more like a move to permanently displace the civilian population based on their religion."
Its not complex, Adam. You just haven't got the balls to say it straight, and that failure makes your reportage worse than worthless. It makes it morally bankrupt.
The headline talks about Antisemitism fears.
Yet both people were criticising a genocidal Israeli Government.
This constant conflation of criticism of Jewish people with criticism of Israel makes me as a Jewish person feel less safe.
Such a dangerous decision by Labour.
People can easily argue that Palestine is irrelevant to Britain (they’re wrong, on multiple levels, of course ) but Palestine is the moral test of the world
It is the centre of everything. How you react, who you defend, and who you abandon is the supreme litmus test of humanity.
Spanish footballer Lamine Yamal waved the Palestinian flag.
An Israeli minister accused him of “inciting hatred”.
The Spanish prime minister defended him.
Imagine that happening here!
Just a thought. Wes Streeting owes his political status to the support he’s received over years from Peter Mandelson & Morgan McSweeney at Labour Together. He wouldn’t make a move against Keir Starmer without Mandelson’s say so. So look on this as Mandelson’s & Morgan’s revenge.
Harman inviting a former council leader to become an unelected legislator for life as if it was a Jay Rayner reviewed small plates trattoria in Bermondsey.
Thanks for all the lovely comments and support from media round this morning.
Great to see Green Party membership ticking up as we enter a really crucial week.
Let's end Rip Off Britain.
https://t.co/0qbagSvIYp
Possibly the most bizarre intervention from anyone over madcap period of last 48 hours was Margaret Hodge on Newsnight depicting the attempt by Keir Starmer’s office to secure an ambassadorship for Matthew Doyle as some sort of redeployment scheme for unemployed No 10 staff.
The state of this.
A right-wing faction took over the Labour Party under false pretences.
And then they sought to gift themselves everything from parliamentary seats (successfully) to ambassadorships.
It's not just Starmer who needs to go - they all do.
BREAKING NEWS:
“Starmer denies knowing he is Prime Minister”
Sir Keir Starmer has revealed that no one told him until last Tuesday that he won the 2024 election and has become PM.
He told Beth Rigby “I was totally kept in the dark by my officials. I’m really angry about it.”
It's inconceivable that ministers didn't know Mandelson failed security vetting.
Civil servants wouldn't take such a serious decision without political clearance.
The Prime Minister must consider his position.
Just pointing out that I broke the story 7 months ago that Mandelson failed vetting from the security services and put it to Downing Street...so the idea that Downing Street only found out on Tuesday is complete nonsense.
https://t.co/9Zp14BGCoD