Ken Sehested
Invocation. “Generals gathered in their masses / Just like witches at black masses / Evil minds that plot destruction / Sorcerer of death’s construction / In the fields, the bodies burning / As the war machine keeps turning / Death and hatred to mankind / Poisoning their brainwashed minds / Oh, Lord, yeah / Politicians hide themselves away / They only started the war / Why should they go out to fight? / They leave that role to the poor, yeah / Time will tell on their power minds / Making war just for fun / Treating people just like pawns in chess / Wait ’til their judgement day comes, yeah.” —”War Pigs,” Black Sabbath
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“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’”.
“Smotrich, speaking to a conference on Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, went further, making clear that many Palestinians would be driven out of the territory altogether, as part of a scorched earth offensive.
“‘Gaza will be entirely destroyed, civilians will be sent to … the south to a humanitarian zone without Hamas or terrorism, and from there they will start to leave in great numbers to third countries,’ the minister said. Israel’s neighbours Egypt and Jordan have said they will refuse to allow an exodus of refugees on their territory, arguing that would make them party to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.” —The Guardian
“More than 50,000 children reportedly killed or injured in the Gaza Strip.” —United Nations Children’s Fund
Few US citizens know that in 1953 the US Central Intelligence Agency planned, funded, and directed the overthrow of the democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran and installed shah (king) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in the interests of maintaining bargain-rate access to Iran’s oil reserves.
The shah’s brutal reign lasted until his overthrow in 1979 during the Iranian revolution. (We remember the US hostages taken, but not the triggering cause.)
—for more information, see “Itching for a brawl: To interpret the latest round of US-Iran tension, here is some history you need to know“
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Benediction. “Gaza.” —The March Family, searing but beautiful song protesting Israel’s war
Recessional. “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.” —Vince Vance & The Valiants
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