dieter verbeke

Oh Look. The Hasbara Bat Signal Went Up Again! Nicholas Kristof publishes a story about Palestinians being tortured and sexually abused in Israeli prisons in the @nytimes … and suddenly, within HOURS, the entire Western media machine magically rediscovers Hamas rape stories all over again. What incredible timing. @CNN. @BBC. @CBC. New York Times. @globeandmail. ABC Australia. Times of Israel. Le Monde. New York Post. Different countries. Different newsrooms. Different editors. Yet somehow they all wake up the very same morning speaking in the exact same language: “Systematic.” “Deliberate.” “Weaponized.” It’s honestly impressive. Like watching synchronised swimming for genocidal PR. And of course the star witness behind this latest media frenzy is Cochav Elkayam-Levy, whose credibility was already torn apart in israeli media after she helped spread some of the most grotesque and still unverified October 7th atrocity propaganda. The same ecosystem that gave us: “40 beheaded babies.” “Babies baked in ovens.” Mass rape stories that kept changing every six weeks. Claims so insane and inflammatory that even israeli media eventually started backing away from them. Yet somehow these people are still treated by Western media like the fucking Warren Commission. And notice how this works every single time. The second Palestinians start being seen as human beings… The second people begin talking about torture camps, rape, starvation, dead children, destroyed hospitals, mass graves, or Palestinians being disappeared into israeli prisons… BOOM. Emergency narrative deployment. Suddenly every front page in the Western world is flooded with stories reminding you that Israelis are the real victims here. It’s like clockwork. And spare me the fake outrage from these media institutions. These are the same outlets that spent nineteen months helping normalise: The flattening of Gaza. The mass killing of children. The destruction of every university. The bombing of hospitals. The targeting of medics. The starvation campaign. The torture videos. The sniping of journalists. The endless parade of dead Palestinian families treated like weather updates. But now...NOW...they suddenly care deeply about sexual violence. How convenient. And notice the difference in standards. If Palestinians describe torture or rape inside israeli prisons? “Claims.” “Allegations.” “Disputed.” “Needs verification.” If an israeli state-linked investigator says Hamas did something? Instant global headline. No skepticism. No caution. No restraint. Straight onto the front page of every major newspaper on earth before breakfast. Palestinians need forensic evidence, satellite imagery, DNA samples, twelve witnesses, and a signed note from God to be believed. israeli officials just need a press conference and a grieving tone of voice. And let’s be very clear: This isn’t about protecting women. These depraved assholes do not give a rat's ass about women. You cannot spend almost two years excusing the obliteration of thousands of Palestinian women and girls, defending torture camps, laughing off dead mothers clutching shredded children, and then suddenly pretend to be the global feminist task force. What they care about is narrative dominance. They needed Kristof’s story buried. And fast. So out came the emergency media package: same framing, same buzzwords, same emotional triggers, same coordinated roll-out, same moral panic. Because the one thing this machine cannot tolerate is sustained public attention on Palestinian suffering. And what I know for sure is this: A media system that treats Palestinian torture as a temporary inconvenience but israeli narratives as sacred scripture is not journalism. It’s a media cartel whose job is to keep Palestinian death politically acceptable... -- from The Anti-Zionist @movingthemedia patreon.com/posts/oh-look-…

WOW! @Theintercept reviewed more than 12000 print articles and 5000 TV segments to check for biases on Israel-Palestine. I thought it would be bad. I had no idea it was THIS bad. No wonder Gaza killed what little credibility mianstream media had. In NYT, Israel's right to defend itself was invoked 99 times. Only once for Palestine. On CNN and MSNBC, it was invoked 755 times for Israel. But only 8 times for Palestine. Emotive words such as slaughter and massacre were used frequently when Israelis had been killed. They were NEVER used in print when Palestinians were killed. In Ukraine, 262 children were killed in the war, and it was mentioned 4223 times. In Palestine, more than 10,000 children were killed, but it was mentioned only 3632. The full article is in the subtweet. It's a MUST READ:

@MargolinRabbi * mondhygiënisten • medische pedicures (…) • tatoeëerders • acupuncturisten • medische schoonheidsspecialisten • tandtechnici — ik help u graag: geen v deze snijden in een lichaamsdeel met definitieve gevolgen en ze zuigen niet aan een babypiemel — CAPITO ?!?!

Wie beweert dat een moheel verplicht arts moet zijn, moet uitleggen waarom precies in dit geval. Want ook: • mondhygiënisten • medische pedicures • piercers • tatoeëerders • ambulanciers/paramedici • operatietechnici • kinesitherapeuten • acupuncturisten • medische schoonheidsspecialisten • tandtechnici werken op het menselijk lichaam, soms op een invasieve manier — zonder arts te zijn. In al deze beroepen begrijpt men één ding: je hoeft niet noodzakelijk arts te zijn — je hebt professionele opleiding, ervaring en vakbekwaamheid nodig. Dat geldt ook voor een moheel: een erkende moheel beschikt over alle noodzakelijke medische opleiding om een brit mila professioneel, veilig en verantwoordelijk uit te voeren. Denken jullie echt dat de minister @FrankVandenbr10 van Volksgezondheid en het parket dit niet weten? Natuurlijk weten ze dat. Maar wat hen stoort is niet de zorg voor Joodse baby’s — wel opnieuw een poging om de Joodse gemeenschap in België te treffen. Als dat geen antisemitisme is, wat dan wel? @demorgen @MichaelFreilich @Bart_DeWever @EJAssociation

De moheel die mijn vader 77 jaar geleden in Rusland besneed, werd gearresteerd en geëxecuteerd door het communistische regime enkel en alleen omdat hij een besnijdenis had uitgevoerd. België heeft nu een eerste stap in die richting gezet met het indienen van een strafklacht tegen mohels. Dit is een schande. @Bart_DeWever @prevotmaxime @FrankVandenbr10 @MichaelFreilich @EJAssociation @s_antisemitisme @FranckenTheo @FORUMJO1 @joelrubinfeld

Let me get this straight. Trump, the only president since Nixon not to release his tax returns, and who promised he would release his tax returns when he was president, is suing the government for $10 billion dollars in "damages" for leaked tax returns which reveal his corruption. And his DOJ, which is run by his personal lawyer who he appointed as "Acting AG," is going to settle. So the American people are now gong to personally pay a corrupt president $10 billion of our hard earned tax dollars, because his feelings got hurt when his shady tax returns were leaked? Got it. 👌

🚨🎙️ Thierry Henry on FIFA turning the World Cup Final into a Super Bowl circus: “Football is losing its soul little by little. A World Cup Final is supposed to be the purest form of football, pressure, intensity, emotion, tactics, suffering, history. Not a halftime concert made for social media clips and celebrities in vip seats. When you play at the highest level, your body is programmed around rhythm. Fifteen minutes. That’s what every footballer in the world has known since childhood. Your muscles stay warm, your concentration stays locked in, your emotions stay alive. Now imagine players sitting there for 25 minutes during the biggest game of their lives because FIFA wants a bigger TV spectacle. People think footballers are robots. They are not. Momentum is real. If one team is dominating before halftime, that long break can completely kill the intensity of the game. It changes everything tactically and mentally. You cool down physically, you lose adrenaline, and then people expect players to immediately return playing at 100 miles per hour. And let’s be honest here, this is not about football, it’s about money and entertainment. They want football to become the Super Bowl. More commercials, more performances, more headlines, more celebrities. But football became the biggest sport in the world without all of that. The game itself was enough. The dangerous part is that if the final quality drops or players get injured because of these changes, fans will attack the players first. They will say certain stars disappeared in the second half or failed under pressure, without understanding the conditions were completely changed for a television show. For me, the World Cup Final should feel sacred. Ninety minutes of war between the best players on earth. Not a pause long enough for the world to forget the match is even happening.”

@DoornaertMia @Jrddobbe Mia toch, ga de flair of Libelle lezen of zo… duidelijk meer uw niveau. Want v rule of law, mensenrechten en humanitair recht heeft u duidelijk geen kaas gegeten… of beter: ga eens op annihilated-city-trip naar Gaza Stad & kom dan eens terug op de twitterspeelplaats. Mvg. DV

Vergeet niet dat rector De Sutter ‘ideeën’ van gemaskerde bezetters deelt. Verkondigde al dat ‘genocide in Gaza wetenschappelijk bewezen was’, quod non, en verhief dat tot doctrine van UGent. Andersdenkende docenten moesten ‘daarop aangesproken worden’. En verklikt?

@essexbhoy0582 @ScotlandSky The real cause of the ‘hand ball’ is of course the fact that the shoulder of the jumping Celtic player is pushing the arm up & as such the reason that the ball falls on his hand. Ergo: force majeure for the MOT-player. a hold up by the referee and celtic… 🤷‍♂️ kind regards. DV

@ScotlandSky Anyone saying it's not a penalty is a balloon or a Hun. It's blatantly obvious 🤣🤣

🟢 Here's the incident that resulted in Celtic's winning penalty at Fir Park, following a VAR check! Motherwell vs Celtic & Hearts vs Falkirk reaction | Sky Sports Football now 📺

Florentino cuenta que le robaron 7 Ligas. Lo que no cuenta es que él y su club robaron las 7 Champions que ganaron. Eso sí que no lo cuenta.

An investigation by the New York Times has found the Israeli government spent at least $1 million on Eurovision vote promotion campaigns over the past two years - and that the campaign likely earned them the top spot in several countries’ televotes jrnl.ie/7037548

BREAKING! US court ha suspended the US sanctions against me! As the judge says: "Protecting the Freedom of speech is always just the public interest". Thanks to my daughter and my husband for stepping up to defend me, and everyone who has helped so far. Together we are One.

@dikko17 @Hoidy @stuartdorward @GaryLineker The real cause of the ‘hand ball’ is of course the fact that the shoulder of the jumping Celtic player is pushing the arm up & as such the reason that the ball falls on his hand. Ergo: force majeure for the MOT-player. a hold up by the referee and celtic… 🤷‍♂️ kind regards. DV

@Hoidy @stuartdorward @GaryLineker Think your answer just shows you dont get physics

This might be the worst VAR decision I’ve seen (and there’s a lot of competition). Extraordinary given the significance.

This is just a robbery. The president sues his own government and then pressures them to settle. He wants them to give him billions… of our money. This might be the worst case of corruption ever. A president directly robbing the citizens he’s supposed to serve and protect.

Say Something Normal: The only game show where you win for saying something normal!

Honderden extra krachten in strijd tegen financiële fraude Eindelijk serieuze actie tegen financiële fraude… en toch blijft het vooral vreemd. Minister Verlinden en de regering-De Wever kondigen een nieuw team aan binnen het federaal parket, met honderden extra krachten tegen fiscale fraude, witwassen en economische misdaad. Goed. Dit is een topprioriteit. Maar tegelijk blijft het gevoel hangen: dit had allang het topteam van België moeten zijn. Niet iets dat we in 2026 nog moeten uitbouwen. Er is vandaag al een team, maar dat draait al jaren onderbemand, terwijl iedereen weet dat er miljarden worden verduisterd via fiscale constructies, offshore structuren en witwasroutes. Geen randfenomeen, maar structureel verlies in de kern van het systeem. En dan komt de ongemakkelijke vraag vanzelf. Hoe kan het dat een dossier met zo’n schaal en impact nooit die status heeft gekregen? Hoe kan het dat net hier niet jaren geleden alles is gezet op een volwaardig topteam, met maximale capaciteit en focus? In een land waar tegelijk gezegd wordt dat er geen budget is en dat er moet bespaard worden, blijft precies dit super belangrijk domein achter. Terwijl net hier het grootste potentieel zit om geld terug te halen dat nu verdwijnt of wordt verduisterd. Dat wringt. Want dit is geen detail. Dit is een keuze. Een overheid die zichzelf ernstig neemt, had dit allang uitgebouwd als speerpunt: het topteam in België tegen financiële fraude. Het woord amateurisme komt in me op. trends.knack.be/geld/honderden…

what happened over the past few days is pretty amazing. The Israeli regime knew Nick Kristof was going to publish his NYT piece on their actual systematic rape of Palestinians including children and the use of dogs to rape, so they fabricated a new "report", the most insane one yet copy-pasted together by a proven fraud that repeats all the already debunked falsehoods and relies entirely on known proven hoaxers, and they actually got the NYT, BBC, CNN, AP, Reuters to launder it for them a day after the Kristof piece came out to bury it. They own the entire media class completely.

Trump calls Democrats “Dumbocrats” because they are “dumb.” Am I a bad guy if I start calling them RapeUblicans?

Someone just opened a pop-up in NYC displaying all 3.5 million pages of the Epstein files. Walk in. Read. See for yourself.

How do you even explain Italy to someone who’s never been there? 🇮🇹✨

There’s no overstating how extraordinary this Atlantic article is, given the author and the outlet. As a reminder Bob Kagan is: - The co-founder of Project for the New American Century, probably the single most imperialist Think Tank in Washington (which is quite a feat) - A man who spent his entire life advocating for American military interventions, especially in the Middle East, and a vocal advocate of the Iraq war. He started advocating for intervention in Iraq before 9/11, which speaks for itself... - The husband of Victoria Nuland, an extremely hawkish former senior U.S. official (a key architect of U.S. policy in Ukraine, with the consequences we all witness today) - The brother of Frederick Kagan, one of the key architects of the Iraq surge In other words, we ain’t exactly looking at some sort of anti-imperialist peacenik. This is quite literally the guy Dick Cheney called when he needed a pep talk. And the man is writing in The Atlantic, the most reliably pro-war mainstream media outlet in the U.S. (also quite a feat). So when HE writes that the U.S. “suffered a total defeat” in Iran that has no precedent in U.S. history and can “neither be repaired nor ignored,” it’s the functional equivalent of Ronald McDonald telling you the burgers aren’t great: it means the burgers really, really aren't great. Extraordinarily (and somewhat worryingly, for me), his arguments for why this is such a defeat are virtually the same as those I laid out in my article “The First Multipolar War” last month (open.substack.com/pub/arnaudbert…). Here they are 👇 1) Vietnam/Afghanistan were survivable, this isn't He agrees that this war - and the U.S. defeat - is fundamentally different in nature from previous U.S. interventions. Where I wrote that the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan didn’t change the equation much in terms of power dynamics (“in the grand scheme of things, the giant walked away with little more than a bruised ego”), Kagan writes that “the defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan were costly but did not do lasting damage to America's overall position in the world.” And when I wrote that “it’s painfully obvious that the Iran war is of a qualitatively different nature” from these, he writes that “defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character.” Same point. 2) Iran will never relinquish Hormuz and uses it as selective leverage When I wrote that Iran has turned “freedom of navigation” on its head by establishing “a permission-based regime” through the Strait of Hormuz, Kagan arrives at the same conclusion: “Iran will be able not only to demand tolls for passage, but to limit transit to those nations with which it has good relations.” He also agrees that “Iran has no interest in returning to the status quo ante,” when I myself cited Iran’s parliament speaker Ghalibaf in my article, saying: “The Strait of Hormuz situation won’t return to its pre-war status.” Same point and virtually the same words. 3) Gulf states will have to accommodate Iran He agrees that most Gulf states will have no choice but to accommodate Iran, effectively making Iran into a, if not THE, dominant regional power. Kagan writes “the United States will have proved itself a paper tiger, forcing the Gulf and other Arab states to accommodate Iran.” On my end, I wrote that “the Gulf monarchies will eventually have to choose between two security propositions. One where they stay aligned with a distant superpower that [can’t protect them]. The other proposition being: make peace with the regional power that just proved it can hit [them] whenever it wants.” Which is not much of a choice… 4) Military impossibility to reopen Hormuz Kagan writes that “if the United States with its mighty Navy can't or won't open the strait, no coalition of forces with just a fraction of the Americans' capability will be able to, either.” On my end, in my article I cited Germany’s defense minister Boris Pistorius: “What does Trump expect a handful of European frigates to do that the powerful US Navy cannot?” The exact same argument. 5) Global chain reaction Kagan agrees that this is a global strategic failure that fundamentally changes the U.S.’s position in the world. As he puts it: “America's once-dominant position in the Gulf is just the first of many casualties… America's allies in East Asia and Europe must wonder about American staying power in the event of future conflicts.” You’ll have guessed it, I wrote essentially the same thing: “Think about what it says if you’re Saudi Arabia, quietly watching your American-built defenses fail to protect your own refineries. Or any European country now facing the worst energy shock since 1973, caused not by your enemy but by your ally, and realizing that said ‘ally,’ supposedly in charge of ‘protecting’ you, couldn’t even protect Israel’s most strategic sites - when it’s the country with which it’s joined at the hip. I’m not even speaking about China or Russia who are seeing their worldview being validated on almost every axis simultaneously.” 6) Weapons stocks depleted, credibility shattered Kagan: “just a few weeks of war with a second-rank power have reduced American weapons stocks to perilously low levels, with no quick remedy in sight.” Me: “America’s most advanced weapons systems are much more vulnerable than previously thought - not theoretically, but in actual combat.” Kagan: “America's allies… must wonder about American staying power in the event of future conflicts.” Me: “The U.S. security guarantee has been empirically falsified in real time.” ----------- So, yup, Bob Kagan and I agree on nearly everything. I need a shower 🤢 Reassuringly though, we still differ on a few fundamental aspects. First of all, arguably the most important one, the moral aspect. In typical neocon fashion, his article contains not a word about the human cost of this war - not the 165 schoolgirls, not the devastation inflicted on Iranians during 37 days of bombing, not the toll this war is taking on the entire world through its devastating economic consequences (the economic devastation on ordinary people worldwide is referenced only as a political problem for Trump). For him, this is purely a strategic chess problem, morality and people don’t figure in his mental map. For me, the moral bankruptcy of this war isn't separate from the strategic failure - it is the strategic failure. Much like Gaza can only be a failure because of its sheer abjectness. Secondly, there is not an instant of reflection in the article on how we got there. Which is unsurprising because he personally, alongside his wife, his brother, and every co-signatory of every PNAC letter, spent a generation pushing for exactly this kind of confrontation. The man spend 30 years advocating for military dominance in the Middle East and hostility towards Iran, thereby forging them as an adversary and facilitating this very war that he now says has “checkmated” America. I know introspection has never been the neocon forte but at some point you have to stop setting houses on fire and then writing op-eds about how surprising the smoke is. Last but not least, we differ on what should be done. This is the funniest part of Kagan’s article - showing that the man is decidedly beyond salvation. On one hand he calls this a “checkmate” by Iran, and a U.S. defeat that can “neither be repaired nor ignored,” yet an the other hand his solution for it is… surprise, surprise… a bigger war still! He writes that what’s to be done is “engage in a full-scale ground and naval war to remove the current Iranian regime, and then to occupy Iran until a new government can take hold.” The arsonist's solution to the fire is a bigger fire ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ For my end, this was the conclusion of my previous article: "There is almost a Greek tragedy quality to U.S. actions lately where every move taken to escape one’s fate becomes the mechanism that delivers it. The U.S. went to war to reassert dominance - and proved it could no longer dominate. It demanded allies send warships - and revealed it had no real allies. It waged forty years of maximum pressure to break Iran before this moment came - and instead forged the very adversary now capable of meeting it. It started the war in part to have additional leverage over China - and handed the world the spectacle of begging China for help. The prophecy was multipolarity. Every American action to prevent it reveals it instead." I wouldn’t change a word. The only thing that's changed since I wrote it is that even the arsonists now smell the smoke. Src for the Atlantic article: theatlantic.com/international/…