Graham Duncan

A good Sunday read. A gift from the noted Arabist and explorer, Peter Boxall. Shakespear died in a skirmish protecting Ibn Saud’s artillery just before WW1. If he, not Lawrence, had been in place, Ibn Saud would have led the Arab Revolt. Not the Hashemites

@MichaelRosenYes But …. An interesting curiosity when a travel document occupies two logical states simultaneously. Do you look remotely feline in your passport photo ?

Ha! I’ve just been refused entry onto a plane from Stansted to Bologna because my passport issue date is March 2016. The expiry date is August 2026 but the rule is 10 years from issue date. Another Brexit benefit. Apparently. Go home now.

@justdanaw Just rubbish Close call that English wasn’t chosen as national language. Modern Hebrew is a new language. You ignore 2000 years of history What borders does this ‘Israel’ have ? Just rubbish

Israel. Gleicher Name. Gleiche Sprache. Gleiche Währung. Seit über 3.000 Jahren. Der Name „Israel“ geht auf den biblischen Patriarchen Jakob zurück. Hebräisch wurde bereits im Königreich Davids gesprochen. Der Schekel diente im antiken Israel sowohl als Gewichtseinheit als auch als Währung. Man kann heute noch Münzen aus der Zeit des Zweiten Tempels ausgraben und die Inschrift lesen – die Schrift ist dem modernen Hebräisch sehr ähnlich. Reiche kamen und gingen: Babylonier, Römer, Osmanen, Briten. Zweitausend Jahre Exil und Diaspora. Und doch kehrten die Juden zurück, errichteten den Staat neu, belebten ihre alte Sprache wieder und brachten den Schekel zurück in Umlauf. Nennt mir ein anderes Land auf dieser Erde, das dieselbe einzigartige Kombination aus Name, revived antiker Sprache und historischer Währung vorweisen kann. Ich warte.

@adam_louis52328 @MichaelRosenYes Errrr ….. none of these are ‘libels’ 1) Coloniser is fair comment (my Palestinian Jewish relatives left after ‘82, when Sharon/IDF culpable for pogrom in Sabra/Chatila) 2) Aparthied, Zionism is a racist enterprise 3) Genocide, Zionism is a genocidal enterprise

Antizionists are the kind of people who’ll be outraged to hear that the second most successful imperial project in history—Arab and Islamic conquest—could be described as settler-colonialism, but simultaneously think it’s completely normal to describe a minuscule persecuted indigenous people, who’ve suffered multiple genocides, returning to their homeland as the pinnacle of colonial evil. It’s the product of a diseased mind.

@MichaelRosenYes Some might call it coincidence, but I think not. The Iceni and Jews were beaten by the Romans at (pretty much) the same time. The Celts a lost tribe ? As Haile Selassie commented on the ‘Beta Jews’, “Why them and not any other tribe?” (Ullendorff)

This has to be a universal principle. The Celts must return to England now.

@hlg1973 @MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein ‘Own citizens’ and ‘foreigners’ are somewhat arbitrary in Israel. Nothing to do the happenstance of where you were born, who your ancestors were or such normal considerations in these things. Please, do not pretend that an indigenous inhabitant has automatic full citizenship.

@grahamlducan @MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein That's certainly not the view of 2 million Arab Israeli citizens. There's a big difference between how a state treats it's own citizens and how it treats foreigners. That's true of all nations. (Again, that's not an endorsement of Israel's current treatment of non-Israelis).

Has a single person upset with Israel’s actions in Lebanon explained what Israel should do instead to a terror group continuously firing missiles at it making the North of the country uninhabitable?

@hlg1973 @MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein ‘Some pigs are more equal to others’ under current equality. If deemed Jewish enough, you get special status and privileges. Not sure if theft, rape and murder (how the state of Israel was constituted) give special dispensation versus a ‘just and fair’ settlement

@grahamlducan @MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein So your answer is the dismantling of the state of Israel as it is presently constituted; Israelis would argue that's neither just nor fair. Universal sufferage and equality under the law are presently in place for all Israeli citizens. Single state is the sticking point.

@hlg1973 @MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein Single state, universal sufferage and all equal under the law. ‘Just and fair’

@grahamlducan @MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein Taking on board your arguments, what would a just and fair settlement look like? Again, its not meant in a provocative way - I'm just interested. Are you advocating for the eradication of the Israeli state? Because Israel would never regard that proposal as either fair or just

@hlg1973 @MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein As someone who knew Lebanon well, both before the civil war and after … The country has been purposely destabilised and polarised by the Zionist project. To ask your question is to forget this. Israel’s actions have consequences, ‘a just and fair settlement’ is the only way.

@MichaelRosenYes @Jamie_Weinstein Not meant provocatively, but what would a just and fair settlement look like when there's Hezbollah involvement? It's difficult to reach any settlement when one party doesn't recognise the other's right to exist. (And this isn't meant as an endorsement of Israel's actions).

@LibyaLiberty Yes The rapid spread of Islam, from the deserts of the Arabian interior to the gates of Tours, in a hundred years, was only possible by conversions.

Muslims are also original Cannanites, who converted. Israel knows this too.

@EliLake @RenzoGraciani Just a shame that Israel is not indigenous to the Levant …..

The Jewish people are indigenous to Israel.

@gtconway3d How can any American not be focused on deposing their destroyer ?

They're starting to turn on him in a way we've never seen before.

@Holly_Da Any reference points for your ‘99%’ and ‘1 million’ ? Some graffiti somewhere, perhaps ?

99% of Jews vanished from Muslim countries. 1 million people displaced. A real genocide that the Islamo Marxists ignore because it doesnt suit their narrative.

@_j0sh_a_ You almost certainly know that you are lying. Why bother with this nonsense ?

The “Nakba” didn’t begin in 1948. The “Nakba” - a term originally coined by Constantin Zureiq to describe the “catastrophe” of 7 Arab armies failing to “erase Zionism”, didn’t begin with the official Arab invasion into the land of Israel on May 1948. It began on November 30th 1947 - one day after the United Nations voted on the partition plan for creating a Jewish state on Jewish majority owned land, and an Arab state on Arab majority owned land. A solution that would have required no one to leave their homes. Instead of accepting the plan and establishing an Arab state, the Palestinian Arab leadership Initiated a war - beginning with the Fajja bus attacks on November 30th 1947, the attacks on Mamilla shopping center on December 2nd 1947, the attack on Kibbutz Efal on December 4th, and the large scale attack of the “Holy Jihad Army” on Hatikvah Neighborhood in Tel-Aviv on December 8th 1947. The road to Jerusalem was blocked in an attempt to starve over 100,000 Jewish residents there. And although the neighboring Arab states declared they will not enter until May 1948 (when the British would leave). However, they established the “Arab Liberation Army” which invaded on February 1948, Egypt sent in the Muslim brotherhood “volunteers” to attack Kfar Darom, and Jordanian Arab Legion attacked Gush Etzion both on April 1948. So no, “it” didn’t begin in May 1948.

The Gulf and India should propose a true Mid-East peace deal. Israel back to 67 and secure. Palestine free and secure. US and Iran can both claim to be the instigators of a lasting peace. Or, just more idiotic chaos

@operatwitt @faniaoz You a red Indian ?

@operatwitt @faniaoz Yes, with an Apartheid definition of ‘citizen’

There seems to be a huge misunderstanding about Zionism. People tell me that not all anti-Zionists want to annihilate my country. Alas, they do. Zionism in essence equals accepting or supporting the establishment and existence of Israel. All other definitions are disposable.

@MichaelRosenYes @gritsfortea @panonse @OutriderTed @CrashTestDhimmi Something strangely stretch Armstrong as Zionists contort Poles and Germans into Palestinians. Why not be just be a Palestinian, if you are, or an Israeli, if you are not ?

@gritsfortea @panonse @OutriderTed @CrashTestDhimmi Presumably then, you believe that the Israelites didn't migrate to the Promised Land and defeat the Canaanites? The Israelites sprung up from where they were in Canaan? Where were the Canaanites then?Or did all the Canaanites convert? What's your scenario?

At what point do mass media call Israeli settlers doing this, 'terrorists'?

@st0p1tnow Yes, exactly what Marshall suggested to Truman, but Truman accepted Israel’s repudiation of the UN in declaring UDI in 48. If only Truman had left the thieving, murderous rapists alone. America would have saved billions

Have any of you lunatics ever considered what would happen if everyone just left Israel alone and stopped trying to kill Israelis? It’s never happened. Can we give that a shot?