Blog Archive

Friday, October 9, 2026

Hegseth’s Enabling of Public Viewing of Execution is Disgusting


     I am not someone who is soft on crime, and I believe justice requires serious penalties against perpetrators. Criminals should be held accountable. While capital punishment is debatable, I am personally against it. I think we can do better as a society. While such hardened criminals as murderers may not be reformable, they can be made to observe that the society they live among is not like them.

     I am not sure what Hegseth’s motivation is for announcing the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, who ruthlessly murdered 13 people and wounded 30 others in 2009. I will state that it is a bit strange that our legal system waits decades to execute criminals. I don’t know if that is good or bad in total, but it just seems strange. I am always opposed to the “cruel and unusual punishment” that our legal system also opposes in theory.

     Apparently, Hegseth pushed for an execution by firing squad and is now announcing that the execution will be available for public viewing. Who the hell would want to watch that? I don’t care if someone killed my mother, my kid, or my best friend. I would not want to watch them being executed. Are we barbarians? I was also against the U.S.’s bombing of suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, which I believe Hegseth also spearheaded. We don’t kill the people we convict of selling drugs in America. Why would we kill people suspected of doing so in international waters? I am strongly opposed to narcotraffickers and organized crime. That does not mean I think we should blow people up.

     Hegseth indicated that he sees it as a deterrent:

“It’s going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad,” Hegseth said in an interview with Jack Posobiec of Real America’s Voice aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. “And we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”

     I don’t buy it. People already know they would likely be executed for such crimes or be subjected to life imprisonment.

     Public executions are what Iran does, what North Korea does. Saudi Arabia does it too, and other countries.

     North Carolina GOP Senator Thom Tillis noted:

"Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting," Tillis wrote on X. "Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America."

     According to Newsweek, it has been 65 years since the U.S. military conducted an execution:

“The execution would be the first carried out by the U.S. military since 1961. The last military execution by firing squad was that of Army Private Eddie Slovik, who was executed for desertion in France in 1945.”

     Apparently, this is against military regulation, but that is apparently being ignored. However, the Army said the execution will be conducted according to regulation. One execution y firing squad occurred last year in South Carolina It was the first in 15 years.

     The last public execution in the U.S. happened 90 years ago.

“The last generally recognized public execution in the United States was the hanging of Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky, on August 14, 1936. An estimated crowd of thousands gathered to watch.”

“No legal execution in the United States has been broadcast live to the public, making the Pentagon's announcement that Hasan's execution will be livestreamed an unusual development in the country's history of capital punishment.”

     I will also say this. I don’t like Hegseth. I don’t think he is smart. I don’t think he is good for our military. His anti-woke and other changes have mostly been bone-headed. I disagree with his mass firing of generals, his truly bone-headed testosterone push, and much more. While I don’t disagree with all of his military decisions, I will be happy when he is gone.   



References:

 

Pete Hegseth Pushes for Public Firing Squad Execution for Fort Hood Shooter. Steven Frank and Joshua Rhett Miller. Newsweek. October  8, 2026. Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan Could Have Public Firing Squad Execution, Hegseth Says - Newsweek

Thursday, October 8, 2026

Natural Hydrogen in France’s Lorraine Basin is Dissolved in Groundwater, Which Complicates the Potential for Extraction: Subsurface Membrane Separation Looks Like It Will Be Successful


     I first wrote about the discovery of natural hydrogen in the Lorraine Mining District of Northeastern France in May 2023. The Lorraine Mining Basin is an extensional, or pull-apart basin, and such basins are associated with outgassing of natural hydrogen. In this case, the hydrogen is dissolved in groundwater at depths ranging from about 3000 ft to around 12,000 ft. At these depths, the groundwater is likely saline. This complicates the extractability of the resource. Either large amounts of groundwater would have to be pumped to the surface, which is energy intensive, or the gas would have to be separated in situ or in the subsurface.  

     In an article, Futura-Sciences gives an update of efforts to study and develop a suitable extraction method:

“Energy company FDE and French academic laboratories launched a three-year, $14.5 million research program to solve the extraction problem. The team drilled a test well reaching over 12,000 feet deep into the Lorraine basin.”

“Engineers are using specialized deep-well probes to measure gas concentration directly inside the high-pressure aquifer. They are also testing custom filtration membranes designed to separate hydrogen gas from water deep underground.”

“If successful, downhole membrane separation could allow hydrogen to rise to the surface without bringing up millions of gallons of water. However, proving commercial viability requires demonstrating steady production flow over several years.”

     FDE Energy announced results from its drilling assessment in June, when it noted that exceptionally high natural hydrogen concentrations were confirmed in its 12,000 ft well.

     Actus News Wire summarized the data and its implications. Including success at subsurface membrane separation of hydrogen from the groundwater:

“Beyond the many hydrogen samples collected at surface during drilling operations, post-drilling analyses of dissolved gas samples taken at depth of more than 2,000 meters have now confirmed the presence of exceptionally high hydrogen concentrations.”

“Most importantly, these results reinforce a key observation initially made at Folschviller: natural hydrogen concentrations increase significantly with depth, supporting the existence of an active hydrogen production system with the potential for very widespread deployment across the Lorraine region.”

“Using FDE's proprietary measurement technologies, hydrogen concentrations reached:

36.1% at 2,242 meters

49.6% at 2,426 meters

“These results represent some of the highest natural hydrogen concentrations ever measured in situ worldwide and further strengthen the economic attractiveness of the resource. They build upon the initial Folschviller measurements, which revealed 20% dissolved hydrogen concentrations at 1,200 metres, and provide critical inputs for refining the geological models developed under the REGALOR program.”

“FDE and its partner Solexperts have successfully deployed the proprietary SYSMOG™ membrane separation probe under the extreme physico-chemical conditions encountered at depths of up to 3,000 meters.”

“The successful operation of SYSMOG™ marks an important technological milestone for the emerging natural hydrogen industry, providing a robust methodology to accurately detect, quantify and sample dissolved hydrogen in deep geological environments.”

     As detailed below in the same press release, the company plans to continue the de-risking process with first production targeted for late 2028/early 2029.







References:

 

France’s natural hydrogen prospect raises a US energy question. Futura Team and Pia Gray. Futura-sciences. October 8, 2026. France’s natural hydrogen prospect raises a US energy question

FDE confirms exceptionally high natural hydrogen concentrations in the Lorraine region. Actus News Wire. June 23, 2026. LA FRANCAISE DE L'ENERGIE - FDE confirms exceptionally high natural hydrogen concentrations in the Lorraine region - 23/06/2026 - 17H50 - Actusnews Wire

U.S. Geological Survey Updates Critical Minerals Identified Resources Map: More Minerals Classified as Critical and Known Deposits Added


      In support of its Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), the USGS has issued a revised map of identified critical mineral resources. Earth MRI is in the process of remapping the entire U.S. with “cutting-edge airborne surveys” and has already completed over a third of the remapping. The update reflects an expanded list of recognized critical minerals. These include the addition of nine minerals newly classified as critical: boron, copper, lead, phosphate, potash, rhenium, silicon, silver, and uranium. The critical mineral list was updated previously from 50 to 60, including metallurgical coal, which is not included in this assessment. Thus, it assesses 59 minerals in total.




“The United States is abundant in many of the critical minerals needed to drive advanced manufacturing and protect our defense industrial base. For too long, America has relied on foreign sources for minerals for which we have the resources and expertise to develop here at home. This data shows that we have an extraordinary domestic mineral endowment. Nine of the ten critical minerals at greatest risk for supply chain disruption, including four rare-earth elements, are present in the U.S. Showing where critical minerals are in the United States helps the USGS map more new sources of critical minerals. Publishing that information in a map and a new interactive version puts important knowledge directly in the hands of industry, investors and the public,” Assistant Secretary of the Interior Andrea Travnicek said.

“This updated database is part of the roadmap to regaining mineral independence with resources we have here at home, secure our supply chains for tech and defense, and grow the nation’s economy. Earth MRI, thanks to our strong partnership with state geological surveys, is drawing more of the map every day,” said USGS Director Ned Mamula.

     The new interactive map documents 1,271 deposits across 41 states and Puerto Rico, an increase from 684 in its previous count. Below is a zoom-in of the interactive map in the Lake Superior region.




 

References:

 

USGS Updates U.S. Critical Mineral Deposits: 1,271 deposits across 41 states and Puerto Rico; one-third have no past production. USGS. Press Release. September 29, 2026. USGS Updates U.S. Critical Mineral Deposits | U.S. Geological Survey

America’s critical mineral map nearly doubles—here’s what changed. Alia Shoaib. Newsweek. October 5, 2026. America’s critical mineral map nearly doubles—here’s what changed

The Clear Need for Clean Water Act Section 401 Reform to Enable Permitting Reform: Pipelines, Transmission Lines, and Hydropower Projects Can Benefit


     In a guest post for the Ecomodernist, Marc Levitt argues that reforming Section 401 of the Clean Water Act is needed ahead of broad permitting reform. CWA Section 401 has enabled states to block needed infrastructure projects on potential water contamination grounds, which they have done. Most of the issues have to do with increased sedimentation and erosion enabled by clearing land and excavating for projects, including pipelines and transmission lines, and poles. Levitt argues that the rule gives states veto power over projects they don’t like, rather than really protecting water.

     Levitt writes that the current proposed permitting bill necessarily takes that power away from states:

“The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) creates a clear and credible path to building the infrastructure we need to decarbonize our electricity sector and stabilize prices. A crucial piece of the bill’s design is that it also sharply constrains Section 401 as a tool for obstructing projects.”   

     He notes that even with a statutory one-year deadline on withholding certifications, “loopholes and disputes can stretch the process across years without resolution.”

“BAAJA would narrow state Section 401 certification to specified, longstanding water-quality requirements. It introduces a higher bar for states to justify denials and conditions. BAAJA also gives covered transmission and gas pipelines a separate rule focused on direct point-source discharges, eliminating a state’s ability to use Section 401 to regulate the entire project. BAAJA makes state denials and conditions harder to defend, but leaves a path for litigation to challenge certification decisions. The courthouse is strictly closed if a state waives certification.”

     He notes two arguments given against reforming CWA 401: 1) more polluting projects would be approved and built. Perhaps, but those projects are clearly needed, he says, and 2) it would take power away from states to regulate water impacts, which he says is “practically and legally inaccurate.”

     Below, he suggests that CWA 401 reform would benefit both fossil fuel and necessary grid decarbonization projects such as transmission buildout:

“Despite some environmental groups’ resistance, BAAJA’s Section 401 reforms will ensure better environmental and climate outcomes. Section 401 reform is a necessary adjunct of transmission backstop siting authority. Reform will end the nightmarish and expensive permitting cycles afflicting hydropower dams. And it will introduce more certainty to permitting processes that chill pro-climate project construction.”

     New York State famously and successfully used CWA 401 to block natural gas pipelines. A couple of those proposed pipelines are currently being revisited and are in need of the reforms. The pipelines would allow cleaner natural gas to replace high-emission fuel oil in homes, businesses, and power plants, resulting in less carbon emissions, cleaner air, and lower costs. Any water contamination issues associated with building those pipelines would be temporary. The net pollution and climate impacts would have both been reduced considerably had the pipelines been approved. To many of us, that is a “no-brainer,” and the real reason for non-approval had more to do with anti-fossil fuel political stances.

     However, he also notes that both red and blue states have opposed transmission lines, with red states leading. In some of those cases, the opposite is true: opponents of clean energy sources like wind have opposed the transmission lines. In both cases, the rule has allowed politics to be used as a permitting denial tool.

     The clear goal of BAAJA is to get more needed infrastructure projects built, including needed pipelines, transmission lines, and hydropower projects. Levitt notes that the broadness of Section 401 can enable “late-stage denial” of projects, which can damage companies invested in those projects. That is another good reason for reforming it – to avoid harming U.S. companies providing economic activity.

     Transmission projects may run lines underwater in sections or through wetlands, and they require access roads and rights-of-way that require land-clearing and subsequent sedimentation and erosion. Any of these can be used by states to temporarily deny entire projects, and under current legal frameworks the delays can last years, enough for developers to cancel projects, which is what happened in the case of pipelines. Delay is the next best thing to denial for opponents of projects.

“To date, states have had a variety of tools to stop lines they don’t like. To address these, BAAJA’s transmission provisions significantly limit state governments’ ability to oppose transmission projects. But that only highlights why Section 401 reform must happen alongside BAAJA’s transmission reforms. Otherwise, we’ll overcome state siting barriers only to leave states a backdoor veto under the Clean Water Act. This is a palpable danger to the bill’s clean energy ambitions.”

     He stipulates that as long as Section 401 is left unaddressed, projects will be vulnerable.

     CWA Section 401, he argues, is also the reason hydropower projects, including the relicensing of existing ones, have been wrought with decade-plus delays and very cumbersome processes. I wrote about permit reform for these for the same reasons 10 years ago.  As he notes below, the result can be the same as for pipelines: the developers abandon the projects due to the time delay constraints.

“One of the reasons these problems persist is that Section 401 confers leverage on states to impose expensive and onerous conditions on dam developers that are tenuously related to water quality. The statutory one-year deadline has not served as an effective time limit, so the disputes drag on and on. Some dam developers, faced with extreme state-imposed Section 401 conditions, can be pushed to abandon generation.”

     He notes that due to the broadness of the statute, some of the conditions that states require have nothing to do with water quality, and part of BAAJA is to require that any objections must be clearly related to water quality.

     Below is a relicensing timeline of a hydropower project which took 15 years.




     Finally, Levitt argues that cooperative federalism does not mean states should have the right to have many veto points on projects they don’t like on other grounds. He notes that states and environmental groups are likely to oppose BAAJA since it restricts the power of states and the influence put on states by environmental groups.  

“Section 401 places the judgment as to what constitutes a “bad” project in the hands of state elected figures and third-party plaintiff organizations with idiosyncratic political incentives.”

     It should be pointed out that in each of the project types- pipelines, transmission lines, and hydropower projects- the results of building them enable less pollution, fewer carbon emissions, and promote cleaner power in general. Why shoot oneself in the foot simply to project power?

 

 

References:


The Unmistakable Need for BAAJA’s Clean Water Act 401 Reform: The Clean Water Act Is for Aquatic Health and Safety, Not a Transmission Veto. Marc Levitt. The Ecomodernist. October 6, 2026. The Unmistakable Need for BAAJA’s Clean Water Act 401 Reform

Wednesday, October 7, 2026

The Appalachian Shale Plays Have 1,383 Producing Wells with Treated Laterals over 15,000': Appalachian Basin Digest Monthly Overview Highlight


     The Appalachian Basin Monthly Digest is a huge database of oil & gas well drilling and production. It was once put out by a colleague/friend of mine before he retired and is now put out by Ayers Petroleum. It typically has a section that highlights different aspects of the data. The August edition, just released, highlights wells with treated lateral sections over 15,000 ft. When I last worked on Appalachian wells in 2022, we were typically drilling 12,000 ft laterals. Thus, there are likely also many wells in the 10,000 to 15,000 range as well. Wells with lateral sections with over 15,000 laterals, however, is a good proxy for “super-laterals.”

     It should perhaps be pointed out that with different lengths of well laterals, the old metrics such as number of total wells or production per well have less meaning than before. Better metrics include total lateral footage drilled and other per-foot or per-1000 ft metrics that better reflect the realities that footage is a better metric than number of wells, unless the number of wells is only wells of a certain lateral length.

     I believe EQT drilled the longest lateral in the continental U.S. in Appalachia, with a lateral length of 29,070 feet. There are deep Utica wells in Pennsylvania with phenomenal gas production; one I have heard of continuing to produce 42 MMDF/day even after 10 months of production. That is roughly 12.6 BCF of production in less than a year.

     As the map below shows, the longer laterals are in Ohio Utica, the Southwest PA Marcellus and Utica, and the NE PA Utica and Marcellus.




     The operators and current well-owners are led by EQT, EOG Resources, and Expand Energy, which make up slightly over half of the long laterals. Antero, Ascent Energy, and Range Resources make up another 25-30%.




      The table below shows that 64% of the wells are Marcellus wells and 35% are Utica wells. Just 7 of the wells are Burket wells. Note: I have worked on several 12,000’+ laterals in the Burket Shale. About 39% of the long laterals are in Pennsylvania, 34% in Ohio, and 27% are in West Virginia. The total number of long lateral wells in the basin is 1,383 wells.




        Below, it is shown that over 1,000 of the 1,383 long laterals have been drilled since 2022.




     Below, they note that since 2016, 14.6% of wells have been long lateral wells. After that, wells are shown by reservoir and state, and average total measured depth (TMD) by vintage. 


to








References:

 

Appalachian Basin Digest Monthly Overview August 2026, October 6, 2026. 

Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism: Conspiracy Theories, Academic Papers and Bias, Teachers Unions, Publishers, Hollywood, Housing, War Crimes, Genocide, Delusions, Data, the Abrahamic Movement, Early Arab/Zionist Solidarity, and the Origin of Anti-Zionist Propaganda: PART 1


     Buffy St. Marie, in her 1966 song ‘Little Wheel, Spin and Spin,’ sang the lyric:

“Blame the angels, blame the fates, Blame the Jews or your sister Kate. Teach your children who to hate. And the big wheels turn around and around.”

     I thought I had said all I wanted to say on this topic in my recent post, but more shocking examples keep being revealed. Thus, I decided to write more after reading many articles and analyses and better studying the relevant historical information about Jews, Arabs, Palestine, past wars, genocides, terrorism, Iran, etc. I want to have a nuanced and informed opinion based on real data and not jump to conclusions based on mere appearances. I am quoting authors of articles extensively that I think provide useful analyses.

     The following is from a post by Roy K. Altman found on Facebook:

“In 1918, King Hussein of the Arabs—one of the great heroes of Arab history, the leader of the Arab revolt against the Ottomans along with the British—wrote an op-ed in the Al Qibla newspaper.”

“He says that if the Arabs want the British and the rest of the world to care about their claim to their ancestral land, which they want back now that the Ottomans are gone, then they cannot deny the Zionists’ claim to their ancestral land in the Land of Israel.”

“This isn't me. This is the leader of all the Arabs, King Hussein himself.”

“And he says at the end of the op-ed, and I quote, "The Jews are the original sons of that land."

“If you don't care about King Hussein, nine months later, on December the 29th of 1918, King Hussein's son, Prince Faisal, who becomes King of Iraq, the first King of Iraq, has a banquet in his honor thrown by a bunch of British dignitaries, along with Lord Rothschild.”

“And he stands up and gives a toast, and at the end of the toast he turns to Lord Rothschild and he says, "We Arabs cannot in good conscience deny the ancestral home of the Jewish people."

And he turns to Lord Rothschild and he says, "To my Zionist friends, I say to you, welcome home."

     Thus, Zionism and Jews re-inhabiting ancestral Jewish lands was once welcomed by Arab leaders.

     Historical and modern antisemitism links Jews to causing catastrophic human events and societal ills, much like the Hebrew story of the scapegoat, where the goat is cast out into the wilderness carrying the sins of the people; only in the case of antisemitism, the Jews themselves are the scapegoat, the blamed.

     Nicole Lampert of The Telegraph notes in an article that a recently published paper by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) partly blames Zionists for the 2024 Southport riots. The paper, titled “The United Kingdom’s first anti-Muslim pogroms in a context of genocidal Islamophobia in Gaza”, by University of Liverpool human geography lecturer Dr Kawtar Najib, tries to link the political far-right, white supremacy, and Fascism with Zionism and both being unified against Islam, a rather absurd notion in light of history and reality. The author insinuated that far-Right activist Tommy Robinson had encouraged the 2024 Southport riots and “his speeches are indeed inspired by white supremacist ideology which is also at the heart of the Zionist project.”

     Another to blame the Jews, though in this case more of a blame-Israel situation, is the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, blaming the recent migrant crisis at Ceuta on disinformation propagated by Israel, Russia, and an “ultra-right international” group. Sánchez would probably be considered ultra-left.

 

Why Does the UN Say Hamas is Political and Not Terrorists?

  Here is something that baffles me. Why is Hamas not on the UN Security Council’s list of terrorist organizations? They are the very definition of terrorism and have perpetrated tens of thousands of terrorist acts, probably many more than that, from pioneering the use of suicide bombings of civilian areas to kill civilians to invading Israel to kidnap, rape, slaughter, and torture civilians. Hamas is terrorism, so why is it not on the list? Is it Russia and China? Or other countries? They have influenced the decision for sure, but in February 2024, Martin Griffiths, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, who directs the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said this:

“Hamas is not a terrorist group for us … It’s a political movement.”

     WTAF? They do have a “political arm,” as is said, but these are terrorists just like and maybe even worse than ISIS and Al-Qaeda. In response, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called the United Nations “a terror-excusing, Hamas-promoting, victim-blaming organization that has lost every ounce of credibility.” He is absolutely right, obviously. It is shocking that a UN rep would say such a thing that is so easily proven to be false.

     White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby addressed Griffiths’ comments, saying,

“Hamas is a terrorist organization. We’ve said so. It is. It just is. And you don’t have to look any further than what they did on the seventh of October to see it in stark terms.”

Countries and entities that have designated Hamas as a terrorist group include the United States, the European Union, Canada, Japan, Australia, and Israel but not the UN.

 

U.S. Teachers Unions Harassing Jews?

     The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently issued a report that describes “widespread antisemitism, hostility to Israel’s existence and anti-Zionist discrimination” at U.S. teachers unions, according to the Times of Israel. I found this to be shocking. However, there is a caveat to the data:

“The ADL study surveyed 307 Jewish members of US teachers unions about their experiences in the past 12 months.”

“The respondents were recruited through the ADL’s network and through referrals, so the respondents may not have been a representative sample of all Jewish union members.”

     Most of the things the respondents complained about had nothing to do with anything teachers unions should be involved in at all. This I find a bit shocking as well:

“Some of the “problems” reported by respondents included union statements on the Gaza war that failed to condemn Hamas or the October 2023 attack on Israel (73%); resolutions accusing Israel of genocide, apartheid or ethnic cleansing (71%); and calls to cut ties with mainstream Jewish groups (68%).”

     I am quoting the article at length due to the shocking nature of it:

“Jewish union members reported hostile rhetoric at union meetings, on social media, in group chats and emails, at trainings, in conferences, and at informal social gatherings.”

“There is now open hostility toward Jewish educators in union spaces from other union members. They hide it under the guise of hating Zionists, not Jews, but it’s all the same thing,” one educator quoted in the report said.

“Other educators reported Jews being called “genocide supporters,” “baby killers” or “colonizers.” Some Jews were shouted down or mocked when objecting to union activity. Twenty-seven percent of the educators had heard statements equating Jews or Zionists with Nazis.”

“One teacher said that, at a union event, members distributed flyers that praised the “Al-Aqsa flood operation,” Hamas’s name for the October 2023 attack.

“The union only addresses Israel’s conflicts, not any others,” an educator said in the report.

“A majority of 53% said anti-harassment protections had been inconsistent for anti-Jewish or anti-Zionist rhetoric; 52% reported witnessing minimization or denial of the October 2023 atrocities; 49% said they had heard the term “Zionist” used as a slur or pejorative.”

“We have to either claim to hate a part of our own identity, be quiet, or be shunned,” one of the respondents said.

“Respondents said that the same patterns were present before the start of the Gaza war, but that the Hamas attack had accelerated those trends. One teacher quoted in the report said that the October 7 attack created “a permission structure to express their antisemitism.”

 

Training Dogs to Rape Prisoners, Genocide, and Other Absurd Charges

     Reports about babies in Gaza being starved have not been borne out, although there were shortages of food during parts of the Gaza conflict. The reports were, apparently, overblown, in hindsight.

     Genocide accusations are also overblown. According to an article in Creators by David Harsanyi:

“In the popular understanding, the term "genocide" is something akin to the mass murder of people. As a legal matter, it is defined as acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”

     Israel’s campaign against Hamas and other Palestinian jihadists is a war, started and continued by the militants. Although they are being decimated, they refuse to disarm and are not generally reliable in peace agreements. Genocide has specific meanings and conditions in a legal context, and Israel’s actions do not meet them. Even so, it has become routine for the charge to be leveled. It is rarely leveled against other countries or groups for massacres or mass killings. Israel takes care to bring in food and aid to Gaza but also has to sift through it as weapons are still sometimes found in aid shipments even after all this time. Israel routinely makes calls and drops flyers before it attacks Hamas. These actions are unprecedented in warfare, and yet, genocide is what they call it. During the conflict, they have frequently evacuated sections of the population to reduce chances of civilian casualties, which in any case, are common tragedies of war.

“If Israel had genocidal intentions, there would be a lot more than 70,000 total casualties during the war. That total, it needs to be stressed, includes deaths from illness, old age, executions, murders, natural causes and preexisting conditions. Most importantly, it includes Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters — though that fact is barely ever mentioned by the mass media.”

“Of course, Israel itself is home to over 2 million Arab citizens, a fifth of the country, with full legal and voting rights, who serve in the Knesset, practice law and medicine, and attend universities. Arab Israelis have higher living standards, longer life expectancies and greater political freedom than Arabs in most neighboring countries.”

“If Israel's goal was ethnic cleansing, the nation is the most spectacularly incompetent operation in human history.”

“There is no genocide. And there was no famine. There was a war. And the bad guys lost.”

     That is a bit too simplistic. Israel does have a problem with collateral damage even if they try their best. It would be better if they delayed or gave us some targets until they could get them without collateral damage. There is nothing wrong with criticizing and disagreeing with the IDF. But accusing them of genocide is not only incorrect but disingenuous.  

     Dan Pollak writes in The Hill:

“The Assad regime killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians. China has persecuted the Uyghurs. Mass atrocities have occurred across Africa and elsewhere with comparatively little effort to weaponize the term "genocide" in the same way it has been deployed against Israel. Yet when Jews defended themselves after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, "genocide" suddenly became the accusation of choice. That discriminatory double standard is antisemitism.”

 

Hollywood and Celebrities Seem to Want a Free Palestine, but What Does That Really Mean?

     It seems to be popular for celebrities in Hollywood, musicians, and sports notables to support Progressive causes in general and Palestine in particular. Yuval David of the Washington Examiner notes their focus:

“The same voices that stay conspicuously quiet on authoritarian regimes, theocratic dictatorships, and far graver human-rights records elsewhere in the region find, without fail, the energy to single out the one Jewish state in it.”

     He brings up actor Mark Ruffalo’s slanderous accusations against the Paramount-Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery because Larry Ellison assisted Israel with technology after the October 7 massacre. Paramount, the ADL, and others have called the rhetoric antisemitic. David also brings up the campaign to free Marwan Barghouti that is supported by many celebrities. Barghouti has been depicted as a Nelson Mandela-like figure fighting for freedom rather than as a planner of the suicide bombing murders of civilians. Barghouti was tried in court and found guilty. He is not, therefore, a political prisoner, as implied. Many of these celebrities have also embraced the BDS movement which has as one its goals the reversal of Israeli statehood. Calling the IDF Nazis is a form of gaslighting as well as what he calls Holocaust trivialization. The victim is reversed to the oppressor to fit the narrative. On top of all this, there are many Jews in Hollywood, a lot, as Dave Chapelle noted. It plays into the Jewish control of money and media conspiracy tropes.  

 

Gazans Are Hamas Hostages, but also Hamas and Hamas Collaborators

     Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is a Palestinian from Gaza who has lost 33 members of his immediate and extended family in the war. He despises Hamas.

"There is this huge gap between the many people in the Gaza Strip who have experienced the consequences of Hamas's terrorism, violence and jihadism, and the resistance narrative being pushed," says Alkhatib, 36.

"Those in the West, whether they are Muslims or so-called 'allies' who are still cheering on the resistance narrative, at best seek to sideline Hamas and pretend that it is not a significant contributor to the situation. At worst, this has led to a horrendous, unprecedented normalisation of Hamas, an Islamo-fascist, jihadi organisation that, ironically, had been losing an immense amount of legitimacy and support in Gaza well before October 7."

     Alkhatib sees Gaza’s population as hostages of Hamas.

"You have Westerners in the UK, in North America, in Western Europe, in Australia and New Zealand, acknowledging Hamas as an expression of organic resistance. It is resistance porn," he says. "Somehow, October 7 became about 77 years of Israeli occupation and dispossession, not about a horrendous decision [made] by a small number of jihadis in Gaza tunnels." He adds that Hamas has "dragged its people along for a suicidal adventure".

     He sees an alliance of Islamists and social justice warriors. Netanyahu spoke of Islamist-Marxists, and others have noted a Jihadi-Marxist nexus.

“Alkhatib remembers Hamas coming into his school when he was 10. "They would bus us to the border to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers at border checkpoints," he recalls. "A lot of parents, including mine, would warn, 'Don't go, don't throw rocks, because you can get shot.'" He was 11 when he was caught on his way home from school in an Israeli airstrike that killed three of his friends and left him with permanent hearing loss in his left ear.”

     Despite having many relatives killed in the war, he is angrier at Hamas than at Israel, even though he does have serious criticisms of Israel. He was groomed by Hamas when he was young, but after he went to the U.S., he became disaffected with them.

He says: "I criticise Netanyahu for allowing Qatar to go in there and give a bunch of money to Hamas as part of a 3D chess game to keep the Palestinians divided between Gaza and the West Bank. There needs to be accountability for that. This strategic vision keeps Gaza as its own mini, isolated state, kills the prospect of two states, [and] weakens and helps delegitimise the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, which, of course, has its own issues.”

"Just because I'm very focused on the Palestinian side of it doesn't mean I'm saying Israel is blame-free. Israel as the powerful party, of course, played a role."

But, he adds: "We cannot, for eternity, keep talking about Israel this, Israel that, and not look inwardly and again, exercise the agency we have." He is angriest at Hamas for starting a suicidal war that was going to end only one way.

     He also says he was stunned by how the pro-Palestinian movement mimics Hamas' narrative. He says that Muslims who are not Arabs can have uninformed views just as social justice warriors have uninformed views of the complex Israel-Palestine issue. He suggests that these groups and others are shouting over real Palestinians like him.

 

Jews Implicated in NYC’s Housing Woes and Subjected to Antisemitism

     Flyers were recently posted in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, some saying, “Beware: Talmudists are trained to cheat,” in opposition to a housing development.

“Locals vs. Rothschilds,” another said.

“While those flyers echoed age-old antisemitic tropes, others deployed Israel-related or anti-Zionist rhetoric, decrying “dirty zionist money” and comparing the redevelopment project to the Nakba.”

“Stop Zionist occupation of Manhattan. NYCHA residents must keep their homes,” one said, referring to the New York City Housing Authority, at the entrance to an apartment building.”

“The flyers were the latest in a series of recent statements attributing housing disputes in New York City to Israel or “Zionists.” The rhetoric appeared to mark a growing new front in anti-Zionist activism in the city, despite a history of disputes between Jews and their neighbors, including about housing.”

“There’s always been tension, but the explicit nature of the antisemitism is new, part of the period we’re living through right now,” said Prof. Jeffrey Gurock, a scholar of New York Jewish history at Yeshiva University.

     In 2017, a candidate for city council, Thomas Lopez-Pierre, accused “greedy Jewish landlords” of ethnic cleansing. The moniker was repeated in 2022 protests.

“Last year, an activist group, Crown Heights Bites Back, attempted to stir racial tensions in the Black and Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood, handing out flyers that said “Zionist white supremacists” were going to “kill us, exploit us, raise our rents and evict us.”

“Other leaflets distributed by the group decried “Zionism and racist landlords,” and the group said in a statement, “Black people in Brooklyn are violently exploited via rents to then feed their genocidal land grabs in Palestine.”

     Fortunately, most locals rebuffed these efforts and rejected the group. “Zionist” real estate investors have been targeted by Anti-Zionist groups. Democratic Socialist Congressional candidate Avila Chevalier described AIPAC and corporate landlords as “the very institutions that are pricing people out of the city.” Oddly, she and some of the others have complained their tax dollars were being siphoned to pay for Israeli bombs. There have been allegations that Zionists real estate investors are doing in Manhattan what settlers do in the West Bank.

“The same atrocities we see in Palestine, where literally an American Zionist will show just show up at a Palestinian’s house and be like, ‘This is mine now, you have to leave,’ this is exactly what’s happening in Bed-Stuy,” she said.

     While it is possible that is happening in some individual cases, there is no basis to conclude that the two are connected in any way.

     Luke Tress in The Times of Israel writes:

“The writer James Baldwin wrote in 1967 that, growing up in Harlem, “we hated” Jewish landlords in the neighborhood. He described the hatred as part of a larger, racist system — that Jews had been “singled out” for hatred “not because he acts differently from other white men, but because he doesn’t.” Baldwin also said it was “immoral” to “blame Harlem on the Jew.”

     He also opines that the recent (post-Oct. 7, 2023) examples are different than earlier housing disputes with Jewish landlords.

 

Anti-Jewish and Anti-Zionist Bias by the Publishing Industry

     Jews have a long history as publishers, as editors, and remain a community that buys books and supports the industry.

     Pamela Paul writes in The Wall Street Journal:

“Jewish authors, agents, scouts, editors and other book professionals describe an ecosystem from big publishers to #BookTok that is suppressing Jewish and Israeli voices. Agents and scouts say it’s become impossible to sell foreign rights to works by Israeli writers. Established authors say their recent projects have been inexplicably turned down. Published writers with overtly Jewish books say their agents have dropped them from their roster; writers are being asked by editors to purge Jewish or Israeli elements from their books.”

“Multiple agents now post explicitly on their websites that they aren’t interested in “Zionist” submissions; one specified that neither “Nazis nor Zionist” writers need apply. One author shared an email from her former agent telling her to put her biography of a major Israeli figure on hold until “anti-Zionism” within publishing dies down.”

“Authors of books with Jewish or Israeli characters say their titles are “review bombed” with 1-star on sites like Goodreads to depress interest. They say their books go unreviewed in outlets that previously covered their work and that bookstores, especially independents, refuse to stock or display their titles. Many described “a chill” in the literary world that is hard to pin down because it’s hard to prove a negative.”

“I can’t say there’s a ban on Jewish or Israeli books,” said Matti Friedman, an Israeli author whose most recent book, “Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe,” came out in the U.S. in March. “But I know for a fact that it’s very difficult to get Israel-related books published and that Israeli authors are often either ignored or expected to sign declarations of support for BDS and to use the word ‘genocide’ as the price of entry.” BDS refers to the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement targeting Israel.

     Many Jewish writers confirmed a change after October 7.

‘In 2024, more than 5,000 writers and literary professionals, some of them Jewish, signed a pledge not to work with Israeli publishers, festivals, literary agencies and publications “that are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians.” That same year, a spreadsheet labeled, “Is your fav author a Zionist???” went viral on social media, singling out authors who participated in Israeli book festivals or included Zionist characters and those who, by contrast, had issued statements supportive of the pro-Palestinian movement.”

“Increasing numbers of authors, both Jewish and not, are declining to sell Hebrew rights to their books and refusing to join panels with authors they deem Zionist.”

“Zionism is out of fashion in the publishing world and it’s not ever going to be in fashion again,” said Benjamin Moser, author of “Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History,” publishing this month. Book publishing, he and others emphasized, is now an overwhelmingly progressive industry, and opposition to Zionism is a strong component of that.

“In the case of American authors, several agents and editors said, it’s about being the right kind of Jew.”

 


References, Part 1 and 2:

 

The academic case for blaming the Southport riots on Zionism is chilling. Nicole Lampert. The Telegraph. September 3, 2026. The academic case for blaming the Southport riots on Zionism is chilling

Jews at US teachers unions subject to discrimination, forced to self-censor: report. Luke Tress. Times of Israel. August 27, 2026. Jews at US teachers unions subject to discrimination, forced to self-censor: report

The 'Gaza genocide' is a hoax. David Harsanyi. Creators. September 2, 2026. The 'Gaza genocide' is a hoax

When every Hollywood cause becomes an anti-Israel cause. Yuval David, Washington Examiner. August 28, 2026. When every Hollywood cause becomes an anti-Israel cause

Deluded Western activists must stop shouting over actual Palestinians like me. Nicole Lampert. The Telegraph. August 28, 2026. Deluded Western activists must stop shouting over actual Palestinians like me

Opinion: Just war is not the same as 'genocide'. Opinion by Dan Pollak. The Hill. September 3, 2026. Opinion: Just war is not the same as 'genocide'

In protests and politics, 'Zionists' are being blamed for NYC housing woes. Luke Tress. The Times of Israel. September 7, 2026. In protests and politics, 'Zionists' are being blamed for NYC housing woes

The poison of anti-Semitism has seeped into the fabric of British society. Danny Cohen. The Telegraph. September 8, 2026. The poison of anti-Semitism has seeped into the fabric of British society

Antisemitism charges plague the literary world. New publishers are pushing back. Pamela Paul. September 10, 2026.  Antisemitism charges plague the literary world. New publishers are pushing back.

Fox News 'Antisemitism Exposed' newsletter: Hate steals the show. Fox News Staff. Fox News. September 10, 2026. Fox News 'Antisemitism Exposed' newsletter: Hate steals the show

Naza Is One of the Most Important Films of Our Time. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture.com. Naza Is One of the Most Important Films of Our Time

IDF rejects testimonies in Israeli-made documentary about AI-powered killing in Gaza. AFP, ToI Staff. Times of Israel. September 11, 2026.  IDF rejects testimonies in Israeli-made documentary about AI-powered killing in Gaza

US support for Palestinians continues to eclipse sympathy for Israelis, poll shows. Arno Rosenfeld. Haaretz. September 11, 2026. US support for Palestinians continues to eclipse sympathy for Israelis, poll shows

Voices: Confronting Jewish terrorism is not an act of Jew hate. Opinion by Alan Rusbridger. The Independent. September 12, 2026. Voices: Confronting Jewish terrorism is not an act of Jew hate

If Israel’s war in Gaza is 'genocide,' so is every modern war ever fought. Opinion by David Harsanyi, Washington Examiner. September 16, 2026. If Israel’s war in Gaza is 'genocide,' so is every modern war ever fought

Top UN Aid Official Says Hamas Is Not a Terrorist Group. Foundation for Defense of Democracies. February 16, 2026. Top UN Aid Official Says Hamas Is Not a Terrorist Group

Britain's NHS: Waitlists, taxes and Jew-hatred. Ian Haworth. The Telegraph. September 15, 2026. Britain's NHS: Waitlists, taxes and Jew-hatred

Britain’s Jews are right to fear the Greens. Opinion by Danny Cohen. The Telegraph. September 18, 2026. Britain’s Jews are right to fear the Greens

Jewish centers spent more than $1 billion on security last year as antisemitism soars across US. Alex Oliveira. New York Post. September 17, 2026. Jewish centers spent more than $1 billion on security last year as antisemitism soars across US

LA Review of Books spikes interview with pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai: 'Double standard'. Doree Lewak. New York Post. September 18, 2026. LA Review of Books spikes interview with pro-Israel professor Shai Davidai: 'Double standard'

The Fury Over 'NAZA' Doesn't Change the Bottom Line: Israel Committed War Crimes in Gaza. Amos Harel. Haaretz. September 18, 2026. The Fury Over 'NAZA' Doesn't Change the Bottom Line: Israel Committed War Crimes in Gaza

The left lobs yet another 'big lie' on Israel — and the fallout keeps getting worse. Opinion by Post Editorial Board. New York Post. September 18, 2026. The left lobs yet another 'big lie' on Israel — and the fallout keeps getting worse

I’m a Muslim Zionist. Anti-Israel activists have it completely backward. Raihaana Adira, Washington Examiner. September 19, 2026. I’m a Muslim Zionist. Anti-Israel activists have it completely backward

'I am pro-Abraham': Meet the unlikely allies risking everything for peace with Israel. Danielle Greyman-Kennard. The Jerusalem Post. September 19, 2026. 'I am pro-Abraham': Meet the unlikely allies risking everything for peace with Israel

‘Mein Kampf in reverse’? How the New York Times weaponizes Holocaust metaphors against Israel. Robert Cherry, Washington Examiner. September 19, 2026. ‘Mein Kampf in reverse’? How the New York Times weaponizes Holocaust metaphors against Israel

Leading US Reform rabbi in Yom Kippur sermon: Unhinged, obsessive loathing of Israel is corrupting US values. Luke Tress. The Times of Israel. September 21, 2026. Leading US Reform rabbi in Yom Kippur sermon: Unhinged, obsessive loathing of Israel is corrupting US values

Rebutting ‘NAZA,’ freed hostage says he knows what its like ‘to be collateral damage.’ The Times of Israel. September 23, 2026. Rebutting 'NAZA,' freed hostage says he knows what it's like 'to be collateral damage' | The Times of Israel

Mamdani’s genocide lie: How NYC’s mayor turned Hamas’s atrocities into Israel’s crime. Mendi Glik. Washington Examiner. September 24, 2026.

What if Israel isn’t committing genocide in Gaza? Faisal Kutty. Newsweek. September 25, 2026.

Silent on Sudan, loud on Israel: Your antisemitism is showing. Even R. Bernstein. Washington Examiner. September 25, 2026.

Opinion: If Trump is serious about antisemitism, he should reopen this lifeline for refugees. Opinion by Mia Emmunah Toubian and Jason Bryan Silverstein. The Hill. September 27, 2026. Opinion: If Trump is serious about antisemitism, he should reopen this lifeline for refugees

We know today's leftwing antizionism comes directly from Nazi anti-Jewish theology. Dara Horn. Zionism and Anti-Zionism. (1) Video | Facebook

Anti-Zionists are the real racists: Infiltrated by Gaza-obsessed entryists, the Green Party will this weekend debate the Soviet-inspired motion: ‘Zionism is racism’. Nicole Lampert. The Telegraph. October 1, 2026. Anti-Zionists are the real racists

Gaza Health Ministry makes massive blunder, releases health numbers debunking their own genocide narrative. C. Douglas Golden. October 2, 2026.  Gaza Health Ministry makes massive blunder, releases health numbers debunking their own genocide narrative

Left-wing justifications partly shield antisemitism from liberal disapproval, study suggests. Eric W. Dolan. Psy Post. October 3, 2026. Left-wing justifications partly shield antisemitism from liberal disapproval, study suggests

The war on European Jews and the new reality of American Jewish life. Daniel Ross Goodman, Washington Examiner. October 4, 2026. The war on European Jews and the new reality of American Jewish life

Petitioner calls for the removal of member from season 2 of Heated Rivalry amid pro-Zionist claims. Caroline Gaspich. The Mirror. October 2, 2026. Petitioner calls for the removal of member from season 2 of Heated Rivalry amid pro-Zionist claims

Greens are forced to give Jewish delegates safe room at 'febrile' party conference. Glen Owen and Lee Harpin. Daily Mail. October 3, 2026. Greens are forced to give Jewish delegates safe room at 'febrile' party conference

Greens branded UK's 'first openly anti-Semitic party' as members pass Zionism is racism motion. Sophie Church and David Wilcock. Daily Mail. October 4, 2026. Greens branded UK's 'first openly anti-Semitic party' as members pass Zionism is racism motion

 

      I am not someone who is soft on crime, and I believe justice requires serious penalties against perpetrators. Criminals should be h...