Jonathan Cook | The truth is that this moment of catastrophe could never have been reached without western powers indulging, subsidising and providing diplomatic cover for Israel’s brutality towards the Palestinian people, decade after decade. The bloodiest hand in the current slaughter of Palestinians and Israelis belongs, not to Hamas or the Netanyahu government, but to the West.

● Yes, Palestinian fighters carried out a brutal attack at the weekend on Israeli settlements on the edge of the Gaza Strip. But this attack did not emerge from nowhere, or without warning. It was not “unprovoked”, as Israel would like us to believe. In fact, western capitals know exactly how much the Palestinians of Gaza have been provoked, because those same governments have been complicit for decades in supporting Israel as it has ethnically cleansed Palestinians from their homeland and imprisoned the remnants of the population in ghettoes inside historic Palestine.

● For the the past 16 years, western backing for Israel has not wavered, even as Israel has turned the coastal enclave of Gaza from the world’s largest open-air prison into a gruesome torture chamber, where Palestinians are experimented on. Their food and power have been rationed, essentials of life denied to them, their access to drinkable water slowly removed, and their hospitals prevented from receiving medical supplies and equipment. The problem is not ignorance. Western governments have been informed in real-time of the crimes Israel is committing: in confidential cables from their own embassy officials, and in endless reports from human rights groups documenting Israel’s apartheid rule over Palestinians. And yet Western politicians have time and again done nothing to intervene, done nothing to exert meaningful pressure. Worse, they have rewarded Israel with endless military, financial and diplomatic support.

● Where does this endless indulgence from the West ultimately lead? Already, Israel is emboldened to make much more explicit its policy towards Gaza’s two million inhabitants. There is a word for that policy, one we are not supposed to use to avoid causing offence to those implementing it, as well as those who quietly support its implementation. Whether by design or outcome, Israel’s starving of civilians, leaving them with no power, depriving them of clean water, and preventing hospitals from treating the sick and wounded – from treating those Israel has bombed – is a genocidal policy. Western governments know this too. Because Israeli leaders have made no secret of what they are doing.

Isaac Herzog says: 'It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved' | Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Friday that civilians in Gaza bear responsibility for the Hamas attack on southern Israel as Israeli bombs are killing scores of people in the besieged enclave. ● “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible,” Herzog said, referring to Gaza, which is not recognized as an independent nation. “It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true.” ● Herzog claimed that civilians in Gaza “could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat.” [So all the children of Gaza could have deposed Ismail Haniyeh and destroyed the Hamas that Israel created and supported with money over the years? They should have done it, right? – Gimme a break, child-killer!] Proponents of the collective punishment of Gaza often claim the civilians living in the enclave elected Hamas. But the last time Gazans participated in elections was in 2006, and many of the enclave’s current citizens were not at voting age or even alive at the time, as about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are children. ● Hamas’ party won the 2006 elections, but a government was not formed based on the results. After the elections, fighting broke out between Hamas and the rival Fatah party, which was encouraged and backed by the George W. Bush administration. The fighting led to Hamas taking power as the de facto governing body in Gaza in 2007.

■ Israeli veteran, 95, rallies troops to 'erase' Palestinian children (MEE)
■ Biden Admin Gave Hamas $75 Million Days before Attack (N7A)

Fuel reserves in Gaza hospitals are expected to last another 24 hours, then the lives of thousands of patients would be at risk, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Sunday. | "Fuel reserves at all hospitals across Gaza are expected to last for about additional 24 hours. The shutdown of backup generators would place the lives of thousands of patients at risk," the agency said in a statement. ● On October 7, Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip, prompting Israel to declare a state of war the following day and launch retaliatory strikes. On Monday, Israel ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off supplies of water, food and fuel.

■ Carnage, chaos in Gaza: Palestinian death toll from Israeli war surpasses 2,750 (PressTV)
■ Five-hour ceasefire introduced in southern Gaza Strip (TASS)

So-called “order” is just a front for colonialism, with purported rules ever-changing to fit needs, Russian president has said | The Western-promoted “rules-based order” is merely a cover for colonialism, as the presumed rules have never been agreed-on by anyone and are ever-shifting from one case to another, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. The president made the remarks in an exclusive interview with state-run broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) that was aired on Monday. 💬 “Have you ever seen these rules? No, because no one has ever written them, and no one has ever agreed to them with anyone. How can we talk about order based on rules that no one has seen?” Putin stated.

■ Putin Berates NATO Over Eastward Expansion as Alliance Launches Nuclear Drills in Europe (Sputnik News)

Athletes With Serious Health Issues or Have Died Post-Vaccination | In July, we reported that 1,884 athletes were recorded as having serious health issues post-vaccination. Sadly, 1,310 had died. This was according to the latest reports of athletes recorded in Good Sciencing’s list at the time. ● Good Sciencing is continuously updating its list and tragically, the number keeps rising. From the rollout of the mass covid injection campaigns to the end of September 2023, Good Sciencing had recorded 2,003 athlete cardiac arrests or serious issues. The total includes 1,400 who have died. Many of these heart issues and deaths happen shortly after the person had received a covid injection.

You want proof that the vaccine causes mortality?
You want quantification of the vaccine's fatal toxicity?
Here is our latest scientific report, published today!https://t.co/FrRf1cNjxs pic.twitter.com/e8WRGaJJoS

— Denis Rancourt (@denisrancourt) September 17, 2023

"A free, independent, and plural media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy." | The Media Reform Coalition (MRC) has published a new edition of its flagship ‘‘Who Owns the UK Media?’ report, this is their fifth study on media ownership in the United Kingdom, which covers data for the period since March 2021. According to MRC, the report highlights the dangerous levels of concentrated ownership across the UK’s national and local press, in TV and radio broadcasting, streaming services, and online platforms. ● A free, independent, and plural media is essential to the functioning of a healthy democracy says the MRC, but, their findings show that the UK media is dominated by a tiny handful of corporate media moguls and ‘Big Tech’ tycoons. Across our newspapers, TV channels, radio stations, and online platforms, these companies hold a dangerous level of power to dictate our national conversation and influence the political agenda to favour their own interests. ● An example of media dictating their own agenda was seen in the U.S. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which is the nation’s largest owner of local television stations, faced backlash after being caught using their anchors to push their political views in 2018. The funny clip below shows how that sounded put together in a video.