Harry’s Place

She looks half starved, the humanity!

CUNT. Sorry but i just could not help it :-)

That she has the nerve to compare Nazi concentration camps with Gaza is mind-blowing. Gaza is a shitheap but the citizens are not being systematically executed with industrial efficiency.

She is fucking bonkers. I hope the israelis keep her there for a few years.

Ah, very evocative of the Warsaw Ghetto. I bet she’s loving all the publicity though - more that she misses her children.

“The Palestinians’ suffering is physical, mental and emotional,”

Putting up with Lauren Booth for a few weeks can’t be that bad can it?

Is that two ‘Snickers’ bars I can see on the counter?

David, I think publishing pictures demean you, and should be taken down.

Here she is preparing for her harrowing mission.

The shelves are certainly well stocked for a community that is ’starving’.

And note the big bags of rice or flour at the entrance.

I wonder if she’ll even make a passing reference to Gaza’s few remaining Christians.

Or would that be too gauche?

What? They had supermarkets in concentration camps. And themeparks and shopping malls too. Seriously. I learned it from a reliable, objective source: http://www.thejewsruletheworldandshouldbeexterminated.org/what_were_those_filthy_heebs_whinging_about.htm

I think Lauren Booth is what’s commonly known as a useful idiot.

Does she take her guides to the ghettos and death camps from Nick Kollerstrom?

Oopsie… notes five and six.

Let’s see, she’s a journalist and human rights campaigner, who’s written for the New Statesman, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Times and Daily Mail, as well as appearing on Have I Got News for You and I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here.

At the risk of sounding all Mrs Ben, has she ever had a real job?

Pictures worth a thousand words.

To be fair, Gaza does look like an absolute hell-hole

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0a44grgdw3fJv/Lauren_Booth

That’s definitely one of most densely populated shops in the world.

I think Lauren Booth is what’s commonly known as a useful idiot.

She’s not that innocent. I remember her ranting on about Michael Burleigh’s recent masterpiece on terrorism as “neocon propaganda”.

This woman is a grade-A moronic leech who writes for the Daily Mail and craves the oxygen of publicity. She had appeared on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! and deserves no discussion. She appears in sentences with that other waste of air Yvonne Ridley. Say no more.

She’s wearing Solidarity Sandals!

Brownie, your eyesight is superb.

Haniyeh’s not exactly skinny either.

Lauren Booth: Mars Bar-less in Gaza.

It’s quite like Nazi-occupied parts of Europe as she appears to be following in that grand tradition of Roman Catholics i.e. going round blaming the Jews, even as they are murdered by fanatics.

What’s her next stop? Hezbollah-occupied Beirut to view some Jewish body parts being held in expectation of an exchange for prisoners?

She’s as untalented as she is self-satisfied.

unusually fat legs. I’m quite surprised

What’s striking is that she posed for these pictures. She could, at least, have worn an keffiyeh to demonstrate her solidarity… (cont. page 96).

“Whenever I watch TV and see those poor, starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean, I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff. “

Alec,
And as if by magic….

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0bHdgwC2Gjaqu/Lauren_Booth

Sadly, Maria Carey never said that.

So that’s what a Nazi concentration in Darfur populated by chubby smiling inmates would have looked like. Next, I’d like to see a Soviet Gulag, in Barbados done with an all Elvis-impersonator cast.

we’d have to pay a fortune for a garden like that in N8

Or perhaps all those well-stocked grocery shelves *and* all the chubby Hamas officials does in fact suggest that only some people in Gaza are eating.

Is she not rather similar in appearance to Begum Yvonne Ridley? How about two photos alongside each other?

Tim, now all she has to do is loose half her body weight, be forced to strip naked before being machine-gunned or hanged alongside teenage girls, and she’ll get the Ghetto experience.

Behold, Masha Brushkina.

When is the last time anyone actually heard of a death from stavation in Gaza?
Does anyone here think that she’s just stupid and attention seeking or both and anti-semitic?

What can one say? A dumb, ignorant, raving antisemitic cunt.

Well, Gaza may not be the most populated place on Earth, but now that she is there, there is certainly a sudden lack of space.

Someone who was doing his job. Someone else, who also helped kill lots of Jews.

Guess which LB compares Jews to.

She really has poured on the pounds. Hardly the look of a concentration camp victim.

“It’s quite like Nazi-occupied parts of Europe as she appears to be following in that grand tradition of Roman Catholics i.e. going round blaming the Jews, even as they are murdered by fanatics.”

Anti-semitism for liberals

She’s not even Catholic anyway

To be fair virtually identical photos (albeit in a rather colder climate) could have been taken (of stores frequented by the ruling elite, or of portly leaders not being subject to anything that the rest of the population) in Ukraine in 1932/33. In themselves they prove nothing. (And no, I think we would know nowadays if the situation in Gaza today was anything like that in Ukraine in 1932/33, so I’m not directly comparing the two. but the point is, above all in a dictatorship - but I suppose to a greater or lesser extent any kind of polity - the presence of luxurious conditions for the rulers bears no resemblance to the living conditions of those under their heel)

If everything is so lovely in Gaza, perhaps everyone who is condemning the likes of Booth should all go to live there?

Oh I think that boat was a “Ship of fools” for sure (but…think of the origin of that phrase…it isn’t purely a condemnation I am offering here):

But as to whether I prefer the somewhat misguided naive idealism of the likes of Lauren Booth, or the disgusting hatred being displayed of those who are condemning and smearing her here….is a bloody easy choice to make.

I would praise misguided folly over sneering and bigotry any day.

Whats interesting is that Tony Blair could probbaly pull the strings to get her out of there if he really wanted.

I bet he is laughing his head off and refuses to interfere no matter how much nagging from Cherie to rescue her lunatic sister.

Venichka,

“If everything is so lovely in Gaza, perhaps everyone who is condemning the likes of Booth should all go to live there?”

I dont think anyone has made light of the state of Gaza in isolation. Most people on this forum have added the caveat that Gaza is a shithole, regardless of the stupid comparison.

“I would praise misguided folly over sneering and bigotry any day”

Problem is when those folks under the spell of their misguided folly are also sneering bigots. Like Lauren Booth and most of the pro-Palestinian bed-wetters.

I think it would be foolish for me to go and live there.

I don’t think I’d like to live in a place ruled by a theocratic militia, in any case.

There is a flickr set of life in Gaza by a resident here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gazawia/

Wonderful pictures - really show the stupidity of someone like her.

@Venichka
“I would praise misguided folly over sneering and bigotry any day.”
Unbelievable. Do you think the Mitford sisters were just misguided?

She may be a “C*NT” but she’s MPAC’s “C*NT”! http://www.mpacuk.org/content/view/4947/102/

But as to whether I prefer the somewhat misguided naive idealism of the likes of Lauren Booth, or the disgusting hatred being displayed of those who are condemning and smearing her here….is a bloody easy choice to make.

I would praise misguided folly over sneering and bigotry any day.

I suppose its OK that she’s a llying c@nt too! Its well documented that Palestinians who breached the Egyptian border brou8ght back cigarettes, tv’s, matresses and other domestic goods. NOT FOOD!!

No Palestinian is dying of starvation and this has been a perpetual lie by stooges for the Palestinians - like YOU!

May I request a caption contest!

Venichka,

There are also some large gradients when measuring whether misguided folly is as harmless as you assume. All those idiots who drank poison Koolaid in Jonestown and murdered their kids were clearly misguided but I dont hear you clapping their efforts.

Methinks you are just upset because you dont like some of the language that has been used against Lauren Booth. I can understand that but you need to understand the anger caused when misguided fools like Lauren volunteer to become useful idiots for the likes of genocidal maniacs like Hamas.

You may get incensed over bad language but maybe you need to be outraged about the direct and indirect implications of her actions.

I’ve just added a video, where Lauren Booth explains why Gaza is not simply a prison - that’s a ‘lie’, apparently - but a Concentration Camp.

If everything is so lovely in Gaza, perhaps everyone who is condemning the likes of Booth should all go to live there?

Because a good many of us aren’t also saying it’s a barrel of laughs, you fatuous idiot.

And no, I think we would know nowadays if the situation in Gaza today was anything like that in Ukraine in 1932/33, so I’m not directly comparing the two

She has a camera. Such methods of recording events are much more available during the Holodomor, and even it managed to provide images of starvation. So where are the images of what she calls Nazi-like policies in Gaza?

And, of course, she is happily availing herself of this bounty. Still, judging by the photo-montage, she brought only two changes of blouse.

“I would praise misguided folly over sneering and bigotry any day.”

Ahhhh that’s cute.

Bigotry = critiquing clerical fascist propaganda and holocaust denial.

The short arsed TV presenter for Iranian TV may know little of a land far away, but he needs to keep some perspective.

Gaza Life expectancy - 73.46 years

Glasgow Life Expectency - 72.9 years

I don’t think Ven has a problem with people critiquing clerical fascist propaganda and holocaust denial; I think he didn’t like the succession of men queuing up to call Lauren Booth a cunt, and was of course right not to.

Glasgow Life Expectency - 72.9 years

Isn’t the underendowed (judging by his catsuit) short-arsed Galloway from Glasgow?

the succession of men queuing up to call Lauren Booth a cunt

Quite a disturbing image if taken literally.

‘Oi! Can’t you see there’s a queue here? It’s clearly my turn!’

It looks like she posed for the in-store shot.

“Missy Lauren can I take your photo against a well-stocked Palestinian store that demonstrates how little food we starving Palestinians have?”

DOH!!!!

Well we’re still British, aren’t we; Even when it comes to being abusive towards Lauren Booth we still consider it not the done thing for someone to push in.

<ithe succession of men queuing up to call Lauren Booth a cunt

Quite a disturbing image if taken literally.

‘Oi! Can’t you see there’s a queue here? It’s clearly my turn!’

I like it!!!

Sometimes only one word will do to describe someone and C*nt is so appropriate to Booth in this situation. She is clearly perpetratring a blood libel about Israel and any link to the words “Nazi” and “Goebbels” would seem just as appropriate, as she seems so keen on Nazi German symbology.

I don’t think Ven does either, Wardy. However, only two posters have called her that, and one has made a disparaging remark about another aspect of her womanness (”fat legs”). Nick SA is not posting.

What the tide of opinion has been about is a silly self-publicist who owes her notoriety entirely to others making deliberately offensive comparisons of Jews to their murderers, and just as offensive comparisons of Darfur to the current situation in Gaza.

Furthermore, Ven did not mention the use of that word (it passed me by because, sorry to say, sometimes the loose language on HP becomes part of the background. He assumed that everyone ridiculing her was exonerating Israeli policies and would enjoy humiliating Palestinians (like Nazi guards with Jews?). He made the irrelevant comparison to events aback the Holodomor, which I believe I addressed above.

Now, before the unsavoury TheIrie pops up to say, even stalwarts you and Ven are backing off, let me say LB has posed for their pictures in the, I assume, hope they’d augment her case; and that neither of you have had an article here for at least 18 months, and anyone who’s not an odious creep can tell you have drifted far, far away from HP.

‘you have drifted far, far away from HP.’

Actually, I think it’s HP that’s done the drifting.

HP used to be dominated by moral conservatives verging on reaction, or previously supported Tory candidates, JC?

Well we’re still British, aren’t we; Even when it comes to being abusive towards Lauren Booth we still consider it not the done thing for someone to push in.

After you Claude! Have my turn.

I do wish that people wouldn’t call subjects of posts “cunts”.

“I don’t think Ven has a problem with people critiquing clerical fascist propaganda and holocaust denial; I think he didn’t like the succession of men queuing up to call Lauren Booth a cunt”

So he thinks the ’sneerers’ should move there? How would they all fit?

Whether she is or isn’t a “cunt” attempting to ban usage of that word will merely mean that those who feel extremely strongly about her will have to find another word of equal strength in order to concisely express their feelings.

Yes Lauren Booth has always been really crap. I caught some of her on a reality TV show explaining her attitude to Blair. She said it would be easy to agree with him on things but she needs to speak out no matter how embarrassing it is.

What a load of bollocks. If she had a Blairite view of the world and defended the government, being related to the prime minister’s family would have left her with no credibility as a journalist. It’s been far easier for her to take cliched anti Blair positions and play to the far left loons. That was the easy option.

Indeed, she wouldn’t even be a journalist if it wasn’t for her family relations.

attempting to ban usage of that word will merely mean that those who feel extremely strongly about her will have to find another word of equal strength in order to concisely express their feelings.

Yeah do that. Using the word cunt somehow disrupts the flow of the discussion.

As for the main issue - does she actually know about Darfur or the Holocaust or does she only understand previous massacres in relation to what Israel has done? You would have to suspect that they only feature in her tiny mind as hyperbole to lash Israel with. Also, very little complaint from her about the Egyptians not letting her through the border crossing. The Egyptian government is as nervous or more nervous than the Israelis about Hamas in Gaza as the Muslim Brotherhood is still a force in Egypt. I say leave her there.

I urge you to watch the Youtube clip and hear Booth and Galloway explain why Gaza is a concentration camp rather than merely a prison. Here’s what they say:

Prison - you get three meals a day; there are rules; you get visitors; you can read, exercise etc; you have an exit date.

So, this isn’t just plain stupid. Its far worse than that. I’d say they should know better, but really I should know better than to confer such morality upon them. So I won’t.

fat legs

Hardly a hallmark of womanhood.

What happened to the 2,000 hearing aids Booth’s ship was bringing to the starving Palestinian children who’d been deafened by Evil Zionist Bombs?

I have no problem with the word “cunt” (or “pussy” which can have a slightly different meaning for a Yank) as its being used, as long as the concept, and its’ compliment concept, as represented by the words, “dick” “cock” or “prick” is used in equal proportion to refer to both men and women. I think there is something meaningful expressed by such words.

I usually go for the more egalitarian “scumbag” myself. But thats me.

Also, I note that this benighted bomb-crater riddled refugee camp-cum-prison-cum-extermination-camp has mobile phone coverage.

Mark, what happened to the EU definition of Antiosemitism including comparisons with Israel to Nazis? Do I suppose that the get-out is that the idea of Concentration Camps is supposed to have been invented by Churchill.

On the other hand Booth makes it clear in her interview with Ynet that she means Nazi Concentration Camps when she talsk about “you people”.

The comments of Booth and Galloway surely constitute a libel. Why aren’t the Parliamentary Commission on Antisemitism interested in such comments?

In fact, what is the Commission doing?

That first photo is striking. I was under the impression that Gazans were a lot worse off than what I’m seeing there. I suppose that could be the only shop in Gaza that well stocked, but is it? I doubt it.

I do wish that people wouldn’t call subjects of posts “cunts”.

In this case, I would use the term “evil fuckwit”, to be honest. The word cunt is perhaps underegged a bit by overuse, alas. Its use should convey a certain impact, as it were.

“the presence of luxurious conditions for the rulers bears no resemblance to the living conditions of those under their heel”

Any idea what people in Gaza are spending their money on? Quite a few seem to have TV sets. And motorcycles.
Very much like the Warsaw ghetto, then.

“If everything is so lovely in Gaza, perhaps everyone who is condemning the likes of Booth should all go to live there?”

What a stupid comment. It is perfectly possible to condemn the antisemitic rants of utter scum who say the Joos are keeping the poor Arabs in concentration camps, just like the Nazis did in fact, without wishing to go and live in that totally self-made hell-hole.

Shmuel, many of us do refer to the male equivalents of such ghastly women by the complementary term. For example, I regularly refer to Clarkson and Gill as disgusting pricks.

She is supposed to be a journalist???

In that case, that word has lost any discernible meaning.

“I think he didn’t like the succession of men queuing up to call Lauren Booth a cunt, and was of course right not to”

Interesting, that use of ‘of course’. You are saying, essentially, that agreeing with you is self-evidently the right thing to do. No hubris there, at all, at all.

D’you know what hubris means, Nearly?

Describing Lauren Booth as a misguided fool is a bit cute. She is a journalist. What sort of journalist could describe Gaza as a concentration camp? She is a either a very shit journalist desperately riding the Galloway/Ridley bandwagon with a grotesque I’m-a-celeb parody, or she is just another piece of antisemitic dreck. or both.

Ven

I’d love to think it was misguided idealism, but that is something you would consider Rachel Corrie displaying, rather than this self publicising cynic.

Some of the commentators do slip into the trap that lies for men referring to a Woman’s pudendum when wanting to call her a nasty stupid person as opposed to referencing a ‘vile’ nature considered to be intrinsic to her gender.

I think she is being more of a dick actually.

There is something though particularly deluded about her prescence that though not a consequence of her gender, is revealed by her rather ‘Shirley Valentine’ choice of attire.

She is dressed for all the world as if she is on a Mediteranean sun and fun seeking tour, mobile phones, shopping.

Shopping for Christ’s sake!

If she thought for a moment that she was going into a Darfur like situation she would be taking stuff (critically needed medicines, school pens etc) not strolling around shopping for snacks and toiletries.

And that is the difference, idealists know that people living in appalling conditions where they face disease or death every day, need a lot more than being graced by the brief media attention given to a z list celbrity, they have never heard of.

Celebrities, like Bono, can even display a pragmatic tempered idealism, understanding the limits as well as possibilities that their role might bring.

The volunteer for medicines Sans Frontier, or Oxfam shares with Bono the reality of making a real contribution;

This woman just takes, takes in her blind and insufferable ego from people who have so little and deserve better.

That is her eternal shame and shame on us all that we begin to accept the heavily scripted, cynical, reality TV show format (George Galloway is quite the pioneer) used by self serving, self publicists as either idealism or rapportage.

Her only hope of redemption is to go to Darfur, but she will have to be a little better prepared, but then again she really knows that so she wont.

I’ve always found it interesting that the English use “cunt” as an insult. In some other languages, words for the vagina indicate something of beauty or something to be treasured - and rightly so.

Why would you want to use the noun for such a wonderful thing in such an insulting and aggressive way?

OK. We have a photograph of Booth in a supermarket apparently in Gaza, with the clear subtext being - what on earth are we complaining about - Gaza is a wonderful place.

Alternatively, we could look at the actual facts. here(pdf) is the report by Amnesty et al on the situation in Gaza as of last march. Just a brief summary:
- the situation is the worst its been since 1967;
- the situation is entirely man-made - due to the blockade;
- 80% of families depend on food aid;
- hospitals are without power for 8-12 hours per day;

Anyway - you can read it yourself - that is if you care at all about the actual truth of the situation.

Mrs Trellis

Thanks for pointing out that the Ship to Gaza was not entirely one of fools, as someone at least remembered to take something that might be of use (I hope they remembered to takes several years supply of batteries though too).

Funny Lauren wasn’t so keen to pose handing out the hearing aids to little needy (and preferably the cutest) of children.

Of course she may have done that photo op, wanting her Princess Diana moment too (though I recommend she keep the flak jacket for her Darfur trip).

If she did, no doubt it’ll end up on youtube.

I’d love to think it was misguided idealism, but that is something you would consider Rachel Corrie displaying, rather than this self publicising cynic.

Do I have to link to the famous photograph of that evil fucker setting fire to US and Israeli flags, her face covered in a rampant veneer of hatred and sneering?

But that’s for reminding me - I will raise a drink tonight yet again to that evil fuckwit getting her comeuppance. And I might see if I can make some pancakes to celebrate.

Alec attempting to be witty. Not a pretty sight.

Maven, wasn’t this also last Friday’s conversation, about the EU asem definitions? At the risk of inviting last week’s trolls to get involved, the Nazi comparison is indeed part of the EU definition. I think in large part because of the even greater resonance that the comparison has across the Channel.

As for Parl Inquiry actions arising, there’s a lot going on but I’m not sure what the reporting guidelines are. Nevertheless, there is a place in the Inquiry process for the Israel = Nazi crap, so lets hope this example can actually be put to some good use.

Anyway - you can read it yourself - that is if you care at all about the actual truth of the situation.

As if you give a flying fuck about the actual truth of the situation.

OK. We have a photograph of Booth in a supermarket apparently in Gaza, with the clear subtext being - what on earth are we complaining about - Gaza is a wonderful place.

Now I’m off to have the coffee and doughnut I promised myself when you tried this one. No, it’s not being claimed. What is being disputed is her *Nazi* comparison, and offensive comparison of Gaza to Darfur, and her patent self-publicity and lack of shame.

Oh, I know, we’re engaging in McCarthyism by calling you a nasty and unpleasant freeloader on a blog.

D’you know what witty means, Nearly?

Morgoth’s remark about pancakes is, of course… oh, what’s the point…

“the situation is entirely man-made - due to the blockade”

And disgusting idiots like Irie - and Amnesty - never ask WHY there is a ‘blockade’ (note that Israel is still supplying fuel to an enemy sworn to destroy her, who is murdering her citizens by rocket and car bomb, even murdering the guards at the fuel depot supplying Gaza!).

Morgoth - that’s sick to refer to Rachel Corrie in that way. Don’t sink to the level of our enemies.

Whether she is or isn’t a “cunt” attempting to ban usage of that word will merely mean that those who feel extremely strongly about her will have to find another word of equal strength in order to concisely express their feelings.

lard-butt?

There is something though particularly deluded about her prescence that though not a consequence of her gender, is revealed by her rather ‘Shirley Valentine’ choice of attire.

She is dressed for all the world as if she is on a Mediteranean sun and fun seeking tour, mobile phones, shopping.

Shopping for Christ’s sake!

Yeah, she is quite the tourist, isn’t she? Just as one would expect from such clueless champagne liberals.

And you know, if Ms Booth really cared about Palestinians, she’d be talking about this.http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127592

Alec, just piss off, fuckwit.

What Morgoth said in his last two posts!

Oh, it’s definitely a man-made situation alright:

Israel imposed extreme restrictions on the movement of goods and people in response to the Hamas take over of Gaza and to indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel.

Still flying the flag for All Non-Reflexive Friends of Israel are Foul Mouthed Idiots, Nearly, I see.

Interesting, that use of ‘of course’. You are saying, essentially, that agreeing with you is self-evidently the right thing to do

I am saying that, yes. I’m saying that this aggression towards a fairly lightweight journalist of no great consequence, and the tinge of misogyny attached to it, is an unattractive spectacle. I’ve also had people tell me they’re put off from commenting here by this kind of thing.

I’d also add that, of course - if I’m allowed to use the expression - Lauren Booth’s anxiety to highlight the conditions faced by people in Gaza has led her to make some foolish and offensive comparisons, but I wouldn’t agree that this makes her “utter scum”. Or that Amnesty International are “disgusting idiots”, or that Alec Macpherson is a fuckwit.

TheIrie

You really have a problem with logic and reason.

No-one is saying ‘Gaza is a wonderful place’

Lauren Booth was comparing Gaza to the worst of the Nazi death camps and accusing Israel for being uniquely responsible for this.

Actually she was not accusing Israeli’s for the creation of such concentration camps;

rather in her use of the word ‘you’ she must be referring to ‘you Jews’ as she is unlikely to have meant that only the few elderly Nazi holocaust survivors currently living in Israel were themselves directly responsible for the current situation in Gaza;

‘You were in the concentration camps, and I can’t believe that you are allowing the creation of such a camp yourselves.”’

Lauren Booth then goes on to make quite clear the precise extent of her comparisons;

‘“there is not a family here in which someone is not in desperate need of work, shelter or food. This is a humanitarian crisis on the scale of Darfur.’

Well it is not a humanitarian crisis on the scale of Darfur Theirie, it simply isn’t and that much is obvious to anyone remotely converned with the actual truth of the situation.

The Gaza is Gaza and while it is true that it is a man made humanitarian crisis it is not one that Israel is solely responsible for, it is not Darfur as a quick glance at an Atlas will show you.

I think you are all being rotten to Lauren and so does Cherie. She is Cherie’s sister by the way, though she never tries to use that relationship to draw attention to herself.

Wardy - whom some people (but not me) might call a poncey Bojo-luvva - there is little understandable anxiety for the Gazans suffering demonstrated by anyone who remembers to pack a pastel summer blouse on a ‘freedom boat’ but not medical supplies, and then thinks it entirely appropriate to pose in fully-stocked stores. Just, as Metta has said, a monstrous ego and streak of nastiness in equating Holocaust Survivors to their tormentors.

A fukwad like Booth would not get traction on this side of the pond. Neither from the MSM nor the two main parties, at least at the national level.

She is the Euro rather than the Atlanticist part of Britain speaking, I think.

A Middle East thread on HP wouldn’t be complete without theIrie turning up and completely missing the point, would it?

lard-butt?

It isn’t nearly Chaucerian enough. (Although of course Chaucer didn’t use the word as an insult but it wasn’t taboo in his day either.) There is an awful lot of snobbery about anything without French roots IMHO.

She calls George Galloway “mate”.

As I said, Alec, you are a stupid fuckwit. That is a simple statement of fact. Your pretentious and ignorant label for me is proof of that.

“I am saying that, yes” (i.e. that agreeing with me is self-evidently the right thing to do).

Twerp.

Alec, I think you’re bang out order in not calling me a poncey Boj-luvva, because I am one, but I agree about Lauren’s ego. She told Ynet: “One Western person is stuck in Gaza and the media turns it into a huge story. A million and a half people are stuck in Gaza, and it’s a non-story”. Well I haven’t seen details of her terrible plight splashed across any front pages.

the few elderly Nazi holocaust survivors currently living in Israel

There are nearly 400,000 Nazi Holocaust survivors in Israel.

Very well, Wardy. I wouldn’t call you a flatulent Pete Doherty look-alike, though.

(Naff off and find someone else to bully, Nearly. You’re as boring now as that nutter Will.)

She calls George Galloway “mate”.

That suggests a usage for the word “cunt” that few would object too.

Lauren Booth is a complete nonentity, a media whore (there really is no sexism in the phrase) playing to a certain gallery of her peers in the west.

Expect to see many more celebs whose “career” “reviewing” papers on breakfast TV or suchlike takes a downturn when a famous relative loses influence (or the fashion changes) managing to insert themselves in “edgy” situations - sort of “I’m a celebrity keep looking at me in here” (although the parts of Gaza she was in don’t look so edgy, there were no supermarkets at all in the concentration camps she so easily uses as a throwaway reference point and very little to eat at all in Ven’s Ukraine; where trains filling with bodies along the way arrived at the end of the line packed to the rafters with the dead during a famine that the powers that be in Soviet Russia saw as a means towards the utopian end. (Uncle Abel Yenukidze, Stalinist quartermaster, controlled food and goods supplies even to CC members and left detailed chits on virtually everything that went anywhere at the time.

The urge to defend such a silly cunt as Booth is noble but ultimately stupid. I agree with the person who said Rachel Corrie is more worthy of our sympathies.

Deleted. Sorry - someone is playing games.

Deleted. And that.

Situation in Gaza according to the UN’s latest report http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_protection_of_civilians_weekly_2008_09_09_english.pdf:

Gaza Crossings: Increase in overall imports; decrease in fuel supplies
From 31 Aug - 06 Sep 08, though the Kerem Shalom crossing remained closed, the number of imported truckloads, including food items, increased from 630 truckloads in the previous reporting period to 916 this week. Though there was a significant increase in the inflow of construction materials—300 truckloads up from 33 previously, gravel accounted for the bulk construction materials imported—231 truckloads. During the reporting period, only 49 percent of vehicle diesel and 79 percent of industrial grade diesel required for power plant operation were imported. In the previous reporting period, only 17 percent of petrol and 68 percent of daily cooking gas requirements were imported. For unclear reasons, all Gaza crossings were closed on 5 September. (A quick Google reveals that the border crossings were closed that day following a Kassam rocket attack on Israel - I).

Political prisoners affiliated with Fatah released in Gaza
On 04 and 08 September the Hamas government released 16 Fatah-affiliated political prisoners (4 and 12, respectively) as a goodwill gesture in honour of the holy month of Ramadan. In addition, 153 criminal prisoners were released as well. However, the governors of Gaza and Khan Younis districts, as well as other senior Fatah leaders, remain in custody.

She calls George Galloway “mate”.

She’s from Liverpool. Everyone calls everyone mate.

Its not a mating thing.
She’s too old and he can’t claim the taxi back from her house on expenses any more.

Ooooh I’ve been surpressed.

Just a brief summary:
- the situation is the worst its been since 1967;
- the situation is entirely man-made - due to the blockade;
- 80% of families depend on food aid;
- hospitals are without power for 8-12 hours per day;

Don’t believe a single word of it - except it being man-made. I object to the use of the word “man ” though.

Its Hamas made and Hamas are Animals.

Even if this is a Hamas Govt. Supermarket for teh privelieged then how come it isn’t shared by Hamas with the rest of the people? Is it more Hamas lies and manipulation?

I’m repressed, Graham.

Is that the real Will being deleted? Good.

What can we see in the shop? Fully stocked shelves. A modern telephone. A computer. Everything appears to be in working order. Snickers Bars. Some intellectually underpowered overly smug nonentity indulging in a bit of personally inexpensive moral outrage. Pathetic.

I suspect Maven is on to something. I wouldn’t be surprised if this were a shop for the governing classes in Gaza and that this stupid, stupid woman has gone there to witness the Gazan experience. Not that other Gazans experience owt like the Warsaw Ghetto. Or Darfur.

Or are living the life of Reilly.

I like the beach scene - this would kind of look like Darfur if Darfur had waves and there was nobody about.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/02ey7kN9QSebZ/gaza

The photo-montage has got to be fake. No-one could be that stupid.

How exactly can Israel be “blockading” Gaza when it (Gaza) has a land border with Egypt?

It’s a bit like saying Belgium is blockading Holland.

Lauren Booth to BBC

Ms Booth told the BBC: “I’d actually like to say ‘Thank you very much’ to the Israeli authorities at Erez for giving me this fantastic chance to feel just exactly what it is like to be inside what is effectively the world’s largest internment camp, where individuals who should have the right to travel under international law are withheld in a 40km by 10km camp.”

“No, under international law I’ve done nothing wrong, but for some reason I am effectively being imprisoned here by authorities who wish to punish human rights activists who have come to view the situation in Gaza,” she said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7593921.stm

Israel is a separate place from Gaza. She has no more right to go to Israel from Gaza as a brit has to go to Russia without a visa.

She is free to leave the way she came in - by boat. Why doesn’t she take that option?

In the Galloway interview above she states in his apparently mystified response to why Egypt is also denying her transit that they ‘are lying just like the Israelis but not as well’.

Apparently the Egyptians countered that she didn’t try to use the border crossing as she didn’t like poor people but she said that the consul had called her on her mobile when she was in ‘the hot buses’ with women and children’ so that was a lie.

She met another woman who hadn’t been let into Israel for two years so she knows just how hard life is ‘cooped up with 1.5 million Gazan’s…in the biggest concentration camp in the world’ (Galloway’s words).

George tells us she is very brave.

Really hot buses? Well they have neither their exhausts emptying into the sealed interior nor do they have cyclone B cannisters emptying onto the passengers Lauren Booth you sorry excuse for a human being.

Oh dear. The words ’shooting’, ‘fish’ and ‘barrel’ spring to mind. Mind you, I’d hardly ever thought of Lauren Booth as an informed observer of Palestinian-Israeli affairs before - and even less so now. She’s hardly worth fisking except her media profile means her views are likely to gain more traction than other better-informed, more experienced and more nuanced journalists and activists.

I think the shop photo proves that Ms Booth is a Mossad agent, who, after puncturing the balloon shipment and removing the wax proofing from the hearing aids has now moved to Gaza in order to send what are clearly faked photos purporting to show well stocked shelves and smiley happy well fed Gazans. This is clearly nothing more than a sickening Zionist 21st century version of the ‘having a wonderful time in sunny Auschwitz’ postcards that the Nazis used to send to the Warsaw Ghetto.

Furthermore, Ms Booth’s true identity would also clearly serve to explain why Tony Blair backed the Iraq War, supported Israel’s Lebanon invasion, and appointed Lord Treisman to head the FA so that he could issue dark warnings about Arab football club owners with more dosh than Abramovitch. Given Zionism’s grip on global finance, this also clearly explains why the economy has gone tits up since Blair left office.

Her photos taken with well-stocked grocery shelves in the background reminds me of the early post-WWII Soviet propaganda films made of American slums to show how ghastly things were in America. They had to be withdrawn as audiences begin to question as to why the Americans were able to afford all the clean, white underwear displayed hanging on the clotheslines between buildings, and why weren’t these things readily available in the Soviet Union?

My original reaction to Lauren Booth’s Obsence comparison of the Gaza Strip to the Nazi Concentration Camps and Darfur was a lot more unprintable then Cunt. After some hours spent calming down I will settle for Shmuel’s description of Our Lady of the Gaza Strip, i.e. Scumbag.

virgil xenophon: Good story of how the Soviet propaganda effort against the US backfired.

Mark Gardner: ” …. why the economy has gone tits up since Blair left office.”
Interesting phrase; in the US we would us the phrase “belly up” (as in what a fish does when it dies) to describe the current economic downtown. Can anybody describe the origins of “tits up” as a phrase for failure?

If you regard “concentration camp” as purely in relation to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, then Booth and Galloway’s comparison is clearly erroneous. However, they have a more general meaning - the act of interning and confining (to an area) political, ethnic, religious groups etc. Using that more general sense there is a better basis for comparison.

Inevitably though, when one mentions “concentration camps” one thinks of the Nazis, and everyone gets shouty.

Yeah, can’t think why Jews would get upset at being accused of running a massive concentration camp.

TheIrie: - the situation is the worst its been since 1967.

With all due respect to Maven, this observation is probably accurate — and it’s interesting to note why 1967 is the relevant reference point. Think for a moment TheIrie: What you have just, quite accurately, drawn to our attention, is that from the time Israel took control of the Strip until the time it left, life for Gazans was better than it had been before (under Egyptian rule) or is now under Hamas. I bet you thought you were saying something else.

Yvvonne Ridley and Lauren Booth in Gaza? Wtf! Haven’t the Gazans got enough problems already.

Shabba,

It’s deliberately provocative, as old Galloway is of course. I wouldn’t use the analogy. However, I am quite prepared to believe, of course, that Jewish folk can be just as racist and unpleasant as the rest of us, given the right set of circumstances. The awfulness of the human race is reassuring ecumenical.

Gaza is a concentration camp for Gilad Shalit.

Paul M
theIrie wont understand the point your making.

btw, the cheek of the woman - imagine getting a diplomatic passport from Haniyeh and forgetting to wear your veil!

For me, the most meaningful picture is the one in the garden. Brits may not realize that Gaza, like Israel, is now 4-5 months into the dry season, and no such garden can exist here without extensive irrigation. So what happened to that famous water shortage inflicted by the evil Israelis on the ‘occupied’ territories?

Would Lauren Booth taunt a black person with references to slavery?

True, Anat.

And how in the world is room for all those plants in the most populated place on Earth?

Benji said -

If you regard “concentration camp” as purely in relation to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, then Booth and Galloway’s comparison is clearly erroneous. However, they have a more general meaning

Well, if Booth did intend to convey a ‘more general meaning’, she’s not choosing her words particularly carefully -

Booth evoked Holocaust-related rhetoric. “There is no right to punish people this way. There is no justification for this kind of collective punishment. You were in the concentration camps, and I can’t believe that you are allowing the creation of such a camp yourselves.”

That’s a direct comparison between the camps that Jews were in, and Gaza now - ’such a camp’.

Inevitably though, when one mentions “concentration camps” one thinks of the Nazis, and everyone gets shouty.

Well, when people make an explicit comparison to a Nazi concentration camp, that’s hardly unreasonable.

‘Storm in teacup’ my arse.

Not that Benjamin Mackie cares one way or the other about concentration camps, chaps.

Another thought, picking up on Oniad’s point: Booth is clearly dressed immodestly by Hamas standards. You can clearly see all her hair and neck. And there are no other women in these photos to make the contrast. Compare:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44478000/jpg/_44478683_ap416gaza.jpg

http://rafah.virtualactivism.net/newsphotos/07/october/20/Women%20protest%20in%20Gaza.jpg

David All:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/385050.html

It is plainly obvious that the situation in Gaza is not nearly as bad as the Nazi concentration camps or Darfur. OK. I don’t disagree with that.

However, the situation in Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. That is something that is never acknowledged by this blog, and here we have photo’s plucked out, serving to imply that Gaza is really just a-okay, and we’re complaining about nothing. Look - they’ve got a few flowers, so the well documented water crisis must just be propaganda.

I know most people here don’t even pretend to care about Palestinians. Its the ones that do pretend that bother me, but snide posts like this expose exactly what they really think.

David All:

“Tits Up” is an American phrase that originated in the Vietnam era. In the UASF (and other branches as well) it’s pronounced by the service phonetic “TANGO UNIFORM.” To go Tango Uniform means same same “dead bug.” (a bit of etymology here, “same same” was the Vietnamese way of saying in English “same as,” or “just like.” Most American servicemen picked up on it and began using it extensively not only in their conversations with their Vietnamese counterparts, but among themselves as well)

However, the situation in Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. That is something that is never acknowledged by this blog, and here we have photo’s plucked out, serving to imply that Gaza is really just a-okay, and we’re complaining about nothing. Look - they’ve got a few flowers, so the well documented water crisis must just be propaganda.

I know most people here don’t even pretend to care about Palestinians. Its the ones that do pretend that bother me, but snide posts like this expose exactly what they really think.

Gaza is NOT a ‘humanitarian disaster”. If I want to keep my house a mess and blame my neighbour for all the ills in the world and then my neighbour doesn’t let me go across her garden to reach my equally dysfunctional mates across the street because I keep killing her cats then that is MY problem and MY doing!

All this sympathy for Palestinians is just like this do-gooder socialist/marxist crap where if you are an underdog then someone else is to blame and we have to find them.

Its like these dysfunctional parents who go out on drugs and booze and then leave their 18-month kid to roam the streets. They don’t need social workers they need prison. In fact they needed sterilisation. There! I said it! (as my hero Mark Levin would say)

Like I said, Maven, I’m not interested in you, although you are at least honest about your racist views.

It is plainly obvious that the situation in Gaza is not nearly as bad as the Nazi concentration camps or Darfur. OK. I don’t disagree with that.

Which is the primary point of this essay: that LB was grossly and deliberately offensive to Jews in ways she would never be towards other groups; no judgement on other aspects of Gaza. So, you are concurring with David. I bet you thought you were saying something else.

However, the situation in Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. That is something that is never acknowledged by this blog,

Yes it is. Both by authors and commenters.

and here we have photo’s plucked out, serving to imply that Gaza is really just a-okay, and we’re complaining about nothing.

The whoosh I just heard was not RAF on training, but the point going over your head. No-one - not even Morgoth - is claiming that life is comfortable. Some of us, though, are distinguishing between the malfeasance of the Hamas elite and Ahmed Bloggs, and siding with the latter.

Look - they’ve got a few flowers, so the well documented water crisis must just be propaganda.

Are those plastic flowers? If not, it *is* a large degree of propaganda. D’you know what propaganda means? Don’t ask Nearby.

I know most people here don’t even pretend to care about Palestinians.

You certainly do.

Its the ones that do pretend that bother me, but snide posts like this expose exactly what they really think.

Feelings on the Gazans’ situation is only secondary to this post. What is being exposed is our thoughts on a vacuous, idiotic emotional vampire drawing attention to herself.

Like I said, Maven, I’m not interested in you, although you are at least honest about your racist views.

Then scram and make good your promise to leave HP. But you won’t, and simply continue plumbing your moral depths in posting to a forum which you claim to despise, but constantly indulges you.

Me, I’m off to demand a few blacks apologize for Charles Taylor.

“D’you know what propaganda means? Don’t ask Nearby”

Wanker.

“However, they have a more general meaning - the act of interning and confining (to an area) political, ethnic, religious groups etc. Using that more general sense there is a better basis for comparison”

Mealy-mouthed, silly, hypocritical excuses from Benjamin. What a surprise.

ThrIrie: ‘Look - they’ve got a few flowers, so the well documented water crisis must just be propaganda.’

TheIrie, your sneering is surpassed only by your ignorance. Keeping such a garden in Israel during the dry season consumes TWICE as much water as a middle class household with washing machine, dish washer and all, with the entire amount metred and charged. When reservoires are full this is only a matter of money, but when they are low Israelis are urged to let go on their gardens. This is why I replaced more than half of mine with cacti, succulents, and deep-root trees resistent to dry seasons. No such concerns at Hamas headquarters, apparently.

I’m still struggling to get my mind around these pictures. Did she seriously pose in the hope they’d help her case?

Danny Smircky
Thats the whole point of the exercise. They have her there posing for the photos because she is a white woman, with a relationship to Blair and she makes all the right noises concerning their views - i.e. they are using her (though she probably doesn’t realise it)
Does anyone think for a minute if this was some activist, who was a Muslim woman, that Haniyeh would have the photo ops with her dressed like that?
(Even Hamas don’t take her seriously)

Alec - why are you telling me to scram, when I call Maven on his suggestion to sterilise the Palestinians (or is it just Arabs in general)?

Anat - do you seriously think that the presence of some flowers in one photo is an indicator of the water resources situation in a country/territory?

Incidentally, on this “Would Lauren Booth taunt a black person with references to slavery?”. Well, “taunt” is the wrong word - she is making a substantive political point, not merely trying to wind people up. That to one side, I’ve seen active slavery in Africa with my own eyes. But by your argument, this topic is off limits, since the perpetrators of that crime were black, and historically black people were the victims of slavery. That is just a ridiculous argument.

Here is an example of slavery in Ghana:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFmyZZIdk6k

You’d think in one of the most densely populated places on earth (your words theIrie) that water resources would be rather scarce and would be prioritised for civilian use rather than gardens and flowers eh?

“she is making a substantive political point”

I take it all back. This guy DOES have a career as a stand-up comedian.

What Maven said at 10:40.

“No such concerns at Hamas headquarters, apparently”

Why should there be? All funded by EU idiots.

TheIrie,
Keep saying ’some flowers’, i.e. how mean of me. Only that it isn’t ’some flowers’ but a lush garden with a lawn (at the background), which is the most water-consuming of all. You evidently know nothing about water shortages. Israelis do.

This answers also Alec’s question: ‘I’m still struggling to get my mind around these pictures. Did she seriously pose in the hope they’d help her case?’ Like TheIrie, she simply does not understand what she sees in front of her nose. Even more likely, she is incapable of judging her preferred narrative on grounds of reality. As explained by the great luminary Pappe: there are no facts, only narratives.

As it happens, I do know a little bit about water shortages. And one thing which tells you precisely zero about a countries water resource situation is the state of the garden in a hotel.

Now, the things that do tell you about a countries water resources are the amounts of rainfall, the level of water in the aquifers, and in the case of Gaza, the amount of desalination that occurs. This year Gaza (and Israel and the West Bank) is enjoying a drought ~ i.e. low rainfall. Gaza’s aquifers are being polluted by the sewage, which thanks to the blockade is discharged into the sea, where is settles on the sand and infiltrates into the aquifer, and moreover this aquifer is being pumped out by Israel and Gaza much faster than it is being filled - that is more of a long term problem, but at some point in the not too distant, it will be a very serious problem. That leaves desalination, which requires diesel fuel, the supply of which is being heavily restricted by the blockade.

All that said, it seems that the West Bank is suffering more than Gaza in terms of water shortages at the moment. But, there is a serious problem with water supplies, short term and long term, in Gaza.

Yes, Irie, I was telling you to heed *your* *own* advice and scram from a forum you claim to loath. And, yes, she is being as offensive as I would be if I held those of West Indian descent responsible for the state of Liberia.

This is a very good piece on the water situation in the West Bank:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7571779.stm

Would Lauren Booth taunt a black person with references to slavery?

If it was Sammy Davis Jr. perhaps.

And one thing which tells you precisely zero about a countries water resource situation is the state of the garden in a hotel.

Perfectly true. It does, however, tell you heaps about those responsible. And silly twats availing themselves of the benefits of said hotel.

TheIrie, thanks for enlightening us that the Gaza’s water problems are the same as Israel’s except for the sewage factor. As is well known, the sewage problem is caused by diverting funds (including EU funds) and actual materials (pipes) from sewage works to missile manufacture.

Otherwise, there is nothing in what you say that is different in Israel, but I have heard nobody claiming a humanitarian crisis in Israel on these grounds.

“However, the situation in Gaza is a humanitarian disaster. That is something that is never acknowledged by this blog, and here we have photo’s plucked out, serving to imply that Gaza is really just a-okay, and we’re complaining about nothing. Look - they’ve got a few flowers, so the well documented water crisis must just be propaganda.” (theIrie)

Of course not.
In Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the 2001 economic crisis, supermarkets were ransacked and thousands of people from the slums outside the city who were living of the black market suddenly were transported every night by truck by maffias to pick through the garbage, and many children less than 50 kilometers away from Buenos Aires are happy when they find food that is not too rotten in the landfill. That is an ongoing humanitarian disaster.

In comparison, people buying snicker bars calmly in a filled-to-the-top supermarket in Gaza and counting with the huge help of the UNRWA is not an humanitarian disaster. Gaza is just a failed statelet, run by thugs and stupidly engaging in a useless war that is too big for them.

Anat - the natural factors in Israel are more or less the same. The man-made factors are totally different. Israel is, I think its probably true, the most advanced country in the world with respect to making deserts bloom, and managing water resources in an arid climate. But the reason for the problems in Gaza and the West Bank are linked to the blockade (of diesel for desalination) and the occupation (which supplies settlements with water whilst the Palestinians in the WB go short).

“But the reason for the problems in Gaza and the West Bank are linked to the blockade (of diesel for desalination)”

I am not sure that Gaza has a desalination plant.
I would say no.
Proof?

The same regarding Judea and Samaria. That territory doesn’t even have an exit to the sea, theIrie!

Interesting, there is some sort of desalination plant in Gaza… it seems that it was set up by Mekorot (The Evil Zionists!)
It gives 60 cubic meters an hour.
I don’t have a clue how much that is. Is it a pilot plant?
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3501314

To give you some idea, Fabian, human’s need a minimum of 60 l/day. There are 1.5 m Gazan’s, which is a daily demand of 90000 cubic metres. 60 m3per hour is equal to 1440 m3 per day. Therefore, that is but one tiny element of their domestic water supply. I believe that desalination is the main source of drinking water though, so there must be a number of plants.

“the sewage, which thanks to the blockade is discharged into the sea”

And the reason for the blockade, of course, is that the Joos are worse than the Nazis. Yeah, yeah, we know.

“To give you some idea, Fabian, human’s need a minimum of 60 l/day”

Why is it that idiot antisemites never know how to use the apostrophe correctly?

I should add, they only have enough diesel for 3-4 hours per day at the moment, which means that 1440 m3 per day becomes 180-240m3 per day.

I’m still struggling to get my mind around these pictures. Did she seriously pose in the hope they’d help her case?

If by “her case” you mean her attempt to get on the front cover of The Observer magazine then yes.

The table on page 10-14 of this document ranks countries in terms of water available per capita. If, as Anit said above, the natural situations in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank are all similar, it is interesting to note that Israel ranks 167 in the world (near the bottom, I concede) whilst Gaza is 178 (5th from last) and the West Bank is 182 (last). These differences are man-made. Sudan is 129th, if your interested.

http://www.unesco.org/water/wwap/wwdr/wwdr1/pdf/chap4.pdf

TheIrie. Still missing the point.

Andrew, you are a geo-scientist, you should know about precipitation and the water reclamation in Israel and the ATs. Let’s have a look at the data:

I don’t know for sure the terms being used, but will treat those given for different countries with equally ignorant equanimity. Israelis have 276m^3 of fresh water per capita per annum (that’s 0.276 % of 1 km^3, not 27.6 %; you’ve made similar mistakes before), lower than Lebanon and Syria with similar climates and population densities (albeit differing geologies), and only three above Jordan. And one above Yemen, larger area and smaller population and higher available water levels.

If it were the water-grab you claim (think about the symbolism of accusing Jews of stealing/poisoning water), we’d expect to see Israel more than a poxy 10 or 15 places above the ATs.

Sudan is 129th, if your interested.

Sudan is 2,000 times the size of Gaza and several hundred that of the WB, with a fraction of the population density, you twat! This is going to be a repeat of the time you claimed Gaza was the more densely populated place on Earth, ain’t it?

Addendum, I bet we could find areas the size of either of the ATs teeming with Darfuris and far lower available water.

Alec - was anything I said there wrong? You haven’t contradicted a single fact I gave.

Where did I claim a water grab? Where did I say anything about Israels water per capita per annum, let alone make a mistake about it?

“Sudan is 2,000 times the size of Gaza and several hundred that of the WB, with a fraction of the population density, you twat!” Of course, that is the reason that Sudan is less water stressed, but did I say anything to contradict that?

“This is going to be a repeat of the time you claimed Gaza was the more densely populated place on Earth, ain’t it?” I claimed Gaza was one of the most densely populated places and it is.

Anything constructive to say at all Alec, or is it just more ritual abuse?

Wait a moment, there’s no figure for the renewable levels per capita in the WB. Although, we do see that Gaza with 1/2 of the population and 3% of the land area of Kuwait has five times the level.

Where did I claim a water grab? Where did I say anything about Israels water per capita per annum, let alone make a mistake about it?

This is one exceptional piece of dishonesty. You are accusing Israel of with-holding water from the ATs and begrudging them a few “flowers”. Of course you are speaking in the same terms of a water grab.

Of course, that is the reason that Sudan is less water stressed, but did I say anything to contradict that?

When you juxtaposed it with the entirely different kettles of fish, Gaza and the WB. Like the time you compared Gaza to a list which included Russia and not Chinese cities.

Anything constructive to say at all Alec, or is it just more ritual abuse?

Yeah, drawing parallels with your previous complete failures in understanding basic concepts of human geography and what looks like an equally ill-thought out reference to your area of academic expertize is “ritual abuse”!

Lech zayen para!

Alec - I quite explicitly said the Israeli blockade of fuel to Gaza is responsible for the water supply problems there - that is not a water grab is it. It is, indirectly, Israel withholding water. And in the WB, where Israel supplies the illegal settlements at the expense of the Palestinian’s this is directly withholding water. But this isn’t a water grab.

The shelves may be bursting with things for sale.
But I tell you it’s like they’re all living in jail.
They’ve only got supermarts, computers and a beach,
And their tiny little missiles are lacking in reach.
Those poor Palestinians are starving, it’s so:
The gentleman from Hamas, could be fatter you know.
It’s true I can hardly fit inside my knickers
But put on expenses those two bars of Snickers.
My name is Lauren, the surname is Booth -
And I am a stranger to all that is truth.

Stop being a cunt, Andrew. If I were flicking paperclips at you, I doubt you’d feel mollified if I said it wasn’t assault. A water-grab leaves the victims just as without water as it being with-held.

And, once again, the Hamas palace has enough to irrigate luxurious gardens, yet still you blame *Israel*.

And in the WB, where Israel supplies the illegal settlements at the expense of the Palestinian’s this is directly withholding water.

Considering that this will involve appropriating water from the locale, it classes as a water-grab, you moron. And the matter of your not actually knowing the per capita levels in the WB.

Alec - if you want to assert that Israel is actually taking water from the Palestinian’s of the West Bank, that is up to you, but I haven’t said that. I have said only that Israel is not supplying them with water, which it is obliged to under Oslo (not to mention morally).

But you’re right that I blame Israel for restricting industrial diesel from going into Gaza to power the desalination plants, and provide water. I blame Israel because it is what Israel has chosen to do. It amounts to collective punishment of a civilian population.

Fabian

“Gaza is just a failed statelet, run by thugs and stupidly engaging in a useless war that is too big for them.”

Correct of course, but I would add:

” and indulged by nasty little antisemties such as TheIriot”

Gaza is not the best place in the world to live. It is also far from the worst. Most people sound of mind (and without some rather nasty prejudices) are aware of that.

But…….. it is a stick with which to beat the Joos so unpleasant little individuals such as TheIriot (Galloway, Booth etc) can pretend to care and frequent and soil blogs such as these.

Ive circulated these photos to many journalists I know (not ones you would call friends of Israel) who found them bloody hilarious.

I know its tempting to respond to Iriot and the like but put it in some perspective…. the vast majority of poeple know exactly what Lauen Booth is. But…they have hours to fill on news programmes.

Equally, as you will have noticed, they are not really indulging the “ghetto, humanitarian disaster, holocaust” type of garbage that they used to.

A year ago the whole boat trip to Gaza thing would have got a lot more glossy hyperbolic coverage than it has now.

Im not saying that they like Israel or jews in general any more. But they are bored of the Palestinians, their lies, and their rather unpleasant bedfellows.

Much as I despise the little runt, its good to have TheIriot here. If people were still buying the Pal story, he wouldn’t be.

Matt

and though I can understand moderation of these threads is very labour intensive and almost impossible…..note that it has now descended into an argument about oil supplies and water supplies in Gaza.

It is annoying; but more than that rather distasteful.

There are at this very moment millions of people desperate for water and dying of starvation and thirst.

They are not in Gaza though.

So quite what the point of continuing the thread along these lines is i dont know. Perhaps allow TheIriot to argue with himself on this one; its not really going to go anywhere.

Matt

Alec - why are you telling me to scram, when I call Maven on his suggestion to sterilise the Palestinians (or is it just Arabs in general)?

I stand by my original comments 200%!

Now go and read what I ACTUALLY wrote and to whom I said it about!

Wanker!!!!

At last an answer!! Why is that Gaza so green and luscious? TheIrie knows! Its FERTILISER!!!!!

Alec - if you want to assert that Israel is actually taking water from the Palestinian’s of the West Bank, that is up to you, but I haven’t said that.

You complete and utter fucking moron.

That’s exactly what you said - I never did.

“But you’re right that I blame Israel for restricting industrial diesel from going into Gaza to power the desalination plants, and provide water. I blame Israel because it is what Israel has chosen to do. It amounts to collective punishment of a civilian population.” (TheIrie)

But you yourself have argued that
“There are 1.5 m Gazan’s, which is a daily demand of 90000 cubic metres. 60 m3per hour is equal to 1440 m3 per day. ”

So, if the plant had all the Diesel it could consume it would still provide only 1.6% of the daily water demand in Gaza. And Israeli water technicians were involved in setting up the plant. And Hamas has rutinely attacked the Diesel trucks that Israel is sending to steal the fuel.

I wonder how with all this data at hand, you can say that Israel is effecting a collective punishment of Gaza for which it should be blamed.

I mean, just read this message several times until it sinks in.

The Irie thinks that heterosexuals suffer from homophobia to the same extent that homosexuals do. That’s retarded.

I’ve uploaded a clip of Yes Prime Minister on Israel, Arabs and the UN here

Fabian - its not just one plant. One thing you just said is interesting though. You said “Israeli water technicians were involved in setting up the plant.” Of course they were. But I am not blaming “Israelis” am I. I’m blaming the Israeli government who have implemented the blockade. You seem to think that I think all Israelis are bad. I do not. I think the vast vast majority of Israelis, like the vast vast majority of all nationalities, are good people. I blame the Israeli government for their policies. Is that so hard to understand?

I blame the Israeli government for their policies. Is that so hard to understand?

We do understand it. You blame it both for the direct and what you deem indirect effects of their actions which adversely affect the Gazans. You do not blame Hamas for any indirect effect.

You do not think we see that you’re equating concern for individual Gazans suffering (good) and complete lack of any concern for collective punishment inflicted on the residents of Sderot, say. It would be one thing if you didn’t give a hoot about Israelis and cared only for Palestinians, but you don’t.

You don’t give a hoot about Palestinians being killed or ripped-off by Hamas or Syrian or Kuwaiti or Lebanese governments. If you do, it’s to bash Israel with.

“But I am not blaming “Israelis” am I. I’m blaming the Israeli government who have implemented the blockade”

I have said that you blame Israel. And you do.
As Alec said, for direct and indirect effects.
What about putting the blame squarely on the government of the entity that launches rockets over the fence toward civilian towns and steal the fuel the Israelis send?

Lets blame the Hamas government for what the Hamas government does, and the Israeli government for what the Israeli government does. Here we are talking about the blockade of diesel to power water desalination plants. That is an action of the Israeli government.

No, TheIrie. Unless you want to volunteer yourself as a truck driver and deliver the fuel yourself, I won’t blame neither the Israeli truck drivers, nor the Israeli government that decides that sending in is too dangerous.
Get that?

Here we are talking about the blockade of diesel to power water desalination plants. That is an action of the Israeli government.

Well, actually, we were talking about how offensive and stupid it was of Lauren Booth to compare Gaza to a Nazi concentration camp.

Until you blundered in, missing the point completely, wibbling on about how Gaza is actually really awful.

Let me tell you a little story.
In the year 2001, a cattle truck had an accident just outside Buenos Aires. The cows got out of the truck and wandered along the highway.
Suddenly, a whole mob of residents of the suburbia appeared and started pinching and cutting a cow alive to get a piece of meat. The cow finally died, but it was cut to pieces before that.
I would say that that is a good measure of humanitarian disaster.
Nothing like that happens in Gaza. I would say that they are doing pretty well, by Third World standards.
Nothing to get too excited, TheIrie. Chill down.
I am sure you would love to get excited about the case of Argentina for a change. It has also Jews in it.

“it is interesting to note that Israel ranks 167 in the world (near the bottom, I concede) whilst Gaza is 178 (5th from last) and the West Bank is 182 (last)”

These are minimal differences, moron. So Israel is a few places above Gaza: big fucking deal. It proves exactly nothing, certainly not your dumb antisemitic attempt to blame Israel for the rockets launched from Gaza that murder Israelis.

“in the WB, where Israel supplies the illegal settlements”

They are not illegal, wanker.

There was one case in La Plata, close to Buenos Aires, but this one happened in Rosario.

http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-3416-2002-03-31.html

“Las imágenes fueron tremendas, es cierto. Improvisados matarifes agitándose entre charcos de rojo intenso, con el arcaico instinto del hambre despierto, la boca húmeda frente a las vacas maltrechas por el choque, viendo en ellas nada más que el alimento.”

“¿Cómo podía Nelly perdonar a Sosa su timidez cuando “la polaquita” de al lado –una nena menudita de 13 años– había cargado sola una pierna entera durante diez cuadras? “Ellos también son nueve hermanitos, y hay días que mandan a los chiquitos al comedor escolar y los grandes se aguantan a mate dulce. Hay que ver el hambre que hay antes de hablar de cómo se faenaron las vacas, ¿vos crees que en el frigorífico las tratan mejor?””

The second paragraph tells about a girl 13 years old who carried all by herself a leg of the cow. They are 9 brothers and some days they send the little ones to the school canteen and the big ones stay at home without food, only drinking mate with sugar.

Gaza, baby, is a paradise next to this.

From the same article:

““¡Antes sí que había trabajo!, se entusiasma Manzana, “De ciruja, sí, pero había que ver cuánto trabajo había”. Un solo escalón más arriba del hambre, desde la perspectiva del abismo, parece el paraíso.”

““¡Before there was work, yes!, Manzana gets enthusiastic, , “As a tramp, looking in the trash bins, yes, but you should have seen how much work there was”. Just another step above hunger, from the viewpoint of the abyss, looks like paradise.”

Sorry, but Gazans are all right.

Alec - I quite explicitly said the Israeli blockade of fuel to Gaza is responsible for the water supply problems there

WHAT SHORTAGE OF FUEL??????? FUEL HAS BEEN FLOWING FOR WEEKS!!!!

I’m not a scientist, but wouldn’t it be possible to use the sewarge to power the desalination plants? Or, as Maven suggested above, is already being used to fertilize the gardens?

Sue - if you’re up for winning the Nobel prize, you should definitely invent a sewage driven desalination plant. That would, quite seriously, be a fantastically useful invention.

I thought that chicken shit could be used as a fuel, so why not human waste? Nobel prize winning you say? Perhaps I’ll give it a go….

Sorry to come so late to this particular piece of fun but I am on California time just now…

There is wonderful circularity here. Ms Booth is a journalist-of-sorts and I understand (not from personal experience, I am glad to say) that she used to work for the Daily Mail. Thus, according to a noted expert in such matters, one Kenneth Livingston, she is like (or worse than?) a guard in a concentration camp. (And yes, Benji, a Nazi concentration camp.) Which places her ravings in a strange light.

OK, so let us be serious. The situation in Gaza is bad – it is fairly futile to attach to it unquantifiable and emotive labels like “humanitarian disaster”, but it is bad. The reasons are not straightforward but a combination of Hamas policies, Israeli policies, Egyptian policies, long-term consequences of UNRRWA and NGO policies, and all this with the background of rapid population explosion in an ecologically-vulnerable arid area. But it is not, by any stretch of imagination, comparable to the barrios of Buenos Aires (yes, Fabian is spot on here) or similar localities elsewhere in the world. And these are not, by any stretch of imagination, comparable to the mass murder of Darfur or of Eastern DRC. And these, in turn, are not, by any stretch of imagination, comparable to Nazi concentration and extermination camps, to Treblinka, Sobibor and Birkenau…

Anybody attempting to draw a straight line from Gaza to Nazi concentration camps is not just utterly stupid but crassly insensitive, up to the point of Holocaust denial (or its cheapening to an extent comparable with denial). Anybody attempting to accuse the victims of Nazi concentration camps of replicating them in Gaza is simply unspeakable.

In these circumstances, I must protest the language equating Ms Booth to body parts which are natural, wholesome and cause great occasional joy to women and men alike.

Fair comment Muffin. I think the comparison of Gaza with Buenos Aires is an interesting one. I think you’re wrong when you say “But it is not, by any stretch of imagination, comparable to the barrios of Buenos Aires”. I rather suspect conditions in Gaza are very comparable to those in BA. I don’t know that, but I would be interested in reading something about it, if anyone (Fabian) would like to educate me. And “Egyptian policies”???? You are completely wrong about that - Egypt doesn’t have “policies” wrt Gaza, other than do what you’re told and the aid money will keep flowing in. US policies - yes. EU policies - yes. And the UNRRWA and siginficant NGOs like Oxfam policies are to provide a life line to the refugees, without which the situation would undoubtedly look a lot more like Darfur.

No part of Ms Booth can be called ‘wholesome’.

“I rather suspect conditions in Gaza are very comparable to those in BA. I don’t know that”

Quite so. You don’t know that. You haven’t a clue about anything that goes on in the Middle East, yet you keep parading your total ignorance and stupidity and antisemitic bluster, and ’suspect’ that it’s this that and t’other. The crap you spew here could power 100 desalination plants. Why don’t you go to Gaza and do just that?

TheIrie: Your comparison of Israel, West Bank and Gaza on the list of per capita water usage proves only one fact, that needs little proof, namely that the entire area is arid and ecologically vulnerable. Any attempt to draw serious consequences out of it is misguided.

You seem to forget the different pattern of water availability: actually, the aquifers serve West Bank better than Israel and Israel better than Gaza, while Israel has also (limited, and increasingly so) availability of river runoff from the sources of Jordan. Likewise, you seem to forget the different population densities: after all, per capita use is the total amount of water divided by the size of population. One would have assumed that, as an expert in these matters, you would let your professional expertise, rather than political views, talk and refrain from drawing specious conclusions.

Ah, and something else. All this obscures the very different patterns of using the available water, something in which Israel is a world leader. Little water goes a very long way in Israel! In an ideal world, Palestinians would have adopted similar methods and improved their lot. However, a climate of accusations that imply that “their desert blooms because they are stealing our water” is not conducive to this frame of mind.

I rather suspect conditions in Gaza are very comparable to those in BA.

Well, TheIrie, I don’t know how much you know: I have been to Buenos Aires few years ago, talked to friends of mine there who are active in helping people in the barrios there and my understanding is that on all indicators of nutrition, education, infrastructure etc. the situation there was (during the economic crisis: it might be better now) significantly worse than in Gaza.

And the UNRRWA and siginficant NGOs like Oxfam policies are to provide a life line to the refugees

Actually, it is mostly EU funding which is keeping Gaza (and WB) afloat. The problem with UNRRWA is that their long-term policies in the last 60 years (very similar to US policies toward Native Americans on reservations) kept 1947–48 refugees hemmed in refugee camps, prevented their rehabilitation, extracted immediate punishment once they dared to move elsewhere, thereby creating the most deprived and destitute areas of Gaza and West Bank.

And “Egyptian policies”???? You are completely wrong about that - Egypt doesn’t have “policies” wrt Gaza, other than do what you’re told and the aid money will keep flowing in.

Wrong again (infantilising the natives?). Egypt (by which I mean the Mubarak government) has overwhelming self-interest in sealing Gaza. Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood is the main opposition threatening the Mubarak government. The imagine that they are sealing the Rafah crossing because the US ambassador tells them to do so is patently ridiculous.

Egypt is a US client which operates the Rafah crossing on behalf of Israel. I suppose you could call that Egyptian policies if you like, but if you’re listing factors which influence the situation, this isn’t one of them. And I repeat, I’m not talking about the Egyptian people.

On BA - I remain open minded.

I’m much more interested in the water resources debate. You’re right about Israel’s efficient use of water. Regarding population density - that is of course true wrt Gaza, but how do you explain the WB (which you say is better served by the aquifers)? Any countries water resources are mainly determined by nature, but also determined to some extent by man (how we manage the resources). And it is man-made interventions that are responsible for the disparities between water availability in Israel and the WB and Gaza.

I probably won’t be able to reply, so just know I’m not ignoring you. Enjoy California.

RE: “Illegal” Israeli settlements. Only in the case of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict have so many somehow applied mental ju jitsu to hold, for the first time in history, really, that a nation the subject of an unprovoked attack by people/nations
determined to utterly destroy it, and successful in defending itself, should have territorial demands made upon it by it’s vanquished unjust aggressors–and have these demands supported by half the world.

Egypt is a US client which operates the Rafah crossing on behalf of Israel.

This would be the same Egypt whose foreign minister was able to taunt Condoleezza Rice about treatment of Egyptian dissidents?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OB-kadwOL8

UK Reporter Booth on Boat to Gaza

“My name is Lauren Booth. I am a journalist and broadcaster from the United Kingdom. I work for the Islam Channel (…) etc”.

Her family is extremely supportive etc etc.

“Egypt is a US client which operates the Rafah crossing on behalf of Israel”

As commanded by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, no doubt, transmitted directly into their brains by subspace rays.

And then this lunatic tosser is surprised when he is called an antisemite.

Exactly, Virgil.

Clueless in Gaza/

I have just been reading on the BBC website about the Doctors’ Strike in Gaza. It seems that Fatah organises the doctors in the Gaza Strip and Hamas has been replacing Fatah administrators with their own men. The doctors have been called out on strike. Shouldn’t this be more widely publicised? The article on the BBC deals with the neo-natal unit (everyone loves babies after all) and says how some will die through lack of care. Perhaps Ms Booth could use her influence to resolve this strike?

Sue R

Drs on strike, Teachers on strike all being replaced by Hamas violating union rights, sounds like something a Union might like to take up as an issue of solidarity.

Maybe UCU, I hear they have an activist list that is very concerned about the plight of Palestinians?

RE: “Illegal” Israeli settlements. Only in the case of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict have so many somehow applied mental ju jitsu to hold, for the first time in history, really, that a nation the subject of an unprovoked attack by people/nations
determined to utterly destroy it, and successful in defending itself, should have territorial demands made upon it by it’s vanquished unjust aggressors–and have these demands supported by half the world.

This is a GREAT point that should be amplified. Mandate For Palestine granted Jews and Arabs equal rights to settle in what is now Israel + West Bank + Gaza. Jews were given additional political rights to create institutions of government of that area.

In defiance of that LON/UN Resolution the Arabs have attacked several times to secure 100% of that land for themselves.

They lost!

The World then states that Jews illegally occupy “Palestinian” land.

How Come? This is Jewish/Arab Land over which Jews have exercised their political rights enforced by their army.

And Get This!!! Israel has actually agreed to allow this land to become an Arab State - and give up their rights to it!!!

This is a frame that Israel haters refuse to acknowledge.

Absolutely. In addition, the original terms applied to Trans-Jordan as well. Britain exercised its political muscle to snip off, what … a mere 75% of the original area to invent a new country with imported royalty, from which Jews were barred.

THEN the Arabs attacked several times to secure 100% of the remaining land for themselves.

If my great grandparents had known that there were supermarkets in Dachau, they mightn’t have starved half to death before being killed. Likewise, the poor Sudanese. Thank goodness for Lauren Booth.

No, even saying it in jest left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I know the feeling, Har’el.

If Gazans are as starved as the victims of the Nazis, then the presence of a supermarket with shelves groaning with produce would indicate:

1) There are almost no such supermarkets in Gaza, and her shopping tour there is worthless propaganda; or
2) She enjoys access to goods that only the elite have access to and can buy, demonstrating how much she cares for Hamas and how little she cares for the plight of the ordinary Gazan.

There is a third alternative - that there is rather less to the stories of starvation than meets the eye.

There is a third alternative - that there is rather less to the stories of starvation than meets the eye.

In other words its a bald faced lie. There are NO starving people in Gaza. How could there be with so many products on the supermarket shelf.

To make that painful analogy again about The Holocaust its as if Jews were starved into living skeletons while Jews ran branches of Aldi all over Nazi Germany, including the Camp shops.

These Palestinian stooges and dupes would seem to have some intelligence but prefer to use it on the dark side.

“These Palestinian stooges and dupes would seem to have some intelligence”

Do they? I see very little on display.

Ahh, misogyny, anti-Arab racism, favourable comparisons of the refugee camps with Nazi Germany, anti-Galloway, moaning about Darfur and an appeal for sympathy for the Catholic Blairs.

Harry’s Place - We Give The People What They Want

You’re all fucking knackered.

Please, I am trying to have my dinner here.

Interesting. It’s OK for Callum to hurl obscenities at us, but not OK to reply. Whatever.

I do understand (sort of, although it doesn’t display a great sense of humour) why the post just above mine of 9:39 was pulled. But in that case, maybe my reply should be pulled also.

Callum, please hurl as many obscenities at Nearly Oxfordian as you want.

Is she still there? (Monday 14th September).

Sorry, that should be 15th September.

Wardyron, you mummy is calling you. Time for your midday cocoa and nap, little boy.

Have you not noticed that everyone hates you, you fucking cock?

This is degenerating quickly.
I thought that Wardytron was for funny relief.
I feel like I am watching Bamby and suddenly the deer has lots and lots of pointy teeth, too many to be natural…
(Sorry, that was my Stephen King moment).

But I think N.O. that you should post less. There are idiots in the world but they don’t deserve a one-line comeback each time they post. Don’t take it bad, please.

I’m still lovely Fabian, don’t worry. I agree that Nearly Oxfordian should post his unamusing dull and offensive comments less frequently, and look forward to the next one in October 2047, unless he’s tragically been shot by firing squad like the twat he is.

Does anybody knows if Lauren Booth suffers from a mental illness?
To put a picture of a very well stocked store and a picture with of concentration victims on the same page, needs some help.
And if England had the right to bomb the hell out of Germany in WWII
because the Germans attacked London, Israel has those same rights when rockets come flying from Gaza in to Israel.
Who is the idiot that’s talks about Israeli occupation of Gaza?
There are no Israelie’s in Gaza.
What the blockade is concerned where the hell Lauren thinks all the food, medicine,fuel and electricity comes from?
Not from Jordan, Syria,Egypt, Lebanon or Iran. (Iran send only wapens)
What about the Fatah members who fled for there lives to Israel from Gaza?
Does Lauren remember this? or even knows about that or is her hate of Israel overwelming her?

Compare Gaza to the Egyptian side…from the lion mouth.

“Ahlan Ashour, 38, came with his wife to visit the Egyptian family, the Barhoums, who had put them up for 24 days during an earlier period when the Rafah crossing was shut. Mr. Ashour’s wife, Mohsin Elloulu, said she was struck by how much poorer the Egyptians of Rafah are. “At least our streets are paved,” she said of Gaza. The current lack of electricity and supplies is terrible, she said. “But materially, we’re so much more advanced in Gaza.” A driver here, she said, makes less than $1.50 a day, and in normal times in Gaza, $27. “But nothing is normal now,” she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/world/middleeast/24gaza.html?pagewanted=2&sq=gaza&st=nyt&scp=3

you all sound like a bunch of Nazis…….live and let live please…..

God Bless and preserve Israel.Long life to Israel.Success to Israel.I am True British and a Christian