In which the pond attempts to distract from the bromancer and "Ned", but Mein Gott, there's no way to do it ...

 

Best get some of the news you won't be reading in the lizard Oz out of the way ...

The video starts with text heralding a "TRUMP LANDSLIDE" along with a voiceover saying "What happens if Donald Trump wins?"
It then scrolls past a headline which reads: "Industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified Reich". (Trump campaign deletes video mentioning 'unified Reich')

Jawohl, mein Führer, and luckily you have no need to talk in your trial. 

You lied that you would, but the chances of you getting caught out in your lies was too great. Turns out when your gauleiters do get to talk they don't always go so well ... MAGA Lawyer Gets Dismantled by His Own Damning Trump Emails (outside the paywall for enhanced reader pleasure).

And it'll take the reptiles time to catch up with the news $16 billion and 16 years to kickstart Australia’s next nuclear plant: CSIRO.

Keen students won't bother with the Nine rags, they'll go straight to the CSIRO for the latest iteration CSIRO releases 2023-24 GenCost report 

It's to hand in pdf form at the link and full of graphs and it'll take awhile for the reptiles to mount a rearguard action.

Interested in the latest news from Ukraine? Try Al Jazeera, or the Beeb, or the Graudian, or Sky News - no not that one, the other one ...

Now forget all that talk about the Führer and the trial of the century (thus far) and nuking the country to save the planet, you're about to enter the hive mind, the twilight zone if you will ...

What do you get emanating from the hive mind? Dame Slap in the top far right spot rabbiting on about the ACT.

The rag has become a caricature of itself ... with Dame Slap a caricature of a caricature ... and the caricature continued beneath the fold ...

There was nothing for it but to plunge down the rabbit hole ... and given Glenn was wanting to get back to basics and Tezza was on about AI, some might understand, but not forgive, the pond's choice ... though it saved having to deal with the disgrace sometimes known as the WSJ ...

Once again, it's bromancer o'clock time ...

As usual with the reptiles there were plenty of visual distractions, including a smirking PM and a bald headed loon designed to send the pond scuttling away in fear ...

The pond likes to at least acknowledge the distractions, even while neutering them, before getting on with the hysteria ...

The pond is pleased that the bromancer raised the matter of equivalence in those first few lines of that gobbet.

As the pond does in times of crisis, it turned to Haaretz, an oasis of sanity and a reminder that there are possibilities outside the barking mad far right gaggle of fundamentalists and theocrats currently in charge of Israel ...

It was Rachel Fink who wrote Slamming ICC, Israel's 'Official' Opposition Is as Craven as Netanyahu Is Corrupt (sorry paywall), with the intro A vast majority of Israeli lawmakers, including opposition leader Yair Lapid, signed their name to a letter condemning ICC Prosecutor Khan's pre-trial warrants. Only a select few in Israel's parliament understood that whether or not Netanyahu is 'as bad as' Sinwar or vice versa is irrelevant.

Forgive the pond if it quotes Ms Fink at some length:

Moral equivalence – the phrase made its debut as a concept in American psychologist William James' essay by the same name written in 1906 before experiencing a resurgence in popularity by anti-communists during the Cold War.

On Monday, "moral equivalence" once again got her day in the sun after news broke that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes committed since the war in Gaza began on October 7.

Pro-Israel supporters around the world rushed to condemn the warrants, lambasting Khan for creating a moral equivalence between "life-valuing Israel and death-worshiping Hamas terrorists" as Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, who himself has a cantankerous relationship with morality, called it. U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson also made the same claim. (If you are looking for a more comprehensive list, deposed Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy seems to have retweeted every single post on X containing the words "moral" and "equivalent.")

Not to be outdone, pro-Palestinian posters who were rankled by the comparison being made between the oppressed and the oppressor came out with their own version of the argument. "The ICC applies for arrest warrants of three Palestinian leaders and two Israeli leaders and lists the criminal charges against 'both sides,' leading with Palestinians," journalist Nick Estes wrote to his followers. "As if there is a moral and legal equivalence between colonizer and colonized and as if this began on Oct. 7."

As both sides faced off over who less deserved to be on the receiving end of the ICC's war crime campaign, CNN's Christiane Amampour, who first broke the news in an interview with Khan, raised a crucial point: "In response to criticism about seeking arrest warrants for both Hamas and Israeli leaders," Amampour tweeted, "the ICC tells me its mandate is solely focused on putting victims at the same level...equivalence of victim not alleged perpetrator."

UCLA Professor and Israel studies expert Dov Waxman was inclined to agree. His statement read, in part, "This is not about drawing a moral equivalence between Hamas and Israel. It is about upholding international law and holding decision-makers accountable."

Emily Tamkin of the Forward fairly pointed out that, "if you listen, [Hamas and Israel] are being charged for very different crimes." Tamkin is referring to Khan's CNN interview where he explicitly differentiates between the charges of murder, rape, and sexual assault leveled at Hamas leadership and those of starvation as a method of war, denying humanitarian relief supplies, and the deliberate targeting of civilians in conflict assigned to Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Choosing to ignore these inconvenient truths, a vast majority of Israeli lawmakers signed their name to a letter condemning Khan's pre-trial warrants. "The scandalous comparison of the prosecutor in The Hague between the leaders of Israel and the heads of the terrorist organization Hamas is an indelible historical crime and a clear manifestation of antisemitism," the letter read, rather predictably.

Among the 106 signatories on the list were some of Natanyahu's most vocal opponents, including OINO (Opposition In Name Only) leader Yair Lapid. Lapid has spent the last eight months relentlessly questioning Netanyahu's motives and strategies, but when it came time to lend his name in support of the prime minister, his only question was "Where's my pen?"

Israel Knesset is made up of 120 members, which presumably means only 14 of them, all part of Israel's Labor and Arab parties, understand that whether or not Netanyahu is "as bad as" Sinwar or vice versa is irrelevant. They know that to sign their name to the letter would be to condone, as Labor MK Naama Lazimi later stated, "Bibi's attempt to gain legitimacy and strengthen his corrupt and terrible rule." And there is nothing moral about that.

What a relief, but not enough to rescue the pond from the rest of the bromancer rant.

Do others suffer this way? Of course they do, there was a cracking Crace showing that ranters were everywhere: The Govester goes rogue and veers from history lecture to full-on rant

The Poms might have their Govester - too much delicious stuff to quote - but the lizard Oz has the ranting bromancer, always reliably rogue...

There have been intelligent offerings elsewhere. 

See Kenneth Roth's Why is the west defending Israel after the ICC’s request for Netanyahu’s arrest warrant?, It is disappointing, if not surprising, that the west’s response to the ICC accusations was to defend Israel despite its war crimes.

Inter alia:

...The demand for solid evidence is probably why Khan began with Israel’s starvation strategy, because the evidence was more readily available. Israel has barred his investigators from Gaza, where he would ordinarily want to investigate Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing. Khan made clear that his investigation “continues”. More charges could come.

Netanyahu’s response was filled with evasions. He called the proposed charges “an attempt to deny Israel the basic right of self-defense”, which is preposterous. The proposed charges are not about whether Israel can defend itself but how, that is, not by committing war crimes. He said Israel had taken “unprecedented measures … to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches those in need in Gaza” – a claim belied by extensive evidence of Israel’s arbitrary obstruction of food, medicine and other necessities to the civilian population of Gaza, to the point that “famine” has arrived in parts of the territory. Indeed, the US government has been outspoken in criticizing the Netanyahu government for its arbitrary obstruction of humanitarian aid.

In the common last resort for defenders of Israel, Netanyahu accused Khan of “callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world”, claiming that “Khan takes his place among the great antisemites in modern times.” This is rich from an Israeli leader who has had no trouble embracing an antisemite – the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán – when it serves him. It also endangers Jews around the world, because if people see the charge of antisemitism as a thin cover for Israeli war crimes, it will cheapen the concept at a time when a strong defense is needed.

Recognizing the independence and the importance of the international criminal court, some governments – notably, France and Belgium – issued statements supporting it. But others followed in Netanyahu’s footsteps.

In a terse statement, Joe Biden called the charges “outrageous”, stating that “there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.” The German government, while saying it “respects the independence” of the court, echoed this “false equivalence” charge. But Khan made no claim of equivalence. He simply charged both Israeli and Hamas officials for their own separate war crimes. Indeed, given the severity of the offenses, it would have been outrageous had Khan ignored one side’s crimes. The dual charges underscore a fundamental principle of international humanitarian law: war crimes by one side never justify war crimes by another.

Ironically, Hamas responded to the proposed charges with a variation of this theme, saying that Khan’s action “equates the victim with the executioner”. But regardless of the perceived justness of one’s cause, it never justifies war crimes.

Well yes, but the reptiles and the bromancer are so steeped in war crimes - remember Iraq? - that it's hardly surprising that they have a taste for the sport ...

Curiously Haaretz took up the bromancer's suggestion of a domestic trial ...

Stepping past that offer of a snore pillow, Aluf Benn went on 

...The ICC in The Hague is designed to mete out justice to individual criminals, not countries, and Netanyahu is trying to claim that the entire State of Israel is on the defendant's bench and not only him and Gallant – Bibi and an anti-Bibi.

In the meantime, pro-Bibi jurist Prof. Yuval Elbashan has hinted at Netanyahu's line of defense – pinning the blame on the heads of the army, in a similar manner to the prime minister's evasion of responsibility for Hamas' attack and massacre against Israel in October.

In an article in Israeli news outlet Yedioth Aharonoth's daily, Elbashan wondered "how leaders of the country can be accused of war crimes while Israel Defense Forces brass, who have allegedly been committing them, are not – and unlike their counterparts in Hamas."

Elbashan also has an answer: "It's not related to justice, but rather to links to the defense and arms elite in Washington." Among Bibi-ists, Netanyahu will always be a victim of the elite, who this time arranged a request for an arrest warrant against Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif and turned a blind eye to IDF Chief of Staff Herzl Halevi.

The allegations in the request for arrest warrants indicate that Israel has failed entirely in its war in Gaza. If Israel has indeed committed crimes, as is the prosecutor's impression – maliciously starving Gaza's population and deliberately killing civilians – and hasn't vanquished Hamas even using methods so extreme that they rise to the level of crimes against humanity, then something is very rotten here and all the statements by the government and army about the aims of the war and the methods used have been a collection of lies that mask a cruel and futile campaign of revenge.

There's only one effective way of responding to Karim Khan's request for the warrants. Instead of crying antisemitism and Nazism, his allegations should be examined on their merits. An Israeli state commission of inquiry should be convened to examine whether the population of Gaza was deliberately starved and whether the IDF deliberately attacked and killed Palestinian civilians. The commission members could consist of a judge, a nutritionist and a former army officer.

That is the only way that Israel can fulfil the "principle of complementarity" which would obviate the need for the international court's investigation and the arrest warrants. It would also provide the Israeli public with an answer to the most disturbing question of all – whether the country is being led by someone who has committed crimes against humanity.

The trouble of course is that the Israeli justice system is currently as corrupt as that of the SCOTUS and frequently turns a blind eye to crimes of all kinds (cf the West Bank), and the chance of Benji's mob ordering up an impartial body to consider the allegations on their merits is beyond zero ... (if the pond might mangle the concept of infinity) ...

And so to the second round of torture on the same topic ...

"Ned" is such a stultifying pompous bore that the reptiles outdid themselves with visual distractions, again noted ...

Was it wise to show the full peacock display, allowing that usually it's the male that wears all the feathers? 

Never mind, no amount of visual distraction can get around the terminal tedium and pomposity of the serial bore who's ruined many a pond day out ... with equivalence once again rearing its ugly head, but thankfully already covered ...

So war crimes are now a matter of partisan politics, as opposed to questions of justice?

By way of its own distraction, the pond would like to take up a peice by Alon Pinkas, again in Haarettz, Has Netanyahu Completely Lost His Bearings? Maybe. But Maybe It's Intentional, It is tempting to say that Israel is being led by a desperate man under severe political duress who seems to be suffering from intertwining syndromes that have afflicted the likes of Louis XIV and Shabbetai Zvi before him. Well, if it is being led at all. (sorry, paywall)

Judging by its political behavioral patterns, Israel is currently governed by a prime minister afflicted with acute Masada syndrome. Like in 73 C.E., he is trying to instill in Israelis the sense that we are a persecuted righteous few, surrounded by a hostile and hateful world. We are under a cruel siege and facing the threat of annihilation, with nothing to lose, and with a deep conviction that this is an existential, be-all or end-all war.

None of that was true in the year 73. Nor is it remotely true in 2024.

At the same time, I cannot pretend to dispute the sentiment nor dismiss the Zeitgeist. To paraphrase an old expression, the prime minister of the first sovereign Jewish state in 2,000 years thinks Israel in on the verge of the abyss but is determined to move forward.

I am not a psychiatrist, nor a clinical psychologist. I am not clairvoyant or psychic, nor am I anywhere near the vicinity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to judge and make scientific determinations and diagnoses.

As a result, I am not professionally qualified or equipped to make any clinical observations. But I have read dozens of psycho-political profiles, including two about Mr. Netanyahu. I am also experienced and versed – though not always correct – in analyzing erratic and alarming political behavior in both ancient and contemporary history.

With that caveat and those qualifications, I submit to you as food for thought the following: If there was such a term, Israel is currently afflicted by political "multisystem inflammatory syndrome." The country is currently being led – and it is dubious whether "led" is the right term here – by a desperate man under severe political duress and cross-pressures who seems to be suffering four intertwining syndromes. First is Louis XIV syndrome. Second, Shabbetai Zvi syndrome. Third comes Jerusalem syndrome, and fourth is Stockholm syndrome.

The Louis XIV syndrome has characterized Mr. Netanyahu for a long time. An acute case of "l'état, c'est moi" ("the state, it is I"). King Louis XIV of France supposedly said this to the French Parliament in 1655, trying to assert royal supremacy over Parliament. In that context, he meant to say: "I am the state in that I embody the state." But in the context of Louis XIV's demeanor and political posture, this was narcissism in the sense that "There is no state without me."

Netanyahu has been hinting and alluding to this notion profusely, believing – or pretending to believe and impart the impression – that Israel cannot exist without him. He instigated a constitutional coup to weaken the judiciary and degrade checks and balances with one purpose in mind: transitioning Israel into an authoritarian state. That, he believes, is crucial to its survival. He has perverted history, repeatedly talking about this being "1938 all over again" as the existential condition of Israel, a danger that only he can avert.

The Shabbetai Zvi syndrome is more worrying. Zvi was a Turkish Jew, born in 1626 in Izmir. He was a mystic, a charlatan and self-proclaimed messiah. Calling him a "false messiah" would be too generous. He adopted not only "millenarianism" – the belief in the imminent coming of the messiah, a strain adopted from Christianity of the time – but also conducted all kinds of computations based on the Book of Zohar, the foundation of kabbala. He then concluded that not only would the messiah arrive in 1648, but that he himself was the messiah. Netanyahu succeeded in creating a cult that actually buys into him as being some sort of messiah, standing up to liberalism.

The Jerusalem syndrome issue has Shabbetai Zvi attributes, but psychologically is confined to the city of Jerusalem. It is a mental illness – and again, I am in no way qualified to determine this clinically or am I trying to – that is expressed by obsessive religious delusions, "messiah" pretensions and a paranoid pattern of behavior that affects an individual once he is in the divine city of Jerusalem.

Stockholm syndrome is the term used to describe situations in which a victim identifies with and develops understanding and empathy toward his captors or abusers. This corresponds tightly to the modus operandi of Mr. Netanyahu's governing coalition, where he placates and subjects himself to his extreme right-wing partners.

A protester holding a sign depicting the faces of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, left, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, during an anti-government demonstration in Tel Aviv earlier this month.Credit: Jack Guez/AFP

I don't think he is "hostage to the far right," as many tend to think. That's a cop-out. He had options, he appointed them, he drives them, he never disciplines them or counters their actions. In that respect, he's a willing accomplice of his political captors because they hold the key – in fact, the only key – to the survival of his Armageddon coalition.

Of course, you can dismiss this psycho-political profile and interpret Netanyahu's actions by more conventional political analytical tools: His political predicament. His legal problems facing three indictments in an ongoing corruption trial. His arrogance. His ineptness dealing with the United States or his mismanagement of the war in Gaza. Or, conversely, his profound belief that he is doing the right thing and will be proved right.

You can also cherry-pick from these syndromes and use them to explain Netanyahu's behavior in respect to the constitutional coup, relations with the United States, reluctance to present a coherent plan for postwar Gaza, and his concocted narrative that this is all about a Palestinian state, a travesty that history and providence entrusted him to prevent.

Alternatively, you can use these syndromes as points of reference when trying to understand what he's doing and why he is doing it.

Okay, the pond found that more entertaining than "Ned" but now there's a price to pay ... more "Ned" ...

The pond could go on quoting Haaretz, it's a much more interesting read, but it's time to go the 'toon ...

Sometimes a 'toon is the only way the pond can make it to the end of a "Ned" rant ...

Yep, it's time pause for another 'toon ...

He really is too old, and given the alternative, it really is an American tragedy, but on the upside, "Ned's" final gobbet was short ...

Meanwhile, the genocide goes on ... but rather than end on a dire note, Mein Gott, there was some good news for a rousing finale ...

Mein Gott, he's sounding just like the Nine mob ...

There were a couple of illustrations, including a huge snap of a man alleged to have something to do with NSW politics. If only the pond could remember his name ...

Meanwhile, Mein Gott was in a state of panic ...

Mein Gott, that was sounding strangely different to the tune the cawing Crowe was crooning ...(paywall)

Mein Gott, it was alarums and panic everywhere ... though perhaps not as bad as chewing on grass in Gaza ... and besides, there was just a final short note from Mein Gott ...

Mein Gott, talk about those deviant lefties down south. The pond is already terrified at the thought of spending a week in the deep south ...

And now as justice has been all the rage in today's outing, time for a final 'toon celebrating justice at work ... bloody women, what's a man to do?