The last judgment
A message to Netanyahu from Shakespeare’s Henry V. The soldier Williams, on the battlefield, is questioning whether the war they are fighting is just:
But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all ‘We died at such a place;’ some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of anything, when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection.
Henry V, Act 4, scene 1, lines126-138
Disproportionate slaughter?
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, says “There is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Israel is a Jewish state. The Nazis committed genocide against the Jews, murdering 6 million of them. That historical tragedy is called the Holocaust – with a capital H.
I say there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous than Israel doing the same to the Palestinians.
Some have said the Israeli response to the Hamas attack is “disproportionate”. That’s not good enough, is it? We’ve all seen what it is: it’s a holocaust. Even if they haven’t reached 6 million.
We should call it by that name. And Israel should be held accountable.
No justice, no peace: but will Netanyahu ever have to answer for his actions?
A warning from Shakespeare’s King Henry V for Netanyahu. Williams, a soldier on the battlefield, is talking about who will be held responsible, on the day of judgment, if the King is leading them to fight an unjust war (although Williams doesn’t realise he’s talking to the king himself):
But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all ‘We died at such a place;’ some swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably dispose of anything, when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of subjection. (William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act 4:1.)
Netanyahu may not be worried by this ghoulish Christian view of the final judgment. For one thing, he may have a different tradition in mind:
Thus says the Lord of Hosts, “I will punish what Amalek did to Israel in opposing [the Israelites] on the way, when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling ox and sheep, camel and ass. (Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, 1 Samuel 15:2-3.)
But I somehow doubt he’s thinking of that either. He just wants to kill Palestinians. And there’s nobody to hold him to account for that.
Certainly not the UN.
While the world burns
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/15/fossil-fuels-how-a-huge-gamble-sealed-cop28-deal
The story told in this article about a “chance” meeting between US climate envoy John Kerry, a prince and a sultan is pure theatre. The wording of the final document is a con-trick that any old confidence trickster would be proud of. The “world’s governments” would now “call on countries” to
begin “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”.
This was a “signal”, said the Head of the UN’s development programme, that “the world is moving beyond the fossil-fuel era.”
It wasn’t. It is a promise that will easily be broken by those who made it, while all the time pretending to have kept it. “We never promised a magic bullet,” they will say, “just that we would be transitioning.” Oh, and “accelerating” something or other. They will no doubt be thankful that there aren’t any targets for them to meet, no timetable. Nothing.
The wheelers and dealers of COP28 are, in a phrase used here in the city of Hull, “having a laugh”. Whatever their rhetoric, this is where the Saudis and the most powerful states always intended COP28 to end. The rest is theatre, pantomime.
Anne Rasmussen, of Samoa, speaking for the small island states, said that the agreement did not go far enough:
We have made an incremental advancement over business as usual when what we really needed is an exponential step-change in our actions and support.
Yes, you do need that, Anne. But you’re being too generous. There was no “incremental advancement over business as usual”, as we will see next year when all the bigwigs come together again, saying “We failed to make progress; we are on the edge; this is our last chance.” And John Kerry will smile his smile and go for another impromptu meeting.
I hope I’m not being cynical. It’s just that I saw this headline this morning:
Cop28 president says his firm will keep investing in oil
Exclusive: Sultan Al Jaber says Adnoc has to meet demand for fossil fuels, and hails ‘unprecedented’ Cop deal
Telling the truth: the undiplomatic diplomat
Following the horrors of the Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s collective punishment of innocent civilians in Gaza in response, Craig Mokhiber, director of the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights until yesterday, has said four things some of which, up to now, have been almost unmentionable. But, daring to say them, he is certainly a hero.
He has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza. You’re not allowed to even suggest that Israel could ever be guilty of genocide or ethnic cleansing, after the mass slaughter of the Jews in the Nazi Holocaust. But Mokhiber says what is happening in Gaza is “a textbook case of genocide”, and he also accuses the UN of failing to prevent it.
He accuses “the US, the UK and much of Europe” not only of that failure but also of “arming Israel’s assault and providing political and diplomatic cover for it.”
He says:
The current wholesale slaughter of the Palestinian people, rooted in an ethno-nationalist colonial settler ideology, in continuation of decades of their systematic persecution and purging, based entirely upon their status as Arabs … leaves no room for doubt.
He suggests a solution:
We must support the establishment of a single, democratic secular state in all of historic Palestine, with equal rights for Christians, Muslims, and Jews … and, therefore, the dismantling of the deeply racist, settler-colonial project and an end to apartheid across the land.
These are the things he’s said.
He’s a hero.
Top UN official in New York steps down citing ‘genocide’ of Palestinian civilians: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/un-official-resigns-israel-hamas-war-palestine-new-york?embed=true
No change from Labour, whatever the Observer says
The Observer article below welcomes Labour leader Keir Starmer’s statement on Labour’s approach to small boats, people smugglers, deportations and refugee policy generally. In contrast to the left’s view that there is little to “differentiate a possible future Labour government from the present Conservative one”, it claims to detect “a sharp dividing line between the government and Labour on asylum policy.” It says Labour is offering a humane, pragmatic and commonsense approach in contrast to the Tories’ populism and its “cruel, unworkable policy”.
The paper is right to say that the government has removed the right of all migrants who have arrived in small boats to claim asylum, when most of them would qualify for refugee status if they did; it is right to deplore the measures the government have introduced “to detain them until they can be deported to another country for their claim to be processed”; in the light of the government’s keenness to deport asylum seekers it deems to be “illegal”, the article is right to point out that no deportation deals have been achieved with any country except Rwanda (and the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the legality of that deal); it is also right to criticise the backlog the government has allowed to develop in the processing of asylum claims, so that “83% of claims made in 2018 had not been processed five years later”. The article is right to condemn the Tory policy package.
But the Observer is wrong to say that the “real difference” between Labour and the Tories is that Labour “would scrap the government’s unworkable and cruel detention and deportation policies, restoring the right of people to claim asylum in the UK.” It will do this, the Observer seems to believe, by investing in “1,000 extra case workers and a returns unit of 1,000 staff to process claims much more quickly and deport those whose claims are rejected.” This would work because Labour would come to a deal with the European Union (EU) “in which the UK would accept a quota of refugees in exchange for being able to return those who cross the Channel in small boats.” But even if such a deal could be reached, we would still be left, under Labour, with the same old “detention and deportation” policy. None of the refugees in small boats will have their claims considered here. If the Observer thinks that shunting vulnerable and desperate people around Europe as they wait for decisions on their future is what it calls “a far better approach”, so be it. The refugees may not agree. Moreover, in the same article, the Observer admits that “pan-European cooperation has never worked well in the bloc and has broken down further in recent years.” The Observer must know it’s clutching at straws.
But there is one thing Starmer has to do before we can believe in this tale of “differentiation” between Labour and the Tories on asylum. He has to commit the Labour Party to repealing the Illegal Migration Act 2022. While the Act remains, Tory policy remains unchanged. Unless it is repealed, there can be no “differentiation” between the parties. In its guidance to the Act, the government makes clear that
anyone arriving illegally in the United Kingdom will not have their asylum claim, human rights claim or modern slavery referral considered while they are in the UK, but they will instead be promptly removed either to their home country or to a safe third country to have their protection claims processed there. (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/37/notes/division/3/index.htm)
Obviously the Act must be repealed. But both Starmer and shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock have refused to commit to repealing it. While it stands, so does the policy.
The article begins by setting the “Observer view” in the context of Starmer’s political approach as a whole. Keir Starmer, it says,
has made clear that under his leadership a first-term Labour government would stick to tough fiscal rules, and has ruled out making any unfunded spending commitments in the run-up to the next election. That has fuelled criticism from some on the left of his party, who argue that this has limited the extent to which he has been able to differentiate a possible future Labour government from the present Conservative one.
It says Starmer’s asylum policy makes Labour different. It doesn’t.
What that means for our voting intentions next year is up to us all. But it puts a very big strain on mine.
Incoherent, or just plain trickery?
It is unlawful for a public authority in carrying out any functions of the authority to do any act which constitutes discrimination (section 2, Amendment 19B).
does not make it unlawful for [a minister, official, or caseworker] to discriminate against another person on grounds of nationality or ethnic or national origins in carrying out immigration and nationality functions (Amendment 19D).
to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; and … to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups (section 2(1).
An end to trickery? The Refugee Council’s proposals
The Refugee Council’s proposals for a new. fairer asylum process (Towards a National Refugee Strategy) are below. But first:
The government says that there is no need to make a dangerous journey across the English Channel to seek asylum in the UK. Instead, refugees should use the safe routes provided by the government.
The numbers game and other trickery: virtually no safe routes
When the UK government set up the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme in January 2022, it said it would resettle 20,000 people in an unspecified period of time. But it turned out that that number would include people already here before the scheme was announced, let alone set up, and who therefore had no need for protection under the scheme. By 23 February 2023, 7,609 of them had been included. This means that only 12,391 places were provided under the scheme, not 20,000.
Trickery? Of course. Here’s more:
Except for a small number of people under arrangements with the British Council and others, there is no way for an Afghan nationals to apply to be included in the scheme. This is why friends of mine were told by a legal firm that getting three vulnerable female members of their family out of Afghanistan and away from the clutches of the Taliban would be virtually impossible.
Here’s a bit more:
Another scheme (the UK Resettlement Scheme) replaced several resettlement programmes, including the scheme to rescue victims of the Syrian conflict. Good news? Not really. For this scheme, too, “has no application process”, says the Refugee Council (see Strategy, below, p. 6). So there are safe routes – but you’ll be lucky to get on one.
No wonder the English Channel is overcrowded.
Here are the Refugee Council’s proposals.
Where the NHS is going: they’ll give you a diagnosis – but no treatment
Yesterday I followed the advice of my local hospital’s Audiology Department (they fix hearing aid problems) and tried to book an appointment at the GP surgery to get my ears syringed. I wear two hearing aids. This increases the likelihood of a build-up of wax in the ears. Recently, this has made it difficult for me to use the phone and by yesterday it was impossible for me to understand the recorded voice on my local surgery’s answering system telling me to press this, that or some other key for this, that or some other service that I also, unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to decipher. But no problem: I went into the medical centre to make an appointment. They found me a slot in three weeks’ time. But the receptionist said it will be “for assessment only”. She repeated this as she booked the appointment — “it’s for assessment only, you understand, not treatment. We’ll be able to tell you where you can get treatment if it’s necessary.” In other words, at most surgeries, ear syringing is no longer available on the NHS.
I knew this already as it happens. Audiology had told me it would cost between £50 and £70. So I suppose I’ll get to choose which private outfit I fancy to do it. I suddenly had this memory of a friend of mine in the 1980s who did a pretty good impersonation of Margaret Thatcher haughtily explaining her vision for us all in the new world she was creating: “Choice — choice — we must have choice!”
So I’ve got an appointment in three weeks. Audiology said there might be an infection developing in one ear. If they do find one, I have to assume they’ll still be treating infections on the NHS then, although three weeks is a long time in politics, as the Labour prime minister Harold Wilson once told us (he didn’t actually — he said one week). Whether I’ll submit to private syringing is another matter. Perhaps it’ll be done in the little corner shop down the road that used to be a newsagent’s. Thatcher again: “We want to encourage small businesses.” It probably won’t be done there though. It’s more likely to be done by some big outfit, like a bank. Or Marks & Spencer’s. “Can I have Tesco’s Finest?”, I’ll ask.
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