*[Olive] harvest rots as West Bank farmers cut off from trees.*

*"It is a time of witch hunts in Israel": teacher held in solitary confinement for posting concern about Gaza deaths.*

He is accused of thoughtcrime: "intent to commit treason". In Israel, he is not the only one.

We have seen similar efforts in the US, for instance those using university presidents as show victims.

Analyzing the legal case of the accusation of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel.

I do not know the law about genocide, as the author does, but I read about what is happening in Gaza and I think I understand how to characterize it. Killing 20,000 or more civilians out of a population of 2.5 million is a series of atrocities, a crime, and it must stop. However, calling it "genocide" is an exaggeration.

Some people think that exaggerative rhetoric is legitimate, that the harsher-sounding condemnation is justified because it will be more effective at putting an end to the atrocities. Why do I disagree?

1. Stretching the definition of a crime to apply it to lesser acts of wrong is harmful in the long run, because it pulls on the moral compass. It will be hard to do justice to the more severe crimes when the terms for that have been stretched to cover lesser crimes.

   In the snort run, it makes sides hate each other more and thus interferes with deescalation.

2. Committing a series of atrocities is a very grave crime. There is no need to exaggerate that — it's sufficient to call it what it is.
3. I doubt the exaggeration is effective, or necessary, for the purpose. If we can convince the US government to recognize that this is a series of atrocities and demand Israel stop, that will I expect put an end to the atrocities. Convincing the US of that is the hard part.

US citizens: phone your senators to oppose H.J.Res 98, which would cancel a regulation Biden's officials adopted to give some outsourced workers more of the rights of employees.

That regulation is a change for the better, since it will reduce the exploitation of American workers, so naturally plutocratist politicians are being paid to oppose it. But they will hesitate to do so if they hear from enough US voters.

If you phone, please spread the word! White House: +1-202-456-1111 and (TTY/TDD) +1-202-456-6213

The US and UK bombed Yemen, reportedly attacking Houthi "military facilities" (a vague term).

If these attacks make Houthi attacks on shipping hard or impossible, that could stop them. Otherwise, I expect this retaliation to have little effect on the Houthis' actions. Others agree. The Houthis knew the ways the US can attack them, and have surely figured in advance what their anti-shipping war will cost them.

They say that their attacks will "punish" the US for counterattacking them, but they don't think of being counterattacked as punishment for their own attacks. I don't think they evaluate the results of their actions by comparing their victories with damage they take.

I don't think the Houthis' attacks on shipping will have much effect on fighting in Gaza.

There are some who say that the US should pressure Israel to accept a cease fire in Gaza instead of retaliating against Houthi attacks on shipping.

I agree with half of that — the US should pressure Israel to accept a cease fire in Gaza. But not "instead of" anything. The reason to demand a cease fire in Gaza is that Israel continues to kill thousands of Palestinian civilians, and that is a great crime.

That reason is so strong that no other reason is required.

By contrast, terrorist attacks against global shipping are not a reason to grant the attacker's demands. A world order dominated by violent religious fanatics is no improvement over the current world order.

As regards repelling further such attacks, the US needs a cheap anti-drone drone. It could be designed to collide with the attacking drone, or tangle it in a net and bring it down. Since it would not need to carry a bomb, it could be smaller and cheaper. These defensive drones could have other uses — for instance, to deal with drones operating dangerously near airports.