It is possible that no event or sequence of events in recent memory has made it so clear how things truly are.
Or where people really stand.
The masks have really come off since October 7th. What can be vividly observed now are the true dynamics, as well as the true faces of numerous public figures – from politicians to media entities and celebrities.
The lengths to which the pro-Israel elements of both government and media are going to to counter criticism or scrutiny of the War in Gaza has become increasingly desperate.
It’s been going on for a while, of course: from British politicians actually trivialising the legitimacy of the International Court of Justice, to MPs being made to stand down for their comments, to someone like Mehdi Hassan being removed from his show on American TV, and to celebrities and stars scrambling to tweet their ‘I Stand With Israel’ hashtags.
Choreographed celebrity ‘visits‘ to the frontline, hosted by the IDF, are about as distasteful as it gets. But that’s merely the extreme end of the spectrum. The fact that celebrity visits have been arranged at Kibbutz Beeri (where at least a hundred Israelis may have been killed by the IDF itself) is a tad perverse.
What’s been very telling is that, like I said, the masks have really come off.
In the US, for example, it’s no surprise for the Trumps, the Steve Bannons, and other hard-right figures to sing Israel’s praises: this is entirely true to form. Meanwhile figures like Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr – usually seen as outsiders or anti establishment – have also been avidly cheerleading for Israel since October 7th, and it’s been embarassing.
And here’s where I’ll give Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez some credit: she may have been criticised for refusing to call Israel’s campaign a ‘genocide’, but she has been fairly consistently a vocal advocate for the Palestinians. She also was reportedly offered $100,000 by AIPAC to shill for Israel but turned it down.
If more US politicians turned AIPAC down, the discourse might be significantly different.
It really is extraordinary how, even as a genocide has been unfolding in real time, all these high-profile figures across the board have seemingly been supporting it.
And again, to the extent that the people who are speaking out against it – which is ordinary people from all walks of life coming together to march for a ceasefire – are being demonised: and now even equated to terrorists.
The manipulation of language has also been extraordinary, to the extent that calling for a ceasefire is depicted as some kind of misguided outrage: and expressing opposition to Israel’s campaign is equivalent to antisemitism.
But, of course, the groundwork has been carefully laid for several years now regarding the ‘antisemitism’ semantics: precisely so that the Israeli government could have this additional layer of protection from criticism.
A state of affairs like the one we’re currently in was what that was all about from the beginning – it was advanced preparation for the propaganda war.
Even airman Aaron Bushnell‘s extraordinary act of protest (sacrificing his own life) against Israel’s campaign has been met in some US media with subtle slurs about his character and his mental health.
That’s the extent to which bought-and-paid-for politicians and media entities are working overtime to provide cover for mass murder.
Celebrities, meanwhile, are mostly silent.
All these high-profile stars and influencers who were only too keen to speak out against Russia, or to condemn Trump and MAGA, are nowhere to be seen when it concerns Israel’s actions.
Are they all scared? Or do they simply know what’s best for their careers?
In fairness, a lot of the celebrities supporting Israel’s actions are Jewish or of Jewish descent, which is reasonable.
But the famous letter signed by some 700 Hollywood figures in support of Israel’s military actions has to have included a wide mix of ‘stars’, who – instead of staying neutral – decided they had to be seen to be standing with Israel.
There have been a few exceptions, who’ve taken the other side of the argument. And I’ll name the ones I can think of off the top of my head: people like football legend Gary Lineker, Welsh singer Charlotte Church, actors Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon, and Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie.
I also want to mention the veteran actor Wallace Shawn (who, among other things, starred in the cult classic My Dinner with Andre and played the Grand Nagus in Deep Space Nine): who is Jewish himself but has publicly protested against Israel’s campaign.
But Shawn isn’t an A-list figure or influencer.
And Jolie, who has served for decades for UNICEF and been all over the world as a humanitarian ambassador, has been somewhat out of favour in Hollywood for some time. Her comments about Gaza have not been given any airing in the US media. She has also come under attack from Israeli officials and even her own father for her comments.
Some have also been dropped or cancelled for speaking out against Israel.
Conversely, the utilisation of celebrity power has been a part of the pro-Israeli playbook. In New York, for example, where IDF-vetted footage of October 7th atrocities was being shown to select American influencers in a special screening, it was Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot who organised the event for the IDF, with the aim being to impact ‘influential figures including celebrities.’
As highlighted earlier, special trips to Israel have also been organised since October 7th, where celebrities and influencers are given IDF-managed ‘tours’ so that they can “bear witness”.
The most high profile of these was Elon Musk who, in real time, was recruited by Netanyahu as he was given the tour of massacre sites: but politicians, actors and singers have also been involved in these stage-managed PR exercises.
Similar PR stunts were employed in Ukraine, we can recall. But no such influencers have gone into Palestinian territory to similarly “bear witness”.
Meanwhile Gaza itself has been under a media blackout, with journalists unable to go in and report on anything.
But foreign celebrities can get special battlefield tours, thanks to the IDF.
In some cases, four months of exposure to the reality of the War in Gaza has allowed initially gung-ho Israeli apologists to reconsider their zeal somewhat and, in some cases, either walk back earlier statements or simply just shut up.
Some celebrities’ initially pro-Israel social media posts have been quietly deleted as reality has slowly set in.
But others are simply doubling down. And it gets more and more desperate.
Not that celebrities are what we should be focused on: but how celebrities and ‘influencers’ are being utilised or how they’re making themselves available for war crimes apologism is worth taking note of.
Governments, politicians and media organisations are much worse of course, and much more important offenders.
Now we have senior government figures in the UK telling peace protesters to stop marching. And former Home Secretaries calling peace marchers ‘Hate Marchers’ and openly equating the protesters with ‘Islamist extremists’.
Never mind that the ceasefire marchers have been a consistently diverse mix of age, race, gender and religion from the start (including Jewish people).
In the US, the most persistent ceasefire marchers have been Jewish groups.
But no, apparently it’s only extremists and Islamists that object to the 30,000 or so dead Palestinians since October 7th.
But the way this equation has been unfolding, it was only a matter of time before peaceful protesters were put on a par with terrorists.
The demonisation of protesters in general is something I’ve previously explored here: but it has gotten much worse and more blatant since October 7th.
Suella Braverman knows what she’s doing, of course. It’s the same thing she was doing when she mobilised the ‘patriots’ months ago to descend on the Cenotaph. She is playing the sectarian game: pitting rival communities against each other to stir unrest and conflict.
In terms of the marches, we remind ourselves that Braverman is married to an Israeli and former IDF officer. She is not a neutral party.
Nancy Pelosi has said similar things against the protesters in the US.
Again, what this conflict has done is to reveal everything for what it truly is.
The political establishment, and the bulk of the mainstream media, have shown that they’re on a side.
Not all of it. In the UK, the BBC and Channel 4 maintain balance and try to not show bias: but then we have entities like TalkTV, GB News, or Sky News Australia, which are so zealously pro Israel that they’ve basically been acting as extensions of the Israeli embassy since October 7th. And let’s not even talk about the American news networks.
Watch any footage, for example, of the unhinged Julia Hartley Brewer on TalkTV verbally assaulting any Palestinian that dares to make an appearance and you’re left wondering how this can possibly pass for ‘journalism’ in the UK.
Likewise, the upper-class racist commentator and Neo-Colonialist provocateur Douglas Murray is frequently invited by these platforms, including Piers Morgan, to reel off Israeli propaganda to gullible audiences.
Murray, who has been embedded with the IDF and has even been granted access to Netanyahu, has been flying back and forth between Israel and the UK, and is operating more or less as part of the IDF’s PR department.
Which means that every media entity inviting him to come on and champion the Israeli campaign is fully aware he isn’t a ‘journalist’ but an Israeli asset in the UK media.
And, of course, the Israeli state needs such assets, as its own representatives – such as Eylon Levy, Mark Regev and UK Ambassador Tzipi Hotoevely – have been so unconvincing at lying to their interviewers and audiences.
It has also revealed the extent to which Israel and Zionism have a hold on Western policy, narrative and perception. To many of us, this isn’t a revelation. But to some, who’ve had their eyes closed for years, it is perhaps becoming more apparent.
There are those, like the Bravermans and Sunaks, who are open and zealous singers from the Israeli hymn sheet: and then those, like Labour leader Kier Starmer, whose slavish obedience to Israeli interests seems more a case of staying in line and knowing how the dynamics work.
And people previously unaware of how many politicians, in the UK for example, are members of Israel-linked groups or are tied to Israeli lobbyists, are perhaps starting to wake up to these dynamics.
But this is why it was always so important to prevent someone like Jeremy Corbyn being able to succeed in reaching government.
They always knew a state of affairs like this was coming, and that Western political establishments needed to be filled with loyal shills for the Israeli government.
In the US, Joe Biden, to be a little fair to him, looks like he’s been struggling with this from the start, being dragged by Netanyahu into an unwanted scenario.
Israel’s war might even cost Biden the 2024 presidential election.
But this would presumably suit Netanyahu fine: because Trump returning would give Israel even more leeway, along with the Rapture-obsessed Israel-worshipping Christian Evangelical element of MAGA.
Do we remember how Trump’s election victory in 2016 was treated as the Second Coming by Zionists?
I covered it at the time. ‘Stay strong, Israel,‘ Trump tweeted eagerly, ‘January 20th is approaching!’
Biden is entirely expendable to Netanyahu – which is why he has ignored everything the American President has said.
It’s not a surprise that the Likud party in Israel would prefer a Republican government in the US. As much as the Democrats broadly support Israeli interests, the right wing is much more staunch.
In fact, in terms of the masks-off situation, virtually the entirety of the right-wing everywhere has practically wrapped itself in the Star of David.
Which might be a surprise to some, but I’ve been writing about Israel and the global far-right for years.
Israel is less fond of the Democrats because Bill Clinton and co made them endure the unwanted sideshow of the Oslo Accords, while Obama was the most lukewarm US President towards Israel.
In fact Obama’s perceived lack of ‘friendship’ toward Israel was partly why the Zionists were so happy about Trump in 2016.
I could go on and on here, citing numerous examples of Israel shills in the media, compromised political figures and influencers, and various propaganda methods being employed to provide cover for mass murder.
The point is that the illusions have fallen away. The masks have been lowered. The pretenses have gone.
And that’s probably a good thing.
It’s better to see reality as it really is and to see people, organisations and institutions for what they really are: and to no longer be under any illusions.
