Greed and Deception Rule Our World

 "If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyality and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." James Herriot.  "Animals don't lie, animals don't criticize. If animals have moody days, they handle them better than humans do." Betty White.   "In a real dark night of the soul, it is always 3 o'clock in the morning, day after day."  "At 18 our convictions are hills from which we look, at 45 they are caves in which we hide."  "Action is character."  F. Scott Fitzgerald.  "Democracy in US doesn't exist anymore."  Yale Professor.  "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  Albert Einstein.                                                                                    With high temperatures, even at night, leaving the bedroom window open helps a bit, but where we live it means putting up with a lot of noise from the street, pretty loud talking, gossiping and giggling until at least 1 a. m. in the morning (a group of girls/ women sitting together and another one of youngsters/ men across the road, plus deafening teenagers hanging around a staircase who like to mark "their area" with their garbage). Now we understand why many houses here have long corridors, I guess it's obvious we are not living in an academic quarter, but compensated by numerous gorgeous cats and several excellent neighbors . Folks continue leaving kittens in front of our house, an easy solution for them.....A woman asked us to look out for her Siamese tomcat that disappeared 20 days ago. Sometimes up to 3 Siamese cats arrive for breakfast. For several days there were none. This morning, though, a male came, not in good shape, eat very little, but he enjoyed  cuddling with me. Then he not only marked my house "as his property" but me too with a tiny bit of his urine. I took it as a compliment. I have been wondering if and how pets survive in Gaza. A very young Palestinian boy tries to feed them. When a poor kitten died, he cried and apologized that he didn't manage to save its life, "but you are in a better world now, without guns, rockets and drones." It depresses me to think that this wonderful boy Netanyahu wouldn't hesitate to kill "in self-defence". It seems that even some members of the German Social Democrats believe their continued rhetoric of Israelian "self-defence". They have come a long way, not in a positive sense. I remember the great Hans-Juergen Wischnewski ("Ben Wisch") who brought suitcases full of money (10 million Deutsch Mark) to Algeria for FLN to support the Algerian independence fight. The SPD MP, for a while also minister of foreign affairs, was rewarded the highest Palestinian order by Yasser Arafat for his commitment to the rights of Palestinian people. As a child Wischnewski started to collect stamps of Algeria, Marroco and Tunisia, he continued to do so as adult. Sounds like a start, anyhow, he did a lot to improve German relationships with Arabic and African countries. Madonna asked the Pope to visit Gaza, "you are the only one to whom Netanyahu can't deny access." As a mother she finds the suffering and killing in Gaza unbearable, in particular that of the children. Difficult to understand, but apparently several men and women, mothers and fathers themselves, are capable of killing innocent children, such Nazis existed and other war criminals in various countries, only howadays, though, it is called "self-defence". Rhetoric that reminds me of Goebels. The EU and 26 ministers of foreign affairs demand a stop of weapon delivery to Israel. The Israelian chief of civilian staff declared his oposition to the occupation and war in Gaza. Netanyahu decided to punish his critic (like his brother-in- spirit, Trump) and make his life difficult through  discrimination. Families of hostages informed Netanyahu that should their loved ones be killed they will hold him personally accountable in every possible way! Since the beginning of the war at least 187 journalists have been killed in Gaza, the last 4 Aljazeera journalists and a camera man were purposely murdered in a tent at a hospital. Netanyahu claimed that one of them (who anticipated in April his killing by Israeli forces) was a terrorist possing as a journalist, as usual no proof was presented for this accusation. Yet Netanyahu now says he wants to allow international journalists to visit Gaza (and risk their lives or work embedded in the Israeli army?). Meanwhile at least 197 Palestinians are starved to death, including 96 children. Using starvation as a weapon clearly represents a war crime according to international laws. Gangs of far right Israelis have blocked aid trucks from reaching Gaza. Two of Israelian NGO's, B' Tselem and Physicians for Human rights, have labeled the Israelian Gaza war as a genocide, nonetheless many Israelians believe that Hamas is responsible for the starvation in Gaza, yes, media sensorship and continuous propaganda can be very successful! Controlling the masses through propaganda enables the abuse of power. George Orwell (1984 and Animal Farm) warned in his famous literature, incredible how must he forsaw. Ethnic cleansing to create a "Rivera of the Middle East" on a big " cemetry"

it is only one side of the medal. The idea of Greater Israel, " the promised land for the chosen folk", ("Lebensraum", sounds familiar) hasn't died, Netanyahu and his far right government believe the time has come, first steps have been taken. What does it include?   - The entirety of historic Palestine, - Lebanon, - Jordan, - more than 70 % of Syria, - half of Iraq, - one third of Saudi Arabia, - one quarter of Egypt, - part of Kuwait. All of that is supposed to be "the promised land" that God wants the Jews to possess, from the Nile to the Euphrat, so they say and believe. Wonder what destination awaits the "natives" (Arabs mainly)? Looking at Netanyahu' map of the Far, Middle, and Near East, I noted that Tunisia's boarders are marked, but this piece of land appears to be nameless. With a bit of luck Netanyahu thinks it's only dessert waste land that's not worth fighting for, as a colony of no interest. It is worth remembering Lutheran Pastor Niemoeller' words:  "First they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unions and I did not speak out because I am not a trade unist. Then they came for the jews and I did not speak out because I am not a jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me. " Niemoeller was sent to 2 concentration camps and narrowly escaped execution. -

 Last but not least, MP Chok'ri Bahri and others presented a great gift to all animal loving women ( plus men and  children) on women's day: strong animal protection laws.  "Protecting animals is directly protecting humans, it contributes to preserving the environment and universal balance." He strongly criticizes the brutal practices of inflicting on animals. One Health principles, e. g. Chapter 11:  1-3 years prison and fines of up to 2000 Dinars for anyone intentionally assaulting an animal and causing permanent disability. Chapter 23:  16 days to 1 month imprison  and fines of 500 Dinars for anyone mistreating an animal, whether they owe it or not. Harsher penalties in cases of repeated offences. Chapter 94: Fines of 100 - 1000 Dinars for  anyone who causes death of a pet, intentionally or unintentionally or through negligence. Very happy to hear this, thank you very much, you made my day.