Sunday Roundup: Ukraine, Palestine, Anti-Semitism

The US war on Russian in Ukraine continues. Recently Russian advances near the key city of Avdeyevka (Anglicizations vary, Ukrainian = Avdiivka) have accelerated to the point that some analysts are saying Russia has achieved a “breakthrough”. Avdeyevka is important for two reasons. First, it’s a key strongpoint or fortified city in the Ukrainian lines, being a communications and transport crossroads; second, it’s a psychological point because it’s the location from which Ukraine has been shelling Donetsk City since 2014. I’ve pasted in a sitrep that I lifted from Geroman, who got it from Slavyangrad. Alexander Mercoursis of The Duran—who follows the fighting very closely—regards Slavyangrad as a reliable source. In characterizing Russia progress as “breakthrough,” we are reminded of the breakthrough at Soledar, which led to the fall of Bakhmut:

“Roads of death” began to appear around Avdeevka. What does this mean:

We have noted many times that Avdeevka, almost from the very beginning, tactically and strategically repeats the Artyomovsk meat grinder, in which the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost about 70 thousand people killed. Events in Avdeevka are developing according to an almost similar scenario: first, artillery around the most critical fortified areas is suppressed, and then logistics begin to be blocked. At the same time, the depth at which Ukrainian equipment is affected increases, but the pattern does not change: the Ukrainian Armed Forces, just like in Artyomovsk, are losing military equipment and people in attempts to maintain supplies for the Avdeevka garrison. However, despite the experience of the battles for Mariupol and Artyomovsk, as well as many months of fighting in the Orekhov region, the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stubbornly clings to problematic positions. It does not give orders for regrouping or retreat.

Meanwhile, the first signs of future big problems, similar to those observed around Artyomovsk before the city's fall, are already appearing.

The Russian Armed Forces are suppressing the activity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine within a radius of at least 25-30 km from Avdeevka in the same way as happened with Ukrainian forces in Chasovoy Yar, Ivanovsky, Kleshcheevka, and Berkhovka before the assault on Artyomovsk.

Artyomovsk is the Russian name for Bakhmut, so Slavyangrad is making a direct comparison to that battle.

Additional forces are being deployed near Avdeevka from other directions. Thus, the transfer of elements of the so-called offensive brigade - the 47th Mechanized Infantry Brigade "Magura" has already been recorded.

This formation has already suffered severe losses north of the Avdeevsky section in the Stepovoe-Koksokhim area. Also, elements of the formation were attacked in the rear, in the Ocheretin area.

Units of the 1st Brigade will presumably be redeployed to the same area. The losses of T-64BM Bulat tanks, which equipped the 1st Brigade, were recorded less than 5 km from Avdeevka.

Previously, the 1st separate tank brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was involved in the vanguard of the offensive in the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions.

There is a general pattern in the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces command. Firstly, to try to stop the crisis in the Avdeevka area, they are not using the reserves of the new formation (if they exist) but elements of brigades that previously took part in hostilities in other sectors of the front.

Secondly, these teams are deployed in new areas without a significant break necessary for replenishment, rest, reconnaissance, and establishing interaction in a new location.

The supply of the Avdeevka group already shows the whole range of so-called mosquito logistics. At the final stage of the battle for Artyomovsk, this type of garrison support remained the only one available to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The same thing is happening in Avdeevka.

#source (https://t.me/c/1595839251/2890)

(Slavyangrad TG)

So, the 25 words or less version is that the Russians are aggressively stressing and attritting the Ukrainian defenses at an accelerated pace. A breakthrough here could lead to major progress elsewhere as the Ukrainian forces are depleted.

Palestine.

The Israeli narrative of what happened on October 7 continues to crumble. The 40 beheaded babies, mass rapes, etc. have been steadily debunked as atrocity porn. The latest revelation is the Israeli admission that of the 1400 reported deaths resulting from the Hamas raid, 200 of those recovered bodies were actually those of Hamas fighters. Why is this significant? The delay in identifying these bodies was apparently because they were burned beyond ready recognition. How did that happen? Almost certainly as the result of Israeli attacks, often by Apache attack helicopters armed with Hellfire missiles. Or by artillery and tank fire on kibbutz residences in which Hamas fighters were holed up with Israeli hostages.

We know that hundreds of the Israeli casualties were military and police personnel. The question is, how many of the civilian Israeli casualties were caused by direct IDF actions? In particular, this question arises because of the huge number of vehicles that were burned out or disabled by Apache attacks—we know this happened because of the video footage that was obtained by Israeli news outlets.

Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz

It hasn't been emphasized enough that Israel and western propagandists just spent a month and a half falsely claiming that pictures of burned bodies are evidence that Hamas burned people alive. There's hard proof that they were burned by IDF fire and zero proof Hamas burned them.

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Left I on the News @leftiblog

The fact that Israel took, or more accurately claims to have taken, 5 weeks to realize that 200 dead bodies were actually Hamas militants is preposterous. They covered it up because knowing that leads directly to the conclusion that burned Israeli bodies were also killed by IDF…

3:28 PM · Nov 18, 2023Caitlin Johnstone

I can’t embed videos from tweets, so I’ll have to ask you to follow this link to get some idea of the sheer scale of the destroyed/disabled vehicles—mostly of people fleeing the concert:

Will Schryver @imetatronink

Res ipsa loquitur.

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أجيج

Replying to @jacksonhinklle

This is how so many cars at the music festival ended up destroyed. Apache helicopters! FYI : The IDF collected all the destroyed cars and arranged them one month after the incident

8:59 PM · Nov 18, 2023

The video is very telling. Here’s a still photo that shows just a few of the vehicles—the video is necessary for a better idea of the scale of it all.

The Israeli narrative is that this was carried out by 50 Hamas fighters armed with grenades, AK-47s, and RPGs. But Israel is also now admitting that this was not a planned attack, that Hamas basically stumbled upon it. In addition, 40 Israeli hostages were taken. Think about that. 50 Hamas fighters took 40 hostages and transported them back to Gaza, but also somehow destroyed what looks like (see the video) hundreds of vehicles? I think the real answer is: Apache gunships. We have the video footage.

Now, next up is a Youtube interview with an Israeli linguistics professor. She “goes there”. She is convinced that the attack was not “unanticipated”. I don’t know the truth, but there are many reasons to at least question the official narrative. I still lean toward the “massive screwup” explanation, but am keeping an open mind:

NURIT PELED : Palestinians do not exist in Israelis' consciousness.

37,156 views Nov 7, 2023

Nurit Peled-Elhanan is an Israeli philologist, professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, translator, and activist. She is a 2001 co-laureate of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought awarded by the European Parliament.

In 1997, Nurit's daughter, Smadar, was killed during the Ben Yehuda street Palestinian suicide attack.

We speak today about the silencing of internal critics in Israel, the Israeli education system and the propaganda in place in Israel from a very early age, to the "Where do we go now?" question.

Larry Johnson embedded this video today, as well as a video of Max Blumenthal analyzing the events of October 7 and the official narratives.

Lastly, two links to brief Twitter videos—I can’t embed twitter videos, but I found these clips on Youtube. These videos explore the uses of the charge of “anti-semitism”. Nobody I know wants to be labeled an “anti-semite”. I know that, you know that—and the Mossad knows that and uses that knowledge.

The first video features Victor Ostrovsky, a former Mossad case handler:

Censored Men @CensoredMen

Former Mossad agent explains how Israel controls the narrative. “He’s an antisemite, because that’s what we say he is. And that’s one stain you cannot wash.” (MUST WATCH)

5:11 PM · Nov 18, 2023

The second video features Shulamit Aloni, now deceased, a former Israeli government minister. The caption on the video states that Aloni “admits” using the term “anti-semitic” “as a trick.” Actually she does nothing of the sort. What she does is, she explains how the term is deliberately used in this way. It’s an explanation, not an admission.

❀ قرنـــاآسـه ✿ @8zal

I read an article about the founding of Israel based on this principle of the role of the victim Until you make the world believe you

5:25 PM · Nov 18, 2023

The hour long full version of the interview is here: Israel’s First Lady of Human Rights: A Conversation with Shulamit Aloni.