Category: 2022

Yes, indeed! Another Year Gone By, and the World will hold its breath once more in anticipation of what might be in store for It, and for Us. I wonder! Despite Its Power and Might, though, the World is not able to make any New Year’s Resolutions like many of Us Humans, not that I do that anymore such as I did when I was in my late teens and twenties, as, like many other things, Reality says that no Resolution will work just because we Think it, or Write it down. Nevertheless, I imagine that many people still do, promising themselves, for instance, to: Diet; Start Exercising; Change Job; Learn Spanish; Volunteer Time to Favorite Organization and on and on. However, before we get to the New Year, and believe it or not, I must admit that the past two weeks have ended the year on a Positive Note for me. No Ranting!

Of course, the World Cup in Qatar and the incredible Footwork of all those Athletes was one of the reasons to feel Positive! It ended on a Terrific Note with Lionel Messi of Argentina clinching it so beautifully, and despite his country’s 90% Inflation and a Worthless Peso the people of Argentina, especially Buenos Aires, were crowding the streets for the Victory Parade. I have never seen anything like that in all my years of following the World Cup! And, it wasn’t only in Argentina that celebrations were taking place, they were in other parts of the World also. In Lebanon, a Sad Failed State at this moment, which no Lebanese deserves, the masses, much like the ones in Financially Ailing Argentina needed a reason to be happy, an event that would bring their miserable conditions a moment of Joy, and so they Celebrated Boisterously and Gleefully! Moreover, Morocco’s Game and its Fabulous Players, Saudi Arabia’s Win, Palestinian Flags and Support Everywhere one Looked were nothing less than Extraordinary.

Positive News also came from the UN General Assembly with the Announcement that as of May 15, 2023 Nakba Day will be officially commemorated from here on, not that you would hear of this from any so-called US Journalists and Reporters! However, Finally, and after 75+ tortuous years, an acknowledgement of the Palestinian Catastrophe by the World’s Body! Of course this doesn’t solve the Myriad Problems and Ruthlessness of the Occupation, but it is a Gesture that assuages a bit of the Pain and the Deliberate Disregard of Palestinian Loss for all those years!

Then on C-Span I viewed some of the Panel discussions at J Street’s Conference, and they get more balanced and better every year despite the Fact that Jeremy Ben-Ami has been sort of straddling the fence in his views of Palestinian-Israeli issues since he founded the organization. Nevertheless, the participants at the panel discussions gave me hope that we might be at the cusp of ending this conflict? Perhaps before I Exit this Planet? Fingers Crossed! Also on C-Span the Washington Journal asked listeners how they would grade our Congress which has a dismal 22% Approval Rating. Most callers – Left, Right, or Middle – generally agreed that our Politicians are in it for themselves, their lobbyists and corporations and not for us. This dissatisfaction with leaders is almost Worldwide these days. Something has to Change and Quickly!

I also followed the Final Report of the January 6 Committee and it certainly and surely pointed the finger at Donald Trump as the Architect of that Shameful Event! Respect for all the Representatives!

Also Shameful are some of those Billionaire Figures being whittled and brought down from their Arrogant Existence such as Elon Musk, who seems to be imploding: Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX and his Crypto Currency Ponzi Scheme, Zuckerberg and almost Two Billion in losses due to META and settling of the Cambridge Analytica lawsuit! Well! Well! Moreover, the FBI are rounding up many, many more Law-breakers and Criminals! It’s Positive to note that Justice and the Law apply Equally to ALL Citizens whether they are Rich White Billionaires, Law-breakers, Criminals, or All of Us Others? Finally? I hope so!

Another program that I follow every year is CNN Heroes with Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa hosting this absolutely Inspirational Show that, despite all the darkness going on in many parts of our World, proves to me that there are Good, Kind, Thoughtful and Giving Humans who care for their Communities and our Planet. How Positively Heartening to hear of their marvelous achievements!

And then there is Pat Collins, a fixture of our local NBC News who is Retiring after 50 years covering murders and measuring snowfalls, and who had that special charming way of his for delivering such News. I will miss him! Also retiring is the Terrific Dr. Anthony Fauci, and he will be sorely missed! However, this only proves how the Wheels of Life never stop their turning, and how, at the end of the day, Billionaire or Pauper, Politician or Trash Collector, we will All Exit the Stage and make way for a New Generation to take over and, Hopefully, bring about more Positive Changes that will Enhance our Knowledge and Reason, and take us to a Better Place than the Miserable One such as many in our World are going through at this time.

As for this new ChatBOT that is, apparently, going to take AI to another level, as well as the new Fusion Energy that will release us from dependency on fossil fuels, I am not going to addle my old brain with learning about them. At this age, I don’t need to. I have enough stress managing my new  iPhone, which my children gifted me with on Christmas after deciding that Apple will stop updating my old SE version pretty soon and I would become a Security Hazard! They know well how to play on my Paranoia!

Lastly, and as I do every end of year with organizing and neatening up all my stuff and files, checking that I have enough books to read and crossword puzzles to solve, I also wish that I could tidy and neaten up the World as I do my living space! I bet I’ll do a better job than most self-serving politicians!

I wish you a New Year’s Resolution that will keep you Positive, and thank you for continuing to read my posts!

Happy New Year!

Social media platforms and some news items here and there depict a Swirling of Information regarding how Qatar (that did a good job despite the racist overtones and undertones) bribed its way into hosting the World Cup, how even the EU (European Union) is embroiled in that scandal, and how that country employed Public Relation firms to Sport-wash its tarnished image! Frankly, I don’t know! Also swirling around is how MBS (Mohammad bin Salman) bailed out Jared Kushner to the tune of over a billion dollars. What was the Quid Pro Quo for that Deal, I wonder? I don’t know, because the more I feel I know, the more I am surprised every day by how much I, and All of Us, do not know regarding such Machinations!

This brings me to “Farha,” which some of you reading my post today may have heard of, and which is causing its own Swirling of Information on social media platforms and other outlets. It is a movie on Netflix – which is the largest streaming platform in the world – produced by Palestinian filmmaker Darin Sallam, I saw it, cried, got angry, and relived a whole lot of emotions that we, Palestinians, usually suppress, or send to the deepest corners of our souls revealing them to each other, or only when we are faced with yet another atrocity.

I am not going to tell you herewith any details about this excellent movie except to mention that it is about a fourteen-year-old girl, Farha, who witnessed what happened to her village in 1948 when her country was decimated and about 700,000 Palestinian Human Beings were displaced and expelled from their homes and land, aside from those who were mercilessly killed, homes burned down, children abducted, many tortured, raped and others traumatized forever. The movie – Jordan’s entry for the 2023 Academy Awards – is based on true events about “Farha,” her real name is Raddiyeh, who eventually finds her way to a Syrian refugee camp where she lives to recount her heart-wrenching experiences.

However – and this brings me back to the Machinations, Malfeasance and White-washing of History – I was absolutely shocked at the reaction that the movie engendered among many Israelis such as the far-right Avigdor Lieberman, who said: “It’s crazy that Netflix decided to stream a movie whose whole purpose is to create a false pretense and incite against Israeli soldiers.” Well! Well! I doubt that Lieberman is aware that many of us, Palestinians, have witnessed first-hand the atrocities committed by the Zionist Militias with the sole objective of creating a panic-driven population that would flee and, hence, create the lie and delusion that Palestine was a “land without a people for a people without a land.” It is unbelievable! And, even more unbelievable and outrageous are all of the hysterical Jewish American trolls who have been mounting a hate-campaign against this movie lest the world see and hear the Truth about what really occurred in 1948, and not the White-washed version. Moreover, the heroic Jewish and Israeli “Doves” who have been speaking the Truth to their own people and to the world such as Gideon Levy, Ilan Pappe, Miko Peled, Noam Chomsky and many others have been just as smeared by those Jews and Israelis who want to continue white-washing their history and pretending that they are the Only Victims in this world! Please read excerpts from what my friend Michel Moushabeck, founder, publisher and editor of Interlink Publishing, wrote: 

“In 1948, my family was expelled from its home in West Jerusalem during the Nakba at the hands of the invading Zionist forces. They were forced to abandon everything, while still carrying the key to our house. My family is now scattered all over the world constantly moving from one non-place to another.

If I were to meet you in a pub or a bar and you asked me to describe my family’s story in one sentence I would say: exile and starting over; exile and starting over; and exile and starting over. I would probably add a clarification that I did not repeat those words three times because I had too many beers. But my family’s experience of multiple exiles—from Qatamon in West Jerusalem, to East Jerusalem, to Amman, Jordan, to Beirut, Lebanon, to New York—is not unique; it is but one of the many sad episodes of “being Palestinian.”

. . . But our stories of exile, displacement, and injustice will live on, as will all our beautiful memories of our homeland. No one can deny us the right to tell OUR stories no matter how hard they try.

. . . Over the years, we have been the target of one Zionist campaign after another to smear our publishing house and discredit our books and authors. But each time this has happened, such attempts have failed and backfired.

. . . The screening of the movie “Farha” on Netflix, which resonates with Palestinians the world over, has angered Israeli government officials and triggered a Zionist social media campaign to discredit the film and the story it tells. It called on its supporters to give it negative reviews and even cancel their subscriptions to Netflix. Here again, the attempts to shut down the screening will fail and backfire.”

I will add to what Michel so eloquently and passionately states that my family experienced almost the same events as Michel’s family, and as did so many of the Palestinian People. These are Facts. However, in view of the Antisemitism glaring at all of us and emanating vociferously from the United States and Europe mainly, and which ALL the Jewish Organizations in the World have been decrying and searching for ways to counter this horrible racism and hatred, as well as the recent gathering at the White House chaired by First Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, titled: Epidemic of Hate, makes me appalled that they Never, Ever, Ever decry the Hatred, the Foul Words and the ugly Anti-Palestinian rhetoric and smear campaigns emanating from Jewish trolls in these United States against Anything Palestinian!! It is absolutely infuriating and wicked!

Lastly:

Merry Christmas to all and, especially, to all of you Valiant and Rebellious Christian and Muslim Palestinians who from Bethlehem, Palestine, Two Thousand Plus Years Ago, gave the World its Most Popular and Adored Rebel: Jesus Christ! In a World where Truth and Lies are horribly blurred, this Truth Cannot Be Ever Denied, Distorted, or White-washed despite using all the social media and news items in order to create more Misinformation in a world Swirling with Malfeasance, Rumors and Scandals! Moral Of The Story: The PR firms of the world can white-wash and sport-wash with all their available arsenals, but the Truth, in this day and age, eventually emerges, whether it is regarding Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, or Anyone and Anything Else! Amen!