Monthly Archives: May 2025

Palestine is the litmus test for every value the West holds dear.

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A friend of mine asked me recently why Palestine is so important to me. “As a human rights writer, why is it my main focus?” he asked. And I took the question as honest, because it was from a real friend. My answer may be surprisingly simple.

Palestine is the litmus test for every single value the West supposedly holds dear. And we are failing miserably.

Palestine doesn’t matter more than Ukraine or Myanmar or Kashmir or Congo. But it matters in a different way, because Western nations are the primary engine of this genocide. And it is only the West that can stop this.

If you care about Western values of liberty, justice and universal human rights, Palestine is the issue. About due process, Palestine is the issue. About free speech, Palestine is the issue. About international law being respected, Palestine is the issue. About the right of all human beings to have access to food, clean water and medical care, Palestine is the issue. About children being safe from bombs falling on them as they sleep, Palestine is the issue. About the crime of targeting hospitals, infrastructure and shelters, Palestine is the issue. About not demolishing people’s homes, destroying their livelihoods and forcibly moving them into concentration camps, Palestine is the issue. About not starving people as collective punishment, Palestine is the issue. About protecting our biosphere, Palestine is the issue.

Our very fate lies in how we, as a civilization, meet this moment. Palestine matters because we have stated over and over and over again that all human beings matter. And if the West really believes this, it has done a horrendous job of demonstrating that so far.

Kenn Orphan, May 2025

Biden lied and people died. Thousands of people.

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Some may be confused or even shocked why many of us simply don’t care about Joe Biden’s healthcare issues. It is not that we wish ill health for anyone. It is that we simply don’t care about the health of a man who actively and enthusiastically supported, funded and aided a genocide.

Biden bypassed congress to sell weapons to Israel as it was decimating Gaza. He was not forced by the Republicans to do this. He did it himself. And this was a flagrant violation of US law. Because even then, there was enormous evidence that Israel was committing war crimes and atrocities. In fact, nine officials from Joe Biden’s administration admitted openly that he was never “working tirelessly for a ceasefire” despite his constant instance that he was.

Biden, Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State, Antony Blinken did everything they could to help Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his murderous rampage, even though he frequently expressed his adoration of Donald Trump. And even as most Democratic voters vehemently opposed Biden’s support for Israel.

Even former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog, admitted this: “God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period, because it could have been much worse. We fought [in Gaza] for over a year, and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.”

State Department lawyer Stacy Gilbert, a 20-year veteran, resigned after the Biden administration falsified reports on Israel in order to avoid consequences from the Leahy Act, which forbids providing military aid to a nation involved in gross and verifiable human rights violations and atrocities. The report falsely stated that there was “insufficient evidence” linking U.S. arms to specific human rights violations. But it also said that the State Department did not “currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance” in Gaza. It was obvious to everyone this was a blatant lie.

Even before the genocide, the Biden administration failed to hold Israel to account for the assassination of Palestinian American journalist for Al Jazeera, Shireen Abu Akleh. According to a shocking documentary by Zeteo, the Biden administration and the Israeli government did everything they could to cover up what happened on that terrible day to Shireen.

Ironically, Biden aided a regime that destroyed the last cancer hospital in Gaza. Scores of cancer patients will now likely die painful deaths without urgent and necessary treatment. In contrast, Biden will undoubtedly receive the best care possible from a state-of-the-art facility in the US.

So, for those that want to wish Biden well, by all means do it. But do not try to shame those of us who have no interest in participating in such niceties.

Biden lied and people died. Thousands of people.

In fact, they are still dying.

Kenn Orphan, May 2025

If killing children isn’t considered a crime of monstrous proportions, then our civilization isn’t worth saving

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“No one in Gaza is innocent. Yes, even the children will have to be killed. No other choice…Because they are the children of those who want to harm us. They are all enemies like the Nazis.” -Michal Waldiger, Israeli MP.

The crime of genocide isn’t simply on how many people you kill. It is the intent. For over 19 months, Israeli politicians and media figures have openly called for the annihilation of the people of Gaza. They have publicly expressed the intent to either kill or forcibly displace millions of people. They have not hidden any of their plans. In fact, they boast about it, joke about it, write about it, sing about it, make TikTok videos about it. And they have done it.

Gaza has all but been reduced to dust. Tens of thousands of people have been blown up, maimed, burned and buried under rubble. Hospitals, shelters, tents, bakeries, water treatment facilities, mosques, churches, universities… All have been targeted. All have been bombed. Now, most of the population is facing starvation due to a blockade imposed by Israel. And all this has been made possible thanks to ammunition, tactical support and diplomatic cover from the US, UK, Germany and other Western countries. All are complicit.

Only diehard apologists without a shred of decency or conscience left or those actually committing the crimes continue to deny this is genocide. Most experts on genocide have stated that Israel is committing genocide. Doctors, surgeons, nurses and paramedics have testified to this fact. The UN, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem and several other groups have said this is a genocide. And we have our own eyes and ears to see it for what it is.

But regardless of how some want us to quibble over definitions and terms, if calling for the killing of children isn’t considered a crime of monstrous proportions, then our civilization isn’t worth saving.

Kenn Orphan, May 2025

a thorn of sadistic cruelty

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These pastries were seen in a patisserie in Israel the other day by Israeli journalist, Josie Glausiusz. She described her disgust in an opinion piece in Ha’aretz, the leading newspaper in the country, after discovering them in her village of Modi’in. The icing reads in Hebrew: “Let the IDF mow them down!”

This is a clear reference to something Israeli officials said years ago, long before the current atrocities. It implied that Gaza needed periodic bombings to keep its captive population, half of which are children, in check.

Now most of Gaza has been leveled.

A similar sentiment was shared by another senior Israeli official who said: “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.”

Now that diet has been completely cut off. Gaza is being slowly starved to death.

As Israelis celebrated their so-called “Independence Day” with barbecues and sweets, tens of thousands of children were starving to death just a few kilometers away thanks to a merciless blockade by the Israeli government.

For over 60 days, Israel has blockaded all aid into the concentration camp that is Gaza. No food. No medicine. No fuel. An estimated 60,000 children are showing signs of malnutrition, with more than 10,000 diagnosed with severe malnutrition.

One has to wonder how any sane person could bake sugary treats that celebrate the abject misery and suffering of millions of people? Or how anyone could eat these eclairs without any sense of disgust or shame?

But then we take a step back and we see a culture that has been engineered to dehumanize an entire people. It’s how soldiers could ride bicycles of children or wear lingerie of women they had just violently displaced or murdered. It’s how they could have gender reveal parties or wedding proposals with a backdrop of bombs burning and tearing human flesh apart. It’s how they could justify carrying out a genocide.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently laid out his plans for a final solution before the entire world. The people of Gaza have a choice, be herded into squalid militarized camps before “voluntarily” leaving their homeland or die a slow and painful death. Another Likud politician, Moshe Sa’ada, echoed this on Israeli television: we are heading for a major event of vanquishment, annihilation and emigration from Gaza.”

In fact, there are hundreds of documents that show Israeli leaders and media openly planning, justifying or encouraging genocide before the International Court of Justice. But the course has been set and it appears that the global community will do nothing to stop it.

The pastries in that shop are emblematic of how deep this pathology goes. A reminder of how ordinary people can become monsters when they are driven by murderous leaders. How a culture built on colonialism. racist supremacy, paranoia and militarism can so easily strip away the humanity of those they oppress. And how an innocent treat can be turned into a thorn of sadistic cruelty.

Kenn Orphan, May 2025

the most depraved crime of the 21st century

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We are all witness to the most depraved crime of the 21st century, as the Israeli blockade of Gaza enters its 65th day. No food, no medications, no fuel, no humanity.

Children and babies are the hardest hit, with mothers struggling to produce milk for their newborns. And this is punctuated with daily attacks by Israeli airstrikes and drones. Attacks which shred, burn and bury flesh, both young and old.

This crime has its parallels in history. It is straight out of the colonial settler playbook. White European settlers employed it in North America by slaughtering millions of buffalo, a staple in the diet of Indigenous peoples. They knew it would lead to starvation. That was the point.

And we saw it when the Nazis starved thousands in concentration camps and in the Warsaw Ghetto. The goal was to work as many people to death. And if that didn’t work, they would be denied food to hasten the process.

Hunger is a horrible way to die. For children, it is perhaps the worst. Many succumb to marasmus, which is an extreme immunodeficiency of vitamins and minerals that usually leads to life threatening infections. Others die of kwashiorkor, which is a severe lack of protein leading to a massive build up in fluids (edema) and an enlarged fatty liver. This is why you see starving children with distended bellies. It is a visual that implies they are well fed when, in actuality, their bodies are shutting down.

Some apologists claim that Hamas is preventing food from reaching civilians. But there is not a shred of evidence to prove this. On the contrary, there is a veritable mountain of evidence that demonstrates that Israel is implementing the blockade as collective punishment. In fact, many Israeli politicians have admitted this openly. And this is a war crime under international law.

So, where is the international community? Where is the West’s vaunted commitment to human rights? The sad answer is that the West is a hollow husk of empty platitudes. It is no longer in possession of a conscience and its own laws and statutes have been rendered meaningless. It is now driven by racism and avarice.

This is what genocide looks like. This is what annihilation looks like. And everyone of us in the West, every single one of us, is complicit in it unless we speak out against this now.

Kenn Orphan, May 2025

Even the Land Knows

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As fires rage, Israel has declared a national emergency. And it has requested assistance from other countries as it attempts to extinguish the rapidly spreading blazes. In fact, the Jerusalem District Fire Department Commander, Shmulik Friedman, said this was “perhaps the largest fire ever in the country.” Several neighbourhoods have been evacuated around Jerusalem. And the main highway was shutdown while many people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot.

Unsurprisingly, notorious war criminal, Itamar Ben Gvir, is blaming Palestinian Israelis for setting them. Even if this is true, these wildfires would never have taken off with this speed and ferocity unless there was something else going on.

Years ago, I read how the Jewish National Fund planted trees over the ruins of Palestinian villages following the Nakba. Villages that had been violently emptied of their inhabitants by Zionist militias. It was a project that aimed to obscure the ethnic cleansing of Palestine as well as prevent any chance of return for refugees, a right under international law.

But the JNF did not plant indigenous trees. They planted trees they thought would look more European, severely impacting native biodiversity and increasing the risk of wildfires in an ever warming climate. And this underscores the ultimate failure of any colonial settler project. You cannot claim indigeneity and then attempt to expunge any trace of indigenous life from the land without grave consequences.

As fires consume parts of Israel, it continues to reign death down on Gaza. Tens of thousands of civilians, including thousands of children, have been buried under rubble, blown apart and burned to death. Millions face starvation imposed by Israel. Gaza has been turned into a graveyard. So, it may be difficult to muster up any sympathy for the perpetrator as it battles these wildfires.

One could only hope that more Israelis would make the connection. That they would see and understand the consequences of decades of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and now genocide. The colonial settler project has always been built on lies. And deadly ones.

Even the land understands this.

Kenn Orphan, May 2025