MAINSTREAM COOLER - For those who believe mainstream contemporary facts.

[Matt Allison]

 

[Matt Allison]

2 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

Yesterday, Israel bombed the ancient Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrios in Gaza City

Hi W.- I don't think that's correct:

 

And for whatever reason, it seems to be a fake news narrative that Hamas wants to propagate, as this is now the 2nd time they've falsely claimed the church was bombed...

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-israel-hamas-gaza-church-greek-orthodox-353825546166

 

Beware the confusion brought on by the fog of war.

 

 

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Matt Allison said:

Hi W.- I don't think that's correct:

 

And for whatever reason, it seems to be a fake news narrative that Hamas wants to propagate, as this is now the 2nd time they've falsely claimed the church was bombed...

https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-israel-hamas-gaza-church-greek-orthodox-353825546166

 

Beware the confusion brought on by the fog of war.

 

 

Matt,

Indeed.  Propaganda abounds during military ops.  Oddly, your AP article (above) is the only thing I've seen denying the Israeli bomb hitting the church compound.

On the flip side, multiple news sources-- including Reuters, WaPo, Newsweek, and Al Jazeera--  reported that the St. Porphyrios Orthodox Church was damaged by an Israeli missile, killing at least 16 people in the church compound.

I first read about this in the Washington Post yesterday.  (Article below re-printed for non-subscribers)

Historic Orthodox church sheltering civilians struck in deadly Gaza City blast
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/20/gaza-church-strike-saint-porphyrius/



The Greek Orthodox St. Porphyrius Church, where Palestinians had been taking shelter, was damaged by an airstrike in Gaza City on Thursday. (Reuters)


October 20, 2023

JERUSALEM — The historic Church of St. Porphyrius, Gaza’s oldest active church, was struck Thursday as it sheltered hundreds of Palestinians displaced by the war, according to religious officials.

At least 16 Christians were killed in the bombing and unknown number injured, the Gaza-based Palestinian Ministry of Health said Friday.

The Washington Post geolocated the strike and confirmed the location of the church based on a video that shows people searching through rubble of a destroyed building in Gaza City. The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem blamed Israel for the strike.

The Israel Defense Forces said in an emailed statement that a strike targeting a Hamas control center “damaged the wall of a church in the area” and that it is “aware of reports on casualties” and is reviewing the incident.

In footage geolocated by The Washington Post, people searched through rubble after the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City was struck Oct. 20. (Video: X)

The Church of St. Porphyrius’s original structure dates to the 5th century, and the current structure was built in the 12th century. Located in a historic quarter of the city, it is named after a former bishop of Gaza, Saint Porphyrius, and placed where he is believed to have died in A.D. 420. Characterized by thick walls and a richly decorated interior, the church has long been a place of refuge and community for its members, who are a religious minority in the Gaza Strip.

Ibrahim Jahshan, a deacon at the church, told The Post that several hundred displaced Christians had taken refuge on the grounds. Rescuers were still digging through the rubble early Friday, but Jahshan said the strike killed nine people and wounded more than a dozen.

The Order of St. George, an associated order of the church, issued a statement confirming the strike. “Archbishop Alexios appears to have been located and is alive, but we don’t know if he is injured,” the Order of St. George stated. The blast hit “two church halls where the refugees, including children and babies, were sleeping.”

A Palestinian American woman who moved from Gaza to the United States in the early 2000s said in an interview that she had relatives and friends sheltering in the church at the time of the strike, some of whom were injured.

“They’re terrified. They’re shaken. They don’t know what to do, and they don’t know where else to go,” said the woman, whom The Post is not identifying because of concern for her family’s safety. She expressed outrage at the idea that more than a million civilians could evacuate from a place as densely populated and heavily bombed as Gaza City — a mass movement called for by Israel last week. “It’s impossible,” she said.

She said she grew up going to St. Porphyrius before moving to the United States, and her family has deep ties to the church, dating back to when they became refugees during the 1948 founding of Israel and mass displacement of Palestinians.

Describing the congregation as close-knit and family-like, she said she’s not just worried about her relatives. “I’m concerned for everyone because we’re a small community.”

Christians make up about 1 percent of Gaza’s population and have faced restrictions and discrimination by Hamas and Gaza’s Islamist government, according to human rights groups. During the 2014 Gaza war, about 1,000 Palestinian Muslims fled Israeli shelling for the Church of St. Porphyrius, where graves were damaged by shrapnel from a nearby strike, Reuters reported.

Gaza hospital where hundreds were killed is owned by Anglican Communion branch

In a statement early Friday local time, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem said targeting churches sheltering innocent citizens “cannot be ignored.”

“The Patriarchate stresses that it will not abandon its religious and humanitarian duty, rooted in its Christian values, to provide all that is necessary in times of war and peace alike.”

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[W. Niederhut]

Addendum:  Greek Orthodox church struck in deadly Gaza City blast - The Washington Post

Maher Ayyad, 72, a member of the community, said the strike hit a two-story building in the church compound, killing 18 people and injuring at least 20. About 100 people were in the bombed building at the time of the strike, he said, and about 400 displaced civilians, mainly Christians, were taking shelter in the entire complex.

Among those reported killed were relatives of former U.S. representative Justin Amash, a Libertarian who once represented Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District.

Amash tweeted Friday afternoon that several relatives who had been sheltering in the church, including two women he identified as Viola and Yara, were killed in the strike.

I was really worried about this. 😔 With great sadness, I have now confirmed that several of my relatives (including Viola and Yara pictured here) were killed at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, where they had been sheltering, when part of the complex was destroyed as… pic.twitter.com/w5k1xEeTgF

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 20, 2023

There are about 1,000 Palestinian Christians remaining in Gaza, and the loss was “huge” for the community, Ayyad said. About 500 Christians, including Ayyad, have relocated to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate School in Gaza City.

[Kirk Gallaway]

On 10/12/2023 at 7:52 AM, Kirk Gallaway said:

They had to know that Israel will be so mad they'll be quite willing to lose some hostages, and wreak 20 times the destruction and kill considerably more people  first.

So we're set now right. Israel has killed maybe double the amount  that they've lost.  2300 lost compared to 4100 (at least by Hamas estimates) and wreaked maybe 1000 times the destruction!

I'd say it was time to negotiate for hostages.

The way it stands now, we're to believe that Israel is going to go door to door taking back hostages? That could take months and will be real messy! 

Is it really realistic to assume that Israel could completely take out Hamas and not eventually just have something else come in it's place?

Unless somehow, the equation was changed?

[Matt Allison]

11 minutes ago, Kirk Gallaway said:

Is it really realistic to assume that Israel could completely take out Hamas and not eventually just have something else come in it's place?

Exactly, that's why so much of this hand-wringing in America is largely pointless.

The people in that area of the globe have been trying to kill each other for centuries and there ain't bupkis that we Americans can do about it.

[Steve Thomas]

The same right-wing radical group that threatened to hang Mike Pence and decapitate Nancy Pelosi  are now going around the country issuing death threats against other Republican lawmakers. Their spouses are forced to lie in bed at night with a loaded gun at their bedside.

When are we going to eliminate this domestic terrorist group?

Guantanamo anyone?

Steve Thomas

[Douglas Caddy]

 

'I am a Zionist': How Joe Biden's lifelong bond with Israel shapes war policy (yahoo.com)

 

[W. Niederhut]

These "both siderism" tropes about Israel's current bombing of Gaza's civilian population is a real head scratcher.

What are people thinking?  War crimes are war crimes.

It's like claiming that Chivington's 1864 Sand Creek Massacre of Native American women and children was justified because Native Americans and white settlers had been killing each other for years on the Great Plains.

Ralph Nader is spot on today, as usual.

Opinion | Biden Will Not Escape History's Judgement for Failure to Stop Gaza Assault | Common Dreams

[Sandy Larsen]

2 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

Opinion | Biden Will Not Escape History's Judgement for Failure to Stop Gaza Assault | Common Dreams

 

Huh? It's Biden's job to stop Israel from invading Gaza? What is that guy smoking?

 

[Matt Allison]

3 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

These "both siderism" tropes about Israel's current bombing of Gaza's civilian population is a real head scratcher.

Is Israel bombing Gaza's civilian population? Or are they trying to kill Hamas leaders?

Hamas massacred a great number of civilians, no? These 2 entities are at war, correct?

As Sandy said, how is Joe Biden supposed to be responsible for this centuries-old conflict?

Both Netanyahu and Hamas are despicable entities. That's not both-sidesism, it's fact.

[Matt Allison]

Also, Ralph f*cking Nader, the man who felt it necessary to massage his ego with a hokey POTUS run and is thus responsible for putting Bush in the White House, complaining about the Iraq War, something that wouldn't have occurred had he not put Bush in the WH, is rich. What a classless lack of self-awareness. Ralph Nader needs to STFU. Forever.

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Sandy Larsen said:

 

Huh? It's Biden's job to stop Israel from invading Gaza? What is that guy smoking?

 

The U.S. is Israel's main international ally and supplier of funding and armaments, Sandy.

Our U.S. military aid to Israel during the past 60 years has been astronomic.

Are you suggesting that we have no meaningful role to play in mitigating the Israeli/Palestinian conflict-- including the prevention of war crimes?

The bombing of civilian non-combatants-- including Gaza's one million children-- is a war crime.

Israel has already destroyed more than 25% of Gaza's residential housing, while blocking food, water, and medicine supplies to its 2.3 million besieged citizens.

There was a time in modern history-- especially during JFK's administration-- when the U.S. endeavored to function as a just, neutral mediator there.  Now the tiny Gaza Strip is one of the last remaining Palestinian territories occupied by indigenous Palestinians, and Joe Biden has, essentially turned his back on the massacre of Palestinian women and children in Gaza.

Have you studied maps of Palestine during the past century? 

Edited October 22, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Steve Thomas]

- Donald Trump -

"On Sunday morning in a Truth Social post, where he once again misspelled "stolen" as "stollen," the former president also insisted, "MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS."

In total, he wrote, "Sidney Powell was one of millions and millions of people who thought, and in ever increasing numbers still think, correctly, that the 2020 Presidential Election was RIGGED & STOLLEN, AND OUR COUNTRY IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF IT!!!""

 

I know I wanted to make her my Special Counsel and put her in charge of the military going around and seizing voting machines all over the country, but SHE WAS NEVER MY ATTORNEY"

 

BTW, which one of you guys STOLLS the Election?

 

Steve Thomas

,

 

 

[W. Niederhut]

17 minutes ago, Matt Allison said:

Is Israel bombing Gaza's civilian population? Or are they trying to kill Hamas leaders?

Hamas massacred a great number of civilians, no? These 2 entities are at war, correct?

As Sandy said, how is Joe Biden supposed to be responsible for this centuries-old conflict?

Both Netanyahu and Hamas are despicable entities. That's not both-sidesism, it's fact.

Matt,

     I'm surprised that you would condone Bibi's current blockade and massacre of women and children in Gaza-- allegedly, in "retaliation" for the recent terrorist attacks by Hamas.  The civilian casualties and infrastructure demolition in Gaza has been massive.  It's, basically, ethnic cleansing.

     Do you also condone Chivington's massacre of Native American women and children at Sand Creek in 1864-- in "retaliation for the Cheyenne "Dog Soldier" attacks on white settlers in Colorado?  Whites and indigenous Native Americans at war...  Anything goes?

     If JFK were POTUS, at present, I believe he would have endeavored to prevent Netanyahu's war crimes in Gaza.

 P.S.  Your AP "fact check" about the St. Porphyrios Church bombing is dubious.  Who owns AP nowadays?

          The last time I researched that subject, several years ago, AP was being managed by a right wing propagandist named William Dean Singleton who used to own the Denver Post.

Church of England joins Catholic, Orthodox churches in calls for ceasefire after Israel kills Christian Palestinians (msn.com)