The IHRA definition and Israel

It has been an interesting time for Labour.  The IHRA definition of antisemitism has finally been accepted.  There are fears however that this will prevent legitimate criticism of what is happening in Israel.  Sadly, not all the criticism is legitimate.  And while this may have helped a bit to try and close the sore that has been allowed to fester and remain open for so long, the actions of Labour in the party conference where Palestinian flags were allowed but EU flags were forbidden will not convince many that the party will call out injustice on both sides in the Holy Land, if it continues to occur, but rather will just castigate one side.

Let me first state that I feel that the oppression of Palestinian rights in the occupied territories by Hamas, Israel and Fatah is morally indefensible and I think that it is right to speak about this.  I also think that it is wrong to think that all the woes the the Palestinian people face are just due to Israel.

So let us look at what Israel has done that is good in the area.  LGBTQ rights exists in Israel that are not present in Gaza or the West Bank.  Women have more rights in Israel, and religious freedoms are protected there as well and people forget that Muslims living in Israel have more rights than those in the many nations surrounding Israel, including more rights than Hamas and Fatah allow Palestinians.  Both Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas while democratically elected, have exceeded the terms of office that they were elected to while Israel remains a democracy (though the current leader is one I despise).

But, there little excuse for Israel acting the way it does in the occupied states.  Some of the restrictions on the movement of Palestinians can be justified based on security but the theft of land in the West Bank for settlements is inexcusable. While Israel argues that this land is not used by Palestinians, that is untrue.  

The issue of the Right Of Return is a contentious one.  Allowing Jews with an ancestral right to return to Israel is right, but only if the same right is given to the Christians and Muslims who used to live in Palestine. Two examples of this are two villages, Iqrit and Kafr Bir'im. 

I have had discussions about this with people on both sides of this debate. Some have repeated a lie that Jews have no historical link what is now the Holy Land. Others have not been so rabidly insane/antisemitic but they have not been willing to say what should happen to Jews who now reside there.  And on the other side of the argument is the fact that there has never been a Palestinian state.  Some use this to justify the refusal to allow Palestinians a state.  But this does not mean that people should be evicted from land just because they are Christians or Muslims.

But to the picture that is present in this blog.  There is a claim that Israel is a racist state (as opposed to a nation that is trying to combat racism).  Up until this year, it was easy to point out that it is not, examples being how Israel has had a black Miss Israel,Yityish Aynaw, as well as the rights that Muslims and Christians have which Muslims do not have in other nations.  Up until this year that is.  

In summary, the situation in the Holy Land is not a binary one like I thought it was in the past. It is complex and is made worse by extremists on both sides.  I do want to know if those who support Israel fully support the oppression of Christians who are Palestinians and I do want to know what those who are against Israel think of the lack of LGBTQ rights in the Palestinian Territories. 

Fatigue

The kids are in bed now.  Both are tired and have had a busy day.  Last week, my son sat the eleven plus, while my daughter was at a sleep over.  It is hard to determine how he did, but he appeared find about it.  While we tried to get him to relax afterwards we later found out that a friend of ours quizzed their child about what the questions were, what they thought the answers were, and then told them that they probably failed!

On Sunday morning, my son and I went for a bike ride.  We had not done so in a few weeks, and this one was interspersed with stops to play Pokémon GO.  He has wanted to do this for a while, but doing so when people are in town is not a good idea.  Doing so before people go into the town centre though is a different matter as then he cannot cycle into them.  That and there is less traffic. 

On Wednesday, I got a new car.  It goes broom and is a lot more enjoyable to drive than my last car. Though my last car had key less entry and ignition.   I have been making a mistake with this every day since then, but it is so much fun to drive.

And on that topic, both children had parties to go to, my son in the afternoon, my daughter in the evening.  After collecting my son, we went for a drive and ate dinner in Earls Colne.  After returning home (our fuse box had blown due to an issue with the central heating circuit). I went to collect my daughter.  And we went for a drive afterwards where she got to listen to music and I had fun driving.  Though my excuse was that I wanted to fill up my car!

Anyway, they are in bed now, though sending them to bed was complicated by them being tired.

I believe her

It has been an interesting month for sexual assault.

In the USA, allegations have been made against a Conservative judge, a man who has been nominated for the supreme court.  It is a case of he said, she said, or in this case, he said, she, she and she said.  Like with such cases, the odds are that we will never know the truth of what has happened as everyone has a tale to tell, and time has passed.  The odds of everyone being honest about what happened at the time are low.

What I can discuss though are my views on this.  In my life, I have met both men and women who have been assaulted or raped.  Not everyone reported it, and while the law now takes allegations more seriously in most cases, convictions, which rightly require proof beyond reasonable doubt, are low.  The women who I have met who did not want to press charges experienced issues such as self blame but mostly shame.  In order to discuss press charges, they would have to admit it themselves.  One woman actually said that before she was raped, she never believed women who did not report it at the time or who did not fight back.  But despite saying that she would have fought back before she was raped, she froze.  And afterwards, she did not report it, only accepting what had happened the day afterwards. 

Yesterday, in testimony, two people told two different versions of events that happened many years ago.  One has taken a lie detector test and has offered to bring in others as witnesses.  One has the backing of many women as character witnesses, though one has since changed her mind over that was written by him about her.  If I was on a jury, based on the evidence presented, I would have no choice but to find the man innocent, as I do not think that things can be proven beyond reasonable doubt. However, considering how the accused has defended himself, including the explanations for what he had written in his yearbook I still think that he is probably guilty.

I have seen how stressful it is for men and women who have been assaulted to describe what has happened to them.  No one would make up an allegation knowing how women who engage in sex are judged.

What was interesting, was despite the inconsistencies in the story of the Judge, was that his story appears to be designed to appeal to the Conservative right in the USA.  The Conservative Right who voted an adulterer into office in the White House over a woman who remain married to an adulterer.  The Conservative Right who back that adulterer and castigate a porn star for having sex with him. 

Just one day

It is the eleven plus tomorrow. One day and a decision is made to determine the secondary education of so many children. I have to admit I have mixed emotions. I think that it is unfair that there are Grammar Schools, but it is silly not to take the opportunities that they offer.  Anyway, my son wants to go to one, so my views on this do not really count. It is his views on the matter that are more important. And his happiness.

My son caught the plague

It is the run up to some exams soon and my son has been ill.  He was ill on the weekend and has had a day off unwell this week.  My daughter spent the weekend trying to avoid him, but was stricken down with it herself and had to have a day off school as well this week.  So far, unlike my amazing wife, I have managed to avoid it. There are advantages to spending all my time at work after all! 

Moltres Day

Today, my son and I went out for a long walk.  Since he has been playing this, he has started to walk a lot more.  Before we played this, we did not walk that much, in fact, he would always do his best not to walk.  While I credit PokémonGO with encouraging him to walk a lot, he has improved when it comes to exercise in many ways, an example being how he is playing cricket.

Anyway, this was something that we had been looking forwards to for a while, as we had missed the previous days which dealt with two other legendary Pokémon.  My son called a friend, whom we had been out with on another day before, and he in turn woke up his mother and dragged her out of bed (she had the option to have her first lie in for a while due to her work) to take part in this.  Anyway, we all had fun catching them and he was amazing with how far we walked.

Afterwards, we had lunch near Ipswich, bought some non-alcoholic beer and on getting home relaxed watching Strictly Come Dancing, and we watched the end of a disappointing episode of the X factor.  While it may not look like we did much, I do think that it was an enjoyable day for all, it just does not appear so when I type it up!

   

Invasion Colchester 2018

My son and I had a good weekend together. On Saturday, an event called Invasion Colchester occurred.  We enjoyed the event last year, my daughter seeing part of it. But that was not the case this year and while she stayed at home, my son and I walked in to Colchester. We had a great time, he had his picture taken with an Ewok and Doctor Who. He got to learn how guns were fired during the English Civil War, and, much to the annoyance of his sister, he got to have fun on the boating lake.  It was not as good as he hoped as his boat was not working as well as he liked, but the staff changed it and he got to try a different one.

It was great seeing Stormtroopers in town along with other characters from science fiction and fantasy.  What was nice was seeing that most of the princesses that came to town were Belle's.  I love Belle as she is a princess who advocates reading, though I do like the later princesses as well, notably Elsa.  Seeing some of the cars reminded me of seeing Bumblebee in Sri Lanka on Christmas Day (ish).

On Sunday, we had dinner in Levington, a place we have not been back to in ten years.  The setting was lovely but the food did not compare to what we remembered in the past.  But my daughter wants to go for a walk there, so we may return.