The Wider Middle East Thread

[budoslavic]

Here are the published comments that led to McCormack's removal:

May 2025: "Netanyahu and his judeosupremacist cronies are determined to prolong the conflict for their own goals: either to remain in power or to annex the land."

June 2024: "The more Israel's death cult escalates toward Hezbollah, the more we will see show-of-force attacks like this and 13 April."

June 2024: “The U.S. has not been an honest broker. We have overwhelmingly enabled Israel’s bad behavior.”

May 2024: Amid talk of pushing Gaza residents into other countries, McCormack wrote, "[Israel] wants to expel them and cleanse 'Eretz Israel' of ethnic Palestinians."

April 2024: “I’ve lately been considering whether we might be Israel’s proxy and not realized it yet. Our worst ‘ally.’ We get literally nothing out of the ‘partnership’ other than the enmity of millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”

Oct 2023: "I agree that Israel has an absolute right to respond militarily, and that civilians may legally be caught in the crossfire, but you are ignoring the requirement of proportionality. Israel’s responses always (always—not hyperbole) disproportionately target Palestinian civilians."

 

[budoslavic]

 

[Samseau]

Suicide bomber blows up ancient Antiochian Church in Damascus:

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

www.antiochian.org

On this day when our Antiochian Church commemorates All the Saints of Antioch, the treacherous hand of evil struck this evening, claiming our lives, along with the lives of our loved ones who fell today as martyrs during the evening Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Prophet Elias in Dweilaa, Damascus.

According to the initial information available at this time, an explosion occurred at the entrance of the church, resulting in the deaths of numerous martyrs and causing injuries to many others who were inside the church or in its immediate vicinity.

Suicide Bombing In Damascus Church Kills At Least 15: 'Worst Nightmare For Syrian Christians' | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

The church is in an ancient Christian neighborhood that lies outside the Damascus old city's Bab Sharqi, and is in an area of many churches, chapels, and Christian cemeteries.

Some initial reports said it may have been a car bomb, but regional sources as well as the popular regional account War Monitor indicate that "A suicide bomber blew himself up with an explosive belt inside the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Elias in the Douileh area of Damascus, Syria."

And Reuters notes that "It was the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar al-Assad was toppled by an Islamist-led rebel insurgency in December." Reuters says at least 20 people were killed and dozens more injured, amid conflicting emergency response reports.

Muslims lashing out at anyone they can in revenge against Israel, even though Antiochian Christians despise Talmuds.