Welcome, to our first installment of Who Writes This S*!&. This will be a reoccurring column where one of our contributors finds an article where they cannot help but think “Who Writes this S*!&”.
It’s only fitting I start this column with an article I came across the other week that left me in utter disbelief.
I had the unfortunate misery of coming across an article in the Guardian written by the great luminary (and I use that word loosely) Simon Tisdall entitled “Israel has all but declared war in the Middle East-a conflict it cannot hope to win.” (linked). After a read-through of this article, it should have been titled “Israel has all but declared war in the Middle East-a conflict “I” hope it cannot win.”
This is because after reading through this disaster of an article it is evident Simon Tisdall has a complete hatred in his cold callous heart for the State of Israel. So much so that he will disgustingly sympathize with the terrorists who commit these atrocities. There is always an excuse for why the terrorists kill with no acknowledgement of the various actions that led to Israel’s response.
Simon Tisdall Excusing Away Terror
Simon Tisdall laments the death of Ismail Haniyeh when he says “Israel has once again sought “justice” through extrajudicial murder.” Notice he put justice in quotation marks.
Yes, the leader of an organization which has ordered scores of suicide bombings against school buses, old age homes, nightclubs, and malls which maimed and killed thousands over the years deserves to live in luxurious wealth untouched in Qatar. And this is all before the atrocities of October 7th. Families burned alive together, babies put in ovens, and countless rapes and murders yet Mr. Tisdall laments the death of a terrorist leader who organized the largest terror attack in history.
Before we attack this heavyweight intellectual too hard though, if we look back at some of Simon Tisdall’s other wonderful policy positions we’ll see he’s usually on the wrong side of history. He commended Angela Merkel’s “Brave open-door migration policy.” There are not too many Germans now who will tell you this wasn’t a complete disaster.
He also ripped the British government for backing Saudi Arabia in its battles with the Houthi relbels. No one would argue Saudi Arabia is a light unto the world. However, they are a hell of a lot better than the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. These same rebels have been hijacking and bombing ships in the Red Sea and firing on US bases.
It is quite clear this man usually misses the mark so it’s not so surprising he’s missed the mark with his article
Israel and Hezbollah
He also laments the death of Fuad Shukr, the number two man in Hezbollah. Has Simon Tisdall ever met a terrorist he disliked? Does he actually think there was no corresponding event that may have triggered this strike on Shukr.
This strike was in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Druze children (not Jewish children who he seems to despise) who were killed while playing soccer. He does realize this because he says “The attack was in retaliation for an alleged Hezbollah missile strike…”.
And this is really why this article is a piece of S*!&. The world has admitted this was a Hezbollah missile, there is no alleged. Hezbollah themselves took credit for the strike. It was only after the report of the children’s deaths that Hezbollah walked back their involvement. Simon Tisdall is desperate to twist the facts in the story to paint his beloved terrorists as the good guys.
If you’re going to write crappy opinion articles at least get the facts right. Even if you don’t care about Israel which some of you probably don’t, Shukr had a $5 million bounty on his head from the US government. This stemmed from his masterminding of killing 241 US Marines in barracks in 1983. Yet our author here wants to run cover for this terrorist mastermind and argue it was only an “alleged” Hezbollah rocket.
Truly sickening.
Tisdall’s View on Nasrallah and Yemen
Simon Tisdall even goes on to praise Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah as “relatively restrained.” Implying that Israelis should be grateful that Nasrallah is taking some pity on them. Restrained how? would be the question I ask. Forcing 100,000 Israelis away from the North of the country is hardly restrained when this conflict did not include Hezbollah initially. Mr. Tisdall though cannot pass up the opportunity to lavish praise on any Hamas or Hezbollah member.
Another of his lamentations is Israel’s bombing of the Red Sea port of Yemen’s Hodeidah. This followed the launch of a drone from Yemen on Tel Aviv which killed a man in his home. While reading this article you get the sense that Tisdall wants Israel to roll over and play dead. He does not support any consequences for the actions of terrorists and rogue regimes. These in Yemen are the same people who have been bombing and pirating cargo ships in the Red Sea. The US and UK have participated in dozens of attacks on this very same group over the last few months.
Takeaway
Simon Tisdall’s ultimate answer to all the problems he explains in the final paragraph of his opinion piece. He writes “It’s not that complicated. Stop the war. Stop the killing. Save the children. Agree a ceasefire and free the hostages. And then all the other problems, while not going away, may become just a little easier to manage.”
Yes, it’s all so easy to solve, if only Israel wouldn’t respond to arguably the most inhuman terrorist attack of the twenty-first century. We can even make it easier, if only Israel did not exist then the solution to all these problems is even easier. I am sorry but sometimes the easy way out is not the right way.
Quite surprisingly he wants the hostages free so I will commend him for that. But his ultimate solution is simplistic and naive. Hamas would have had zero motivation to commit to a ceasefire if Israel had not launched a punishing campaign in Gaza. They only became somewhat serious about negotiating as Israel began decimating the Hamas battalions.
Plus, what good is a cease-fire if you leave Hamas completely intact. He’s okay leaving in power without any degradation an entity that just rampaged across your country killing 1,200 people in brutal ways. This cycle will repeat itself again and again if Israel makes no response.
An unprecedented terror attack requires an unprecedented response. Now an unprecedented response is what they are getting.
In Conclusion
This is something Simon Tisdall does not seem to understand. Those in the Middle East do not respect weakness as it will only further encourage them to keep upping the ante. The Singapore of the Middle East is a shining example of what Gaza could have become.
A well functioning economically viable Gaza Strip would have greatly increased the pressure on Israel to agree to a Palestinian State. When Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip they left the greenhouses intact along with many warehouses and factories. The thinking was that an economically viable Gaza Strip would have little reason to attack. Instead, the Gaza Strip was turned into a terror haven that has continued to be a thorn in Israel’s side and ultimately culminated on October 7th. Israel’s crushing response is the reaction to a Gaza that had so much potential but wasted it all.
Do you like our article? Did you like Simon Tisdall’s article? Was his artilce S*!& or a well thought out and written article. Let us know your thoughts below.
Also, if you like this article check out some of our other articles on International Affairs such as “Trump Won’t Fail on Ukraine Peace Deal”
