When I say that Israel is a toxic pariah state, the most hated nation on earth, run by a political cult that is based on stealing land and ethnic cleansing some people think I am taking sides. They are wrong. I am old enough to be a grumpy old man so what you mostly see in my articles is the things that I am against, not the things that I am for. And I am against barbarism, inhumanity to one’s fellow man, evil in all its forms, ignorance, lies and propaganda, bigotry, prejudice and religious intolerance. So obviously I dislike Zionism intensely.

There are two huge forces for evil in the Middle East today, ISIS (IS, ISIL) and Zionism. Let’s look at what they have in common.

• Terrorism. Israel was built on terrorism. On very many massacres of Palestine’s indigenous population. These started on November 14, 1937 when Irgun murdered 10 Palestinians and they continue to the present day. Not counting open conflict, over the last 14 years the Israeli state and Zionist settlers have murdered an average of two Palestinian children a week. During the drive for Israeli independence Irgun, Haganah, Palmach, Lehi, the Stern Gang and other terrorist groups ran amok, mass murdering Palestinians with abandon. Much of this is undocumented and mass graves are still being discovered today. The IS is built out of a civil war and there must be considerable doubt about about how much of what they have done counts as terrorism. Murdering 2 journalists. But then Israel just murdered 17 journalists in Gaza.
• Land theft. Israel was built as a country by stealing land from the indigenous Palestinians and from all the neighboring countries, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon as well. Israel provoked multiple conflicts to facilitate this land theft. They are still at it, stealing West Bank land from the Palestinians so as to create Zionist settlements. IS as a state is formed from stealing huge chunks of Syria and Iraq, already it is bigger than Great Britain and far bigger than Israel.
• Ethnic cleansing. In 1948 Israel forced 700,000 Palestinians off their land and into exile. Very many more were massacred. They have been at it ever since, forcing the indigenous population into concentration camps and periodically indulging in mechanised mass slaughter, as we have just seen in Gaza. IS do the same, forcing non Sunnis into exile and mass murdering all those they have a particular grudge against.
• Based on a religious cult. Zionism is based round a form of Judaism that believes in Jewish racial superiority. The Talmud and the Kabbalah say that the Jews will conquer and subjugate the non-Jews and kill all who oppose them. We Gentiles are Goyim, described as animals or beasts and only fit to serve the Jews. IS are less extreme, they follow a form of Islam called Salafism, which is very similar to Wahhabism practiced in Saudi Arabia. They believe in restoring the Ottoman Empire, as a Caliphate, and that only Sunnis should live in it.
• Lies and propaganda. Israel has a huge propaganda machine, they work to create the false illusion that Israel is nice and all their opponents are nasty. They have succeeded for many years, especially with Americans, but social media is undoing this, the truth is now getting out. IS use social media for the exact opposite, to spread propaganda that they are extremely nasty and to encourage recruitment. They have succeeded.
• Basing their movements on foreigners. Israel famously was built up by Jews migrating there from all over the world, though the proportion of Holocaust survivors going there was surprisingly small. IS likewise was built round foreign fighters from Chechnya and North Africa plus Europeans and Americans to do the donkey work and propaganda.

I have put a lot of work and research into a series of articles about both these toxic groups. These have generally been well received by fair minded people. However those who have been brainwashed by the propaganda machines are far less happy. They see the truth and it frightens them. Here are the articles:

• What is ISIS?
• ISIS are very misunderstood.
• Israel doesn’t like democracy.
• Why is Israel attacking Gaza?
• Can Zionism be compared to Nazism?
• Digging through all the lies in Israel.
• The true history of the state of Palestine.

As you can see there is enough content for a book and there is much in there that most people don’t know.

I have been to Israel and the Palestine Authority several times, likewise I have been multiple time to Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Mostly on my own and using local transport a lot. So I have spoken to very many people and seen many things, including being in Bethlehem when there was a stone throwing and teargas riot that degenerated into shooting with several people being killed. Not a journalist in sight, but several brave ambulance crews taking out the victims. Also my father served in Palestine with the British army as a Staff Sergeant REME, two sergeants from his mess who were his friends were captured by Irgun and hung. He told me of this and many other stories. Eyewitness accounts.

I have not written about Syria recently, mainly because I didn’t write anything at all for a long time. However early on in the troubles there I wrote several articles, more than I have written about Israel, here are a few of them:

•  Syria today.
• Yet more Syria videos.
• Another violent Friday in Syria.
• Syria, staring into the Abyss.
• In Syria today.

The war in Syria has many sides. The government, aided by Hezbollah (though they have had some fallings out recently), the Islamic al Nusra Front, the Free Syrian Army (our friends) and, of course the Islamic State, plus a few minor part players. All fighting one another. The front lines are so long that combat cannot possibly be sustained, so most of the time, in most places there is a de facto ceasefire. The Syrian military have total air superiority which they mainly use to kill civilians, dropping barrel bombs and chlorine bombs wherever they can do the most damage. Understandably much of the population has bailed out, creating an immense refugee problem. The biggest disaster in the region was Ed Miliband preventing the British (and therefore the Americans) from intervening a year ago on behalf of the FSA and against Assad, so now we will have to deal with a far bigger problem. IS have recently shipped a lot of the heavy arms they captured in Iraq back into Syria and are now using them very effectively to run offences, during which they are capturing a lot more military equipment. Also, after the beheading of two American journalists, the FSA have become America’s new best friend and are starting to receive lots of support.

The real big issue is that Obama has promised air strikes in Syria. This means firstly gathering a lot of intelligence with drones, U2s, satellites, special forces etc. Then there is scale, this could be from running a few armed drones to a full scale Gulf War 1 style air campaign. He also hasn’t told us his objectives. Is is smiting IS, degrading Assad’s capabilities, supporting the FSA to victory or something else? And will Assad engage America with his powerful and modern integrated air defence system. The Russians would surely love to see their latest toys used against the Americans.

Another place where a lot is happening is Kurdish North Iraq, or Kurdistan. This was a very close call when IS attacked them using captured American artillery and it was only American carrier based F-18s which saved the day. Now the Peshmerga have gone from gradually losing to gradually winning. They have constant American air support and are getting a supply of some weaponry from the West as well as some military “advisors”. But the big thing is that the Iranians are there in force, they would rather take on a Sunni insurgency in Iraq than in Iran. America and Iran are fighting together. Turkey is still being fairly neutral but they cannot be happy with Kurdistan emerging as a nation. The Americans need boots on the ground to beat IS, but you cannot see the Peshmerga wanting to fight outside Kurdistan. So a complex and evolving situation with a number of possibly conflicting interests.

Iraq itself is a mess, the Shia south is safe but in the north they need to militarily defeat IS and also win the hearts and minds of the Sunni population who they were suppressing till very recently. America is trying to force them in this direction because without boots on the ground an air campaign is a waste of time. This explains the very slow American build up in the region.

One thing that is for sure is that the Middle East will not return to the Sykes Picot lines in the sand. Iraq will end up as two or three countries, Syria as three or four. The Middle East will remain complex and troubled for decades to come.