New danger for Ukraine: Taking Israel’s side in war against Hamas and Gaza By Isobel Koshiw October 29, 2023 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/29/ukraine-israel-gaza-russia-support/ KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s immediate and forceful support for Israel in its fight against Hamas has imperiled almost a year of concerted efforts by Kyiv to win the support of Arab and Muslim nations in its war against Russia. Zelensky’s early statements backing Israel after the surprise attack by Hamas, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed, helped Ukraine stay in the international spotlight, and placed it firmly on the side of the United States. Zelensky’s position also drew attention to the increasingly close relationship between Russia and Iran, which is a main sponsor of Hamas, a sworn enemy of Israel, and also an important supplier of drones and other weapons for Moscow. Hamas and Russia are the “same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a speech to NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly on Oct. 9. But with Israel’s military operation set to enter its fourth week, and Palestinian civilian casualties mounting, the war in Gaza is posing one of the most difficult diplomatic tests for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. Countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which at times have provided crucial support to Ukraine, have accused the West of double standards in Gaza, alluding to the broad condemnation of civilian deaths in Ukraine compared with the muted criticism of Israel. Tension with Muslim and Arab nations, however, is just one risk facing Kyiv, which must now also contend with the world’s attention shifting largely to new war in the Middle East, as well as competing demands for U.S. military support at a time when House Republicans just elected a new speaker, Mike Johnson (La.), who has opposed sending additional aid to Ukraine. Some experts noted that Israel had already made clear it was not going to reciprocate with greater support for Ukraine. Randa Slim, an expert in peace-building at the Middle East Institute, said Israel had no choice but to maintain its relationship with Moscow, in part because of Russia’s control over Syria, and she pointed out that Israel had rejected Zelensky’s offer to visit after the Hamas attack. Zelensky’s pro-Israel position “did not make sense,” Slim said, adding that many Arab and Muslim countries see more similarities between Israel and Russia — as aggressive military powers — than they do between Israel and Ukraine. “This is where the Arab region is,” she said. “They are not going to accept what Biden says, comparing Russia and Hamas. They are more comparing Russia and Israel as far as death toll and as far as targeting civilians.” Zelensky, she said, could win more friends if he was “ready to say what Russia is doing in Ukraine is what Israel is doing in Gaza.” But, she added, “I don’t see Ukraine ready to do that or willing to do that.” Just as Russian President Vladimir Putin initially offered no direct condolences to Israel and no firm rebuke of Hamas, Zelensky was slow to speak about the need to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza as Israel stepped up retaliatory airstrikes. When news of the Hamas attack first hit, Zelensky and members of his team compared Hamas to Russia, saying Ukrainians had “a special understanding about what is happening” to Israelis. (There are large numbers of Ukrainian and Russian immigrants living in Israel.) Only 10 days later did Zelensky indirectly allude to the bombardment of Gaza by calling for the need to protect civilians and for de-escalation. Meanwhile, Zelensky has steered clear of criticizing Israeli strikes, despite the deaths in Gaza of thousands of Palestinian civilians and at least 21 Ukrainian citizens. The foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar, which have played instrumental roles in negotiating between Ukraine and Russia on issues like prisoner-of-war exchanges and Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, issued a joint statement alleging Western hypocrisy. “It is not permissible to condemn the killing of civilians in one context and justify it in another,” said Qatar’s Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani. Turkey’s Hakan Fidan added that the West’s failure to condemn the killings in Gaza “constitutes a very serious double standard.” In an interview with CNN, Queen Rania of Jordan also offered sharp criticism: “Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s okay to shell them to death?” Other experts said Zelensky’s efforts to draw comparisons were unlikely to resonate with Arab countries. Ukraine “has never been at the forefront” for the Arab world, said Kristian Ulrichsen a fellow at Rice University who has written on Ukraine-Arab relations. “It is a conflict that does not concern them.” Ulrichsen added, “Israel is taking up so much bandwidth that I don’t think anybody in the Middle East really is thinking about Ukraine right now.” This weekend, Ukraine was scheduled to host a third round of talks aimed at fostering global support for its “peace plan” — which calls for a unilateral withdrawal of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian territory and full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty. Unlike at the first Ukraine peace formula meeting in August, which was hosted by Saudi Arabia in Jeddah and attended by delegates from almost all the major unaligned powers, it was unclear if Saudi officials would attend this weekend’s event in Malta. Zelensky spoke Monday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and in a readout of the call issued by Riyadh, there was no mention of the Malta conference or further help for Ukraine. China, which in recent days has joined Russia in calling for a return to a two-state solution to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was not attending the Malta event, Bloomberg News reported. Turkey was planning to send a delegation to Malta, but in recent days Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken out forcefully against Israel and has described Hamas as a resistance movement — a stark contrast to Zelensky’s stated positions. With Russia stepping up attacks on the eastern front, Ukraine can hardly afford to lose any friends. This is especially true given increasing opposition by Republicans in Congress to sending more aid to Ukraine. President Biden has proposed an additional $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine, and in a recent speech tied that to increased funding for Israel and for strengthening border protection in the United States. But the White House must now deal with Johnson, the new House speaker, who has repeatedly voted against further Ukraine funding and told Fox News he intends to separate funding for Ukraine from the assistance to Israel. Johnson has said Washington will not abandon Ukraine but has questioned the White House’s ultimate goals. Meanwhile, in Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who recently met Putin on the sidelines of a conference in China, is trying to shoot down a 50 billion-euro aid proposal for Ukraine from the European Union. The E.U. package will be voted on in December as part of the bloc’s 2023-2027 budget and requires the unanimity of the 27 member countries to be approved. Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former Ukrainian economy minister, expressed confidence thatZelensky’s administration would come up with a plan to re-boost international support for Ukraine and maintain attention on the war in the short to medium term. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the Ukrainian presidential administration and a spokesperson for Zelensky did not respond to requests for comment on what their plan might entail. Ukraine, meanwhile, has been preparing for the possibility that U.S. support will taper off, according to Orysia Lutsevych, director of the Ukraine program at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. Ukraine’s “Plan B” — evidenced by recent joint ventures with German and Turkish arms companies as well as talks with British and American manufacturers — is to distance itself as much as possible from external foreign politics, Lutsevych said. “If America completely abandons Ukraine, it would be very difficult,” Lutsevych said. “But Ukraine will keep fighting with the resources it has on its own and it has from European allies.” Kareem Fahim in Istanbul contributed to this report.
Despite the fact Israel barely lifts a finger to support Ukraine, despite the fact Israel attempts to continually palley up to Russia, Zelenski still supports Israel. Such is the hypnotic pull of global Jewish religion on gullible humans. believing the biggest con job ever where God has made Israel a shining light unto the world because they are the preeminent chosen race. Truly 'tis stranger than fiction. Will the world ever pull itself out of its delusion?
Im cutting Z a little slack as Biden is probably telling him to publicly support Israel and/or because Biden has linked Ukraine/Israel funding.Ukraines survival depends on The US,he has to do what Biden/The US tells him.
PM Netanyahu invokes ‘Amalek’ theory to justify Gaza killings. What is this Hebrew Bible nation? 29 Oct 2023 https://www.livemint.com/news/world...-this-hebrew-bible-nation-11698555324918.html Israeli PM justifies killing in war using 'Amalek' theory from Hebrew Bible. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday invoked the theory of ‘Amalek’, a nation in the Hebrew Bible, to justify the killing of Gaza residents in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that has killed over 1,400 Israelis, and nearly 8,000 people in Gaza. “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. 1 Samuel 15:3 ‘Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass’," Netanyahu said. The Israeli military has opened a second stage in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, sea, and air, the Prime Minister said. “There are moments in which a nation faces two possibilities: to do or die. We now face that test and I have no doubt how it will end: We will be the victors. We will do and we will be the victors," he said. The Palestinian death toll in Gaza rose Saturday to just over 7,700 people since the war began, with 377 deaths reported since late Friday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. What is Amalek, a nation in the Hebrew Bible? The Hebrew Bible describes the nation of Amalek as the Israelites' ardent foe. The term "Amalek" can refer to the grandson of Esau who founded the country, his offspring, the Amalekites, or the Amalek territories they inhabited. According to Exodus, the Israelite tribe was attacked by the Amalekites while they were fleeing Egypt. The descendants of Amalek were cursed by God even though Israel vanquished the Amalekites. ‘Surprising and awful stuff’ Netizens condemned the Israeli PM's remarks on the Amalek and Gaza killings. One user said, “Surprising to see how so many Americans are shocked with this statement. Guys, it’s not the first time he makes such genocidal remark." “Creation of Israel was based on the same methodology. “God said so." A good portion of Jews oppose this Zionistic interpretation. Netanyahu is keeping up his promise. Type “names of children" in the search bar to see the identities of 3,000+ murdered tiny souls. They’re gone," another user wrote. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley also said, “We saw God’s goodness in the outpouring of support that descended on Israel from around the world. And while evil is trying to claw its way back, God’s goodness is still clear, and it always will be." “Awful stuff really. I might call this religion-induced paranoia because what the hell," the fourth user said. One more user commented, “Honest question - did he actually refer to the “Bible" or was that an interpretation change? Is it common for a Jewish person to reference the “Bible" instead of the Torah? I have a secular Jewish family but never heard the term “bible" used."
One significant issue is what does the post-war landscape look like in terms of re-building Gaza after Hamas is eliminated. Is the actual plan simply to shove most of the population of Gaza over into the Sinai area of Egypt? Israel has no plan for Gaza after war ends, experts warn https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67248457 Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has vowed to "change the Middle East." Joe Biden has said there's "no going back." But as Israeli forces escalate their attacks on the Gaza Strip and issue fresh, urgent warnings to Palestinians to get out of the way, where is the war going, and what comes next? After the horrors of 7 October, Israeli officials keep saying that they intend to uproot Hamas from the Gaza Strip, militarily and politically. But beyond the application of relentless, overwhelming military might, it's not clear how this unprecedented ambition will be achieved. "You cannot promote such a historic move without a plan about the day after," says Dr. Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Centre. Dr Milshtein, a former head of the Department for Palestinian Affairs in Israeli Military Intelligence, fears that planning has barely begun. "You need to do it right now," he says. Western diplomats say they're conducting intense discussions with Israel about the future, but that so far nothing is clear. "There absolutely isn't a fixed plan," one told me. "You can sketch out a few ideas on paper, but making them real is going to take weeks, months of diplomacy." Military plans exist, ranging from degrading Hamas's military capability to taking over large parts of the Gaza Strip. But those with long experience of dealing with previous crises say that's about as far as the planning goes. "I don't think that there is a viable, workable solution for Gaza the day after we evacuate our forces," says Haim Tomer, a former senior officer with Israel's foreign intelligence service, Mossad. Israelis are all-but unanimous: Hamas must be defeated. The massacres of 7 October were simply too appalling. The organisation cannot ever again be allowed to rule over Gaza. But Hamas, Dr Milshtein says, is an idea, not something Israel can simply erase. "It's not like Berlin in 1945, when you stuck a flag over the Reichstag and that was that." A better parallel, he says, is Iraq in 2003, where US-led forces attempted to remove all traces of Saddam Hussein's regime. "De-Baathification", as it was called, was a disaster. It left hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civil servants and members of the armed forces out of work, sowing the seeds for a devastating insurgency. American veterans of that conflict are in Israel, talking to the Israeli military about their experiences in places like Falluja and Mosul. "I do hope they explain to the Israelis that they made some huge mistakes in Iraq," Dr Milshtein says. "For example, to not have any illusion about eradicating the ruling party or changing the minds of people. That won't happen." Palestinians agree. "Hamas is a popular grassroots organisation," says Mustafa Barghouti, president of the Palestinian National Initiative. "If they want to remove Hamas, they'll need to ethnically cleanse all of Gaza." That thought - that Israel secretly intends to force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and into neighbouring Egypt - is stirring the most deeply-rooted Palestinian fears. For a population already largely made up of refugees - those who fled or were driven from their homes when Israel was founded - the thought of another mass exodus conjures memories of the traumatic events of 1948. "Fleeing means a one-way ticket," says Diana Buttu, a former spokesperson for the Palestine Liberation Organisation. "It doesn't mean coming back." Israeli commentators, including former senior officials, have made frequent reference to the need for Palestinians to be housed, temporarily, across the border in Sinai. Giora Eiland, a former head of Israel's National Security Council, says the only way for Israel to achieve its military ambitions in Gaza without killing a lot of innocent Palestinians, is for civilians to evacuate Gaza. "They should cross the border to Egypt," he says, "temporarily or permanently." Adding to Palestinian fears is a line in US President Joe Biden's 20 October request to Congress to approve funding to support Israel and Ukraine. It says: "This crisis could well result in displacement across border and higher regional humanitarian needs." To date, Israel has not said it wants Palestinians to cross the border. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has repeatedly told civilians only to move to ill-defined "safe areas" in the south. But Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, has warned that Israel's war in Gaza might be "an attempt to push the civilian inhabitants to… migrate to Egypt." Assuming there are still Gazans in the Gaza Strip when this is all over, who's going to rule them? "That's the million dollar question," says Dr Milshtein. Israel, he says, should support the creation of a new administration, run by Gazans, with buy-in from local leaders and support from the US, Egypt and perhaps Saudi Arabia. It should also include leaders from Fatah, the rival Palestinian faction that Hamas violently ejected from Gaza a year after winning elections in 2006. Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the city of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. But the PA and its ageing president Mahmud Abbas are wildly unpopular among Palestinians, both in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Diana Buttu says the PA might secretly want to return to Gaza, but not if that means "riding in on the back of an Israeli tank". And the veteran Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi, who briefly served in the PA in the 1990s, bristles at the thought that outsiders, including Israel, will once again attempt to determine how Palestinians run their lives. "People who think that this is a chessboard and they can move a few pawns here and there and have a checkmate move at the end. This isn't going to happen," she says. "You might find a few collaborators," she says, "but the Gazans will not take kindly to them." Among those who have dealt with Gaza wars before, albeit not on this scale, there's deep apprehension and a sense that almost everything has been tried before. The former Mossad officer, Haim Tomer, says he would suspend military operations for a month in an effort to get hostages out first. In 2012, after a previous round of fighting in Gaza, he accompanied the Mossad director to Cairo for secret talks that resulted in a ceasefire. Hamas representatives, he says, were "on the other side of the street," with Egyptian officials shuttling in between. A similar mechanism should be used again, he says, and Israel would almost certainly pay a high price. "I don't care if we release a couple of thousand Hamas prisoners. I want to see our people coming back home." Israel, he says, could then decide whether to resume full-scale military operations or opt for a long-term ceasefire. But short of physically separating the territory from Israel and dragging it into the Mediterranean, he says Israel is destined to deal with the Gaza Strip indefinitely. "It's like a bone in our throat."
Strange? I was at a private gun range(Trailer Mountain) and Israel and Ukraine was specifically talked about. I asked a couple of locals(Good old boys.) why they’re against Ukraine and support Israel? Not missing a beat “We don’t like Jews!” WTF?
The BBC Israel / Hamas war news thread continuously updates. The BBC thread has photos and other information showing a blast in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The pictures show a large blast crater -- which means this is likely due to an Israeli munition IMO. Unlike the earlier hospital parking lot explosion which had not blast crater and lots of burning rocket fuel. Deaths reported at Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-middle-east-67258466
Israel confirms IDF attack on Jabalia refugee camp. Now only if Hamas would only admit they hit a hospital parking lot with their own rocket. IDF spokesperson says Hamas target of strike in refugee camp was hiding among civilians https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-10-31-23/index.html Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday the Hamas commander who was the target of an airstrike at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza was “hiding, as they do, behind civilians.” The strike caused many casualties at Jabalya, the largest refugee camp in Gaza, according to authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza. When Blitzer asked the spokesperson about innocent civilians in the refugee camp, Hecht responded, “This is the tragedy of war, Wolf.” He reiterated the IDF call to evacuate: “Civilians (who) are not involved with Hamas, please move south.” Hecht said the Hamas commander who was the target of the strike “killed many Israelis.” “It's a very complicated battle space,” Hecht said of the area the IDF struck. “There could be infrastructure there, tunnels there. We're looking into it and (will) give you more data as the hour moves ahead.”
The Forty Beheaded Babies Who Survived The Hamas Attack Tuesday, 31 October 2023 Article: Eugene Doyle No babies aged 0-3 years have yet been named amongst the dead of Hamas’s October 7th attack. The stories of beheaded babies, it now seems likely, were in fact weapons of mass destruction launched by experienced Israeli and American media warriors to enflame emotions and soften the ground for genocide. It’s not the first time this has happened. It is time we learnt the lessons of history. Within hours of the October 7 attack Israeli Defence Force spokesmen reported that babies had been beheaded by Hamas fighters. The story was obligingly flashed across CNN, the Guardian, BBC, countless front pages, and shot out via a billion complicit or gullible Facebook and X posts. Within another few hours the story had mutated into “40 babies beheaded” and flew out of the mouths of influencers on countless news channels. “Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp was one who fuelled the fire, sending his 25 million Instagram followers this post: “40 babies were beheaded and burned alive in front of their parents by Hamas.” President Biden said he had seen images of them, and said “I have been doing this for a long time, I never thought I would see – have confirmed pictures of – terrorists beheading children.” The White House quickly retracted his claim. The Hill warned that Biden is a “serial fabulist” – but the old boy had done his job: genocide is now easier for Israel to commit. 3000 Palestinian children now lie dead, along with a number of Israeli children, including at least one four-year-old killed in the Hamas attack. All civilian lives, especially children's, should be inviolate. No exceptions. Parts of the media are now rowing back their claims. CNN anchor Sara Sidner said: "Yesterday the Israeli Prime Minister's office said that it had confirmed Hamas beheaded babies & children while we were live on the air. The Israeli government now says today it CANNOT confirm babies were beheaded. I needed to be more careful with my words and I am sorry." Unlike the real victims of October 7 and unlike the hundreds of Palestinian babies who have been slaughtered by the Israelis, whose shattered bodies we’ve actually seen, these 40 fictive infants survived the attack and will be boxed up, ready for repackaging next time a monstrous lie is needed to justify war crimes. Haaretz, Israel’s leading newspaper, which has been filled with war cries since the attack, has published details of over 930 named dead from the October 7 attack. As of the time of writing, not one baby aged 0 to three years old has been publicly identified. Not one. Let alone a beheaded one. Let alone 40. Does that matter? Wasn’t what Hamas did sufficiently bad, evil, enough of a war crime to justify the revenge we are witnessing? Apparently not. But don’t ask me; ask Biden, Netanyahu, Ursula Von Der Leyen, Rishi Sunak and the thousands of western journalists who spat it into the faces of people trying to stand up for now-dead and soon-to-die Palestinians. When I raised my voice in defence of innocent Palestinian civilians, I was shouted down by friends, incandescent with rage over dead babies. Now when I raise my voice after hundreds of babies have been slaughtered in Gaza, I’m greeted with indifference by many of those same people. But the tide is turning … the arc of history must surely turn towards justice. Justice is the seed; peace is the flower. Here is why this particular lie was so important to tell: When your business is genocide you want your victims to appear as evil as possible. I’m Irish: we know what it is to be vilified, treated and described as animals, forbidden fundamental human rights, bombed and burnt into submission, to be driven off our land and to be starved into death or exodus. Dehumanising us was part of the project. Back to dead babies as tools of propaganda. The Bible tells of the Jewish King Herod slaughtering new-borns as he tried to eliminate the little Babe Jesus. Mary and Joseph fled into Egypt (where the Israelis would like to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians of Gaza). The rest is history. Or not. The bible story mutated over centuries into the famous Blood Libel that blamed the Jews not only for the death of Jesus but said Jews sacrificed, even ate, Christian babies in secret rituals. It was a Convenient Untruth used to justify mass murder and persecution of Jewish populations throughout Europe from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. But times change and the dead babies are assigned new duties. Who remembers the dozens of babies thrown out of incubators by Iraqis soldiers at the hospital in Kuwait City in 1990? Millions of people across the world, me included, sat riveted by the testimony of a tearful young Kuwaiti woman called Nayirah who gave evidence at a crucial Congressional hearing that helped build support in the American mind for a holy war against Satan Saddam Hussein. Nayirah was working as a volunteer in a hospital when Iraqi soldiers burst in, removing the babies from incubators and tossing the wee mites onto the floor to die. Immediately following her testimony, which created a global media storm at the time, Chairman Rep John Porter, said: “We have never heard in all this time, in all circumstances, a record of inhumanity, brutality, and sadism as the ones the witnesses have given us today.” Powerful. Moving. But a pack of utter lies. The knowing and cynical Rep. Porter had asked that only Nayirah’s first name be used to protect her family. Good reason for that: Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Washington. She was a member of al-Sabah family, the ruling house of Kuwait, had never worked in a hospital, and, as she admitted much later, had never witnessed any babies being thrown out of incubators. Not one. What she had done was sit for days with Hill & Knowlton, the American public relations company used by the Pentagon to build war lust amongst the US population. Not a difficult thing to do. They scripted the story, coached the young princess and set the dead babies to work on gullible minds. Rep. Porter told listeners that people in the “civilised” world must do everything in their power to remove this “scourge”. Shortly after Nayirah’s testimony A-10 Warthogs, Abraham tanks, cruise missiles and all the same sort of instruments of death now being used on Gazan civilians were unleashed on the Iraqis. Hundreds of thousands were killed or maimed. When challenged over the deaths of thousands of real Iraqi babies in a subsequent US blockade, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said: “This is a very hard choice but we think the price is worth it.” The Incubator babies had helped lay the groundwork for such monstrous inhumanity. The beheaded babies of Israel have done their job too - allowing Netanyahu to say the assault on Gaza is a “holy mission”. Fellow Knesset MPs have called for a non-nuclear Hiroshima, a second Nakba, another bombing like that of Dresden - praising the resolution of the British and Americans in committing these acts. “It is time to be cruel,” Cabinet Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionist Party, told the world last week. The Americans and Israelis have two comparative advantages over any of their adversaries. Unrivalled ability to kill people. And storytelling. Nobody does it better. So beware of dead babies. They can kill millions. EUGENE DOYLE received an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award in 2023 for community service to coastal communities, environmental action, water quality, emergency resilience and other causes. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam War. © Scoop Media