Israel is Losing the PR and Propaganda War. Opinion.

 

Since October 7, 2023, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported as of April 23, 2025, 51,266 Palestinian deaths, with nearly a third under the age of 18. The Middle East Monitor reports that since then reports over 85,000 tons of bombs dropped on Gaza up until November 7, 2024. Those observing the carnage, in present time, these numbers are estimated to be much higher. For many international politicians, UN observers, journalists and the general population of the planet, including the US, and other western democracies, these actions from Israel are unacceptable, and egregious war crimes not seen this century.  

Since this slaughter began, public opinion of Israel has dwindled to such an extent, that if it was up to the citizenry of most countries, anyone with an Israeli passport would be banned from entering their borders. That said, though, our respective governments appear to be under Israel's thumb and are arresting and jailing their people for writing about and protesting this genocide.  

Due to social media and other independent journalism, the atrocities in Gaza have been broadcasted to the world. On my daily media feed, for example, a day does not go by without witnessing torture, starvation, civilian murder, and utter devastation in Gaza. During 2024, IDF soldiers posted TikTok videos bragging about destroying civilian infrastructure and murdering children. This led the US government to pass a law banning TikTok as a Chinese agent negatively influencing our young. The true reason is the arrogance of the IDF believing their war crimes would go unpunished. There are organizations out there currently using these sadistic videos as evidence of war crimes leading to arrests.  

Public Opinion. 

There has been a significant decline in support for Israel since the October 7 attack by Hamas. In recent polls from 2023-24, negative public opinion has substantially increased toward Israel in the US, Canada and Arab countries, and across the planet of well over 60%. One only needs to have a cursory glance at social media platforms to see an increasing widespread disapproval of Israel’s transparent attempt to ethically cleans the Palestinian people of Gaza including the West Bank.  

Unprecedented Censorship. 

Western democracies such as the US, UK, Australia, and Canada are clearly censoring pro-Palestinian activists, journalists and the public for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. There are many cases in the UK, for example, where young protesters are being rounded up and jailed for their opinions of Israel. Popular antiwar journalists have had their homes raided by SWAT teams, taken into custody and their electronics seized. Richard Medhurst, a popular British journalist who has been critical of the actions of the Israeli regime was arrested at an airport and charged as a “terrorist”. Because he refuses to reveal his computer and phone passwords, added charges have been made. He is currently awaiting court time.  

Since 0ctober 7 2023, over 200 journalists have been murdered in Gaza, and many jailed for their coverage of the genocide. Also well-known is the Israeli government and the IDF refusal of foreign journalists from entering the war zone to report on the slaughter. The reasons for this are quite apparent for any journalist and writer.  

Israel influences on western democracies. 

The US and other ‘free’ democracies, hold self-evident truths as expressed in their respective Constitutions. The most sacred of these western values are freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Since October 2023, there has been a crackdown on people expressing their views on the Israeli/Gaza conflict. As mentioned above, people are being jailed for their speech. The most diabolical fallacy promoted by Zionists is all those critical of Israel are antisemitic. The lie is conflating antisemitism with those critical of Zionism. There are many Jews critical of Zionism. There are many Christian Zionists. Protesting the ideals of Zionism has nothing to do with antisemitism, but conveniently, they have conflated the two, justifying the prosecution of individuals critical of Israel’s genocide.  

It is becoming evident to many that our governments are being strangled by Israel. Their influence is vast and deep. For instance, living in Australia, I know the Prime Minister is essentially a good man. He has said nothing to condemn Israel for their crimes against humanity over the last several months. In the US, it should be common knowledge that the Israeli lobby group, AIPAC, essentially owns the government, including President Donald Trump. The problem, though, is Israel is losing control of the narrative. It seems one can only justify the mass murder of innocent children for so long with blatant lies, and the arguments simply fall apart.  

For certain, and without reservation, I’m pleased that the baby killing Zionists are losing the PR and propaganda war as they continue to starve and bomb the Palestinians.  

History will judge them harshly. 

 

Charles Bukowski – Pulp – Comment

Pulp is Bukowski's final novel, published after his death in 1994. Certainly, a pastiche on the American detective story, the novel truly echoes the original pulp genre of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. One can hear the cynical voice of Raymond Chandler and the detailed observations of Dashiell Hammett. Pulp, then, has Bukowski’s brand of lowlife machismo, alcohol drenched escapism and his unique philosophical perspective on society writ large.  

One of the great American crime novelists, Michael Connelly, has written a four-page introduction to this novel. He writes: 

In his life as a writer Charles Bukowski never took the pose of the great man of letters. He was a dirty realist. I think he liked to look at the work as craft, not art. A craft you work, you hone. It takes time and dedication...he was a grinder. He was ham on rye, a pound-it-out guy who used words like a carpenter uses nails. 

Bokowski’s character persona of Henry Chinaski comes realized in Nick Belane, private detective, lover of beautiful woman, and degenerate gambler, and the observational eye of a streetwise sociologist.   

The book begins in a Chandler-isk tone with an edge:  

I was sitting in my office, my lease had expired and McKelvy was starting eviction proceedings. It was a hellish hot day, and the air conditioner was broken. A fly crawled across the top of my desk. I reached out with the open palm of my hand and sent him out of the game. (emphasis mine).  

Belane is hired by a slew of dubious clients, starting with Lady Death who needs to find the alleged dead French writer, Celine. Along with a case to catch a cheating wife, Belane is hired to expose an alien inhabiting the bodies of humans and, the most intriguing, seeking out and finding the illusive Red Sparrow. Belane and the reader are never privy as to what the Red Sparrow is until the end of the novel. Personally, I found the end of the story quite unexpected and moving.  

Having been a fan of this genre back in the day, I was curious to see how Bukowski pulled it off. He pulls it off, not only with alley-like humor, and originality, but with a universal, deep understanding of the human condition – I reached out with the open palm of my hand and sent him out of the game.  

Suggested reading for an overcast, rainy Sunday afternoon.   

Bukowski – Factotum - Comment

 

The word factotum is a noun meaning – a person involved to do all types of jobs. The many synonyms include – boot boy, dogs body, lapdog, servant and slave. Bukowski writes in the persona of Henry Chinaski, a son of German immigrants, who travels from the west coast to the east coast working menial jobs. Generally, the job lasts no more than a week, as his habit of drinking prevents him from rising in time to meet his obligations. The period is WWII, when getting work is relatively easy for the obvious reasons.  

Chinaski is a wandering vagabond with a keen sense of the streets, and a deep sense of self. He has a few years of college studying journalism, and at some points in the novel, he comments on his short stories and the many rejection slips he receives. He finally gets a few stories published and for the first in the entire novel, the character feels real happiness.  

When Chinaski is not collecting garbage as a ‘sanitation officer’ or cleaning toilets in the restrooms of warehouses, he’s drinking in a bar or imbibing in his five dollar a week hotel with the latest woman, a fellow drunk, that he has met along the way. It touches on the cliche’ but two alcoholics sleeping in the same bed in a dive apartment are bound to argue and possibly get violent with each other. He leaves his job and his latest partner, grabbing his cardboard yellow-suitcase, and hits the road again in search of another lowly job and his next drink.  

If you have read any of Bukowski’s poetry you would know his low opinion of society and its many rules and general morality. The character Chinaski is a rebel though at the same time values hard work and extols a pure kind of self-reliance. Bukowski is most certainly a ‘literary’ rebel, a writer avoiding norms and throughout his work, giving voice to the poor and disadvantaged. For this reader, this gives him a uniquely American voice and style of prose that is direct and deceptively simple.   

One could really describe Factotum as a patchwork of scenes and experiences from the authors life.  Most of his novels are fictional biographies which really became clear to this reader after reading his first novel Post Office.  

In Factotum we enter WWII America and meet the many people that inhabit the country during this unusual period. Even though the novel’s backdrop is war, no one talks about it and are more concerned about making a decent living, getting by from day to day.  

The novel is funny and lowlife, scattered with acute observations of the human condition. 

An interesting read.