Somjot

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/07/01/israel-limits-entry-of-baby-formula-in-gaza-as-infants-die-of-hunger_6742899_4.html

While waiting to enter Gaza on a medical aid mission, an American doctor watched Israeli security forces confiscate the cans of powdered baby formula packed in his luggage. The vital product is desperately lacking in the Palestinian enclave, where about 50 children have died of hunger since March.

PS: I know, this article is behind a paywall

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/07/01/israel-limits-entry-of-baby-formula-in-gaza-as-infants-die-of-hunger_6742899_4.html

It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid

IDF officers and soldiers told Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, prompting the military prosecution to call for a review into possible war crimes

■ Netanyahu, Katz reject claims, call them 'blood libels'

Nir Hasson

Yaniv Kubovich

Bar Peleg

Jun 27, 2025 6:03 am IDTUpdated: Jun 27, 20255:43 pm IDT

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-27/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-soldiers-ordered-to-shoot-deliberately-at-unarmed-gazans-waiting-for-humanitarian-aid/00000197-ad8e-de01-a39f-ffbe33780000

On 6/25/2025 at 7:07 PM, Evil Penevil said:

 

I am a diehard supporter of Israel and I most certainly condemn the killing of civilians, Israeli and Palestinian, by Hamas.  The disregard for Palestinian lives shown by Hamas is indeed dreadful and should be condemned by everyone.  

That is very praiseworthy.

But how do you see The disregard for Palestinian lives, cities, hospitals, help workers, doctors, journalists, schools, refugee camps, children`s lives, and, and ,and shown by ISRAEL? Should it also be condemned by everyone?

If yes, why haven`t you until now?

If no, why? 

13 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Yeah slow to 160 when i have to.

Good one.

Can`t remember how many speeding tickets I have paid in the last years.

Best way to contribute to Thai economy.

In the past I did it by donations for the poor people of Isaan payable in the charity offices in Soi 6.

But, hell, we all get older, don`t we.

3 hours ago, FlorC said:

Yes I've read that , but why didn't the cat run away when the car stopped ?

Probably scared and calling for Mama to come get her. An adult cat would run.

15 hours ago, JimHuaHin said:

What is this love affair between Thai kittens and cars, especially car engines?

 

Almost every time a neighbourhood cat has a litter of kittens, they seem to find my car, and get under the hood, thus requiring close engine area inspection before driving.

They feel safe there, as it is difficult to access for bigger probably hostile animals like dogs or horny male cats, who would kill them so their mother would let him mount her, which she would not alsong as she is taking care of her kittens. Mama cat puts them in a safe place before she goes for hunting to feed them.

22 hours ago, Magictoad said:

We, the UK, the USA, the EU and the rest of the world owe a massive debt of thanks to Israel, their people and their leaders and the IDF.

Absolutely, Israel is our best friend and perfect ally in that area, where all those backward countries are our enemies..

..... which would neither be backward, nor our enemies,  if we would not have bombed the <deleted> out of them, telling ourselves that we are freeing people from the suppression by their leaders or taking their weapons of mass destruction, which we knew, they did not have, what not really mattered, as we were only fighting Israels wars, killing Hundreds of thousand innocent civilians and sacrificing our own young men and women but let`s not get sidetracked by trivialities.

So, yes, go Israel go, but don`t take us with you. Fight your own wars.

On 6/13/2025 at 7:25 PM, Lewie London said:

Right, let’s have it straight, people bangin’ on like Pattaya’s fallen off some cliff, like it used to be Victoria’s Secret down Walking Street and now it’s just leftover Greggs pasties in lipstick. Nah, mate. Pattaya’s always been built different. First time I rocked up there, what, thirty years ago, I clocked it straight away. It weren’t full of young stunners prancin’ about, nah it was mostly plumpers and old boilers even then. Half of ‘em looked like they’d just clocked off a shift at Debenhams. Old, haggard tarts, slappers, and sluts. The young ones? They were rare, like finding a decent pint of bitter in a Bangkok Irish bar. And if you did spot one in the high-priced go-gos, she was already booked by some Swiss bloke with orthopedic sandals and a gut like a sack of schnitzel.

 

And it made sense, didn’t it? The old boys, mostly Germans with ponytails, French geezers with dodgy moustaches, Brits lookin’ like they’d been left out in the rain, they weren’t after the young hot ones. Nah. They wanted the older ones, the ones with less ambition, ones who wouldn’t leg it first time they spotted some Yank flashin’ dollars about. Marriage material, they called it. Settle down, buy a shophouse, open a little cafe servin’ chips and Chang, job done. The young ones? Nah, too much admin. Always eyein’ up the next geezer with a bigger wallet and a better set of dentures.

 

Bangkok’s where the worldies were, always has been. If you wanted the ten-out-of-tens, you got yourself to Bangers. Or maybe one of the islands if you fancied a bit of that salty-air vibe. Pattaya? Nah. Pattaya was the retirement home of the game. It’s where Bangkok’s ex-stunners went to finish their careers, yeah.

 

So now you get these mugs moaning, “Oh the girls in Pattaya ain’t what they used to be.” Mate, what, you think it used to be full of? Instagram models? Get out of it. It was always Doris and her mates from the provinces, makin’ ends meet, lookin’ for a geezer with a bad knee and a pension. Always has been, always will be.

 

If you want the top shelf, you don’t shop in Poundland, do ya? Pattaya’s always been Porkerland. Great fun, plenty of bargains, but don’t complain when the packaging’s a bit battered and fallin' off the scale. Know what I mean, bruv?

I disagree.

Same as you would not expect a premium steak at Kiss Food, you would not find a stunner at some cheap bar or the famous coconut bar.

Back in the day same as today the girls knew their values and worked at a place matching it.

That could be Gogo bar or a body massage.

Things have changed though.

In 2001 the new government started a war on substances and difficulties to get them raised proportionally to the BMI of the girls.

And after the tsunami 2004 Pattaya exploded as nobody dared to go to Phuket for quite some time.

So I would say, Pattaya has become much larger since 30 years ago, much better when it comes to accommodation and food, much worse when you think about traffic and there are much more girls than there used to be, with as usual 5 to 10% stunners, as many horrible ones and the rest is just average.

Yet there has been one major change: the smartphone revolution.

Long gone are the times when you could shag a girl, while she was talking with her boyfriend back somewhere in Farangland.

So one can say Pattaya has lost its illusions but also its delusions. I correct that, there are still too many delusional guys out there believing in the one true love.

When the land itself rejects them.

This should once and forever settle the dispute about who is really indigenous to that land:

A study titled “Hypersensivity to pollen of Olea europaea in Israel“ was conducted by researchers affiliated with Kupat Holim, Zamenhoff Allergy Clinic in Tel Aviv, Israel. It concluded that 66% of Jewish Israelis are hypersensitive (allergic) to the pollen of native olive trees, compared to only 16% of Arabs in Israel.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8836344/#:~:text=Positive skin reactions to olive,scarce (P < 0.003).

Nature does not lie.

On 6/4/2025 at 7:25 PM, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   The babies funeral is today 

Didn't survive 

 

 

That is heartbreaking.

A cynical person could say "well, they lived on stolen land, they had it coming" or even joke about it like "yeah, but the settlers were using them as human shields, so that`s ok". followed by a "flatten the settlements!"

All I see, is a mourning family and Hananel Gez, a young father and husband in agony, who first lost his beloved wife, Tzeela Gez and after days of waiting for some good news from the hospital, was deprived of the hope, their baby might survive.

Their names should never be forgotten (I could not find the name of the baby, so I guess, the parents hadn't decided yet).

His pain his pain is unimaginable.

Now multiply that pain with 17.000.

That is the number of the dead kids in Gaza.

The 30 or more murdered kids on the festival on October 7, the Bibas boys, Ariel and Kfir, and now the Gez baby, all of them caused huge outcries in our countries.

And what is our reaction to 17,000 killed children – silence.

And this is what I fail to understand.

„If I were to remain silent, I would be guilty of complicity.“

Albert Einstein

Silence is complicity – and so is silencing.

18 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

Its a well recorded fact that Hamas takes aid and then sells it on at huge profits, I am not going to repeat the numerous links to that. As for your disbelief on the above, that's no surprise coming from you and your claim that its only an excuse for atrocities.

I do not doubt that, as it is a common practice of the military to confiscate goods to finance or feed their soldiers and afaik Gaza has no other military.

But I am generally mistrusting anything the IDF states, as they have a well documented history of telling lies.

I would love to have a civilized discussion with you, from which we both and others could benefit but it would have to be without your personal attacks ("no surprise coming from you ...") or branding by others ("Oh, look, he wrote "FGM is horrible but not originating from Islam"; he must be Pro Islamist and Pro Hamas") and without the cancelling of criticism towards Israel.

We both know, this is not going to happen.

And we also know that all those methods like constant repetition, framing, branding, cancelling and personal attacks are most likely used when lacking strong arguments.

Seriously, if you have looked at all those news and reports coming out from Gaza and the West Bank and watched all that footage with an open mind, without filtering out those, which are not in favor of your agenda and you are still fully and uncritical siding with Israel, then at least in my opinion you have either completely lost your sense for justice, morals and ethics or more likely in this particular case you're applying an extreme double standard.

You surely have your reasons for that and they're not my business, but you should ask yourself if that is the world you want to live in.

Because once you support or apply branding, framing, cancelling and the suppression of critical voices and accept a double standard, where those attacks on Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon and Syria and Iran and Yemen are called self-defence, it is just a question of time until all that will be applied on you.

On 5/23/2025 at 7:48 PM, Bkk Brian said:

He should have a word with Hamas

 

BREAKING: Video shows Hamas looting the aid trucks entering Gaza.

Under international law, Israel not only has a right, but a duty to not send aid if Hamas steals it.

 

The video states "thieves intercept an aid truck".

How does he know it is Hamas and not some very desperate people.

And even if true, so it is better to let them die from starvation before they pay too much for the food?

Let them die before Hamas gets their money and buys weapons?

Again no proof for that, as usual, plus if they die Hamas will get their money anyway.

Only excuses for atrocities.

52 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   This attack was by members of the public , family members of the deceased retaliating for the murder of the pregnant woman 

Yes, I understood that.

But the woman was killed on 14th of May and the IDF finally caught the murderer on the 17th of May and killed him.

By the way, other than in your statement, the baby survived.

However, the attacks of the settlers took place after the murderer had been identified and put down already, so again, what is the point?

An innocent woman was murdered, the perpetrator got what he deserved and now the settlers, who have illegally taken that land from its legal owners are taking revenge on them, despite they had nothing to do with it?

Your article says, the IDF had killed the attacker of that pregnant woman already and arrested several suspects, who might have helped him.

So what's the point of this response, except collective punishment of innocent people, while the (hopefully real) perpetrator had been punished already?

5 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

 

In order to get Permanent Residence in Thailand or Thai citizenship some evidence of being able to speak Thai is required.  The vast majority of expats here are non-immigrant, so there is no requirement to learn the language.  Similarly the UK visas in this thread can lead to Indefinite Leave to Remain and UK citizenship, hence the language requirements.  It would be nice if the UK offered 'easy' annual extensions of stay for various purposes like Thailand!

I know that; I have permanent residency for almost 20 years now, never seriously thought about applying for citizenship though.

However, my comment was meant to be some kind of critical remark to all those westerners living or spending most time of the year in Thailand, yet ranting about foreigners in their own country, who won't integrate and don't speak the language.

Most expats may legally not be immigrants, so there is no requirement to learn the Thai language but factually they are, as they are spending most of their time here and one reason for those language requirements is to be able to master any everyday situation, an ability, which so many expats lack. Consequently their whole everyday life depends on others, who can be some kind of life partner, who may have her own interests or some agency which definitely has its own interests.

4 hours ago, ronster said:

There are literally whole areas in the UK where a lot of people speak little to no English. See it on the UK news a lot when they are interviewing people from these areas and they aren't speaking English. Most seem to be of Pakistani or Indian origin .

Isn't that just disgusting?

Same in the country where I live. Foreigners wherever you look, none of them speaks the language, let alone being interested in learning it, have no respect for the culture and mentality, the majority of them being men. They are out on the streets every night in a loud and aggressive way leading to brawls almost daily and are  permanently chasing women .

By the way, I live in Thailand.

On 5/3/2025 at 8:31 AM, FolkGuitar said:

They cost about 3,000 Baht here, but not all dentists seem to be able to make them.

or are willing to.

I personally refuse to give any of these dentures to my patients as they pose an enormous health risk.

There is a reason why they always put some clasps on the other side and connect them with a sublingual or palatal bar:

Swallowing and inhaling.

This denture can always come off unexpectedly for example when eating some sticky rice or while jogging. If you swallow it, it won't be easy to get it out of your stomach but worse than that if you inhale it, you're in big trouble.

And so is your dentist, if he has not informed you about all the risks and made you sign a waiver.

5 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

"One year ago, nearly 400 young Israelis were massacred at the site of the Nova music festival during the 7 October Hamas attack."

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/07/nova-festival-massacre-mourners-return-7-october-anniversary

 

The BM referred to kids. A kid is defined as under 18.

The Israeli health organisation announced the exact number of victims and age groups:

those under 18 killed - as horrible as it is - were less than 40

3 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Are you seriously claiming that Israel hasn't faced any criticism ?

Seem alike Israel has faced 90 % of the criticism and Hamas have a free pass and that Hamas actions are somehow Israel's fault .

   Israel is getting all the criticism , Palestinians are regarded as being the victims

When it comes to western media it is more the other way round.

Plus stories, like the one from the 40 babies or the baby with the umbilical cord, even when debunked by Israeli media or authorities, are rarely clarified in wester media.

Can I please answer the wrong accusations made against me

On 4/13/2025 at 8:46 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

 

 

You have subsequently confirmed that this comment was a reference to 7 October 2023. That you think the Palestinians responsible for this barbarism should not be continuously damned, is the most disgraceful apology for Islamic terrorism that I have seen on this forum.

I did NOT say, the Palestinians responsible for Oktober 7 should not be damned.

I only criticized that one side is continuously damned and the other faces no criticism.

On 4/13/2025 at 8:46 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

On 7 October Palestinians, both Hamas, and civilians, slaughtered 260 young kids enjoying a music festival with machine guns and semi-automatic weapons;

There were less than 40 kids on that music festival

On 4/13/2025 at 8:46 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

then, amongst the other atrocities they committed, they cut open the stomach of a pregnant woman while she was still alive, removed her unborn baby, beheaded it in front of her, and then beheaded her. And you don’t think they should be continuously damned for the most barbaric act of terrorism in modern history; contemptuous.

This never happened and has been debunked already by Israeli authorities and newspapers. I can PM you the sources.

On 4/13/2025 at 8:46 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

I have seen your previous comments, defending and deflecting from the Islamic Sharia practices of misogyny, FGM, prepubescent marriages etc;

I did never defend FGM. On the contrary; I wrote that I despise it as it is  a mutilation and can be lethal.

On 4/13/2025 at 8:46 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

 

you are a typical far left pro-Islamist, and your pathetic disclaimer of “And please do not confuse Anti-Semitic with anti Israel or the criticism of the actions of Israel” might work on student forums, but not in the real world; antisemitism shines brightly through your veiled attempts of disguise. I have nothing but contempt for you. I will never forget 7 October, however much the likes of you want to. I stand with Israel. 🇮🇱

 

You can have as much contempt for me as you want - I could not care less.

But at least show some decency and have it for reasons which took place in reality and are not made up by you.

On 4/13/2025 at 12:23 PM, Evil Penevil said:

 

   The use of the word "Semite" to refer to an ethnic group is outdated.  The Encyclopedia Britannica explains it this way:

"Semite, obsolete term, popularized in the 19th century, that originally described a member of any people who speak one of the Semitic languages, a family of languages that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, Aramaic, and Tigrinya, among others. The term was later used in an ethnic sense, even though there has never been a shared Semitic identity among Semitic-speaking peoples. When used in that sense, Semite often referred specifically to people of Jewish origin, regardless of what language they spoke, a reflection of the antisemitism that was concurrent in 19th-century Europe."  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Semite

 

The word "anti-Semitism" or "antisemitism" entered the English language in1881 from the German Antisemitismus, which had been coined by Wilhelm Marr, a German journalist and agitator who thought it sounded more scientific and academic than the older Judenhaß  ("Jew hatred").  Marr himself is regarded as the "father of modern antisemitism,"  although he apparently renounced his anti-Jewish beliefs as an old man.  https://njop.org/the-origin-of-word-anti-semitism/

 

Bottom line:  the word "antisemitism" has never been used in the English language to mean anything but a hatred of  Jews.

Thanks for the clarification.

On 4/9/2025 at 8:03 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

 

Is this a reference to 7th October 2023?

Yes.

On 4/9/2025 at 7:27 AM, Eloquent pilgrim said:

 

 

Independent journalists at the BBC, that’s an oxymoron if ever there was.

 

When the BBC did have journalists in Gaza, their own war correspondent, Jon Donnison, stood there and reported that the blast at the Al-Ahli Arab hospital was caused by an Israeli airstrike, and not, as it actually was, by a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) from within Gaza.

 

He is the same BBC correspondent who posted a photo of a young girl lying on a hospital bed with bloodied clothes, with the caption “Heartbreaking, Pain in #Gaza” …. when it later transpired that the photo of the young girl was actually taken in Syria.

 

Is this the BBC that you would like to send their own “independent” journalists to show the world what is going on there ? The BBC is institutionally antisemitic and has been for more than 30 years of my viewing; that you don’t know that means you have very little knowledge of their history of broadcasting, and almost certainly are not from the UK yourself. Do some proper research.

 

I don't think that a few wrong reports from one correspondent are enough to judge the whole BBC including all their correspondents nevertheless my comment was meant as a joke, as you had stated the BBC is using Hamas operatives as journalists and asked me, if "this is the BBC, that I would like to send their own journalists".

My question, why they would not send their own journalists into Gaza, was it order to point out, that the most moral army would not let any independent journalists in that area to independently report on their most moral mass murder of Muslims, mostly women and kids, no matter if I would like it or not. 

And please do not confuse Anti-Semitic with anti Israel or the criticism of the actions of Israel.

The term anti-Semitic is misused to frame every person criticising the current mass murder by the Israeli army as a racist.

Jews are semitic people and so are Arabs, So anti-Semitic would mean being anti Jews and anti Arabs. But today it seems as if some Jews have “occupied” this term.

Even if you translate it that way, being anti the actions of Israel is not the same as being anti every Jew, as there are thousands of Jews in and outside of Israel opposing those actions. How do you want to call them? Anti-Semitic semites?