How is “the expanding and holding of territories In Gaza” not occupation?

I don’t get it, am I missing something? The very definition of ‘occupation,’ according to my dictionary, is ‘the control of a country by military forces of a foreign power.’ And yet, David Mencer, Netanyahu’s spokesman, described the war objectives approved overnight in Israel, as “the expanding and the holding of territories, not occupation,” in a news briefing Monday. Good ol’ Dave did not answer a question about whether this “holding of territories” would be permanent.

I guess that’s what ‘permanency’ means: we’ll see how it goes and figure it out later—later enough to keep Netanyahu out of jail, anyway.

It’s unclear, at least to me, whether this means Israel will take over the care and feeding of the current residents (read that survivors) of Gaza. But many things in this world are unclear to me today, I’m getting old and forgetful. The old clarity I once knew is becoming hazy.

Mencer also confirmed Israel intends to move Gaza’s civilian population southward “for its own defense,” a crime of its own under international law. But world leaders these days spend a minimum of time studying laws that get in the way of tactics. Too vague. Targeted missiles and F-16s (provided by the United States, without even a whiff of shame) are far more competent for genocide.

No gas chambers in the Israeli plans, they kill in place, in the residential apartments, the streets, the schools, hospitals, and refugee safe zones. No transport needed, and no food allowed. It has been approximately two months since Israel last permitted humanitarian aid into Gaza, with the blockade lifted on May 5, 2025, to allow for the resumption of aid deliveries.

All discussions, including the ‘call up’ of tens of thousands of reservists, were divulged on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.

Meanwhile, sensitive discussions were also held among Palestinian families, trying to connect their badly wounded children with enough food to keep them alive. Call-ups are not exactly the same as join-ups, but they are each sensitive (if not moral) decisions.

“God save the children,” but we have not yet determined whose God will come to the rescue.

Amidst all this genocidal chaos, Trump and Bibi (and let us not forget Biden), emerge as tripartite co-conspirators in a modern-day genocide of innocents. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

Horsefeathers.

They know exactly what they do.

It’s a clever and internationally illegal plan by the United States to bring Israel up to the plate as its designated hitter in the late innings of a game called ‘redefining the Middle East.’ The U.S. doesn’t give a tinker’s damn for either Jews or Palestinians.

If they did, they had both the power and weaponry to demand a two-state solution in the Palestinian-Israeli territory decades ago. They chose not to.

What they wanted, was to isolate a powerful (some would say too powerful) Saudi Arabia, enforce the dollar as a world currency, destroy Syria, annihilate Iran, and leave no clear power-politics behind. The U.S. failed miserably (and embarrassingly) in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan. Holding what the Orange Man would call ‘a losing hand,’ it needed a proxy.

There stood Israel, with its hat in its hand, and its leader with one foot in prison.

Perfect timing. Here stood Trump, a grin on his face, silly Maga hat on his combed-over head, a probable prison term in sight, and not enough smarts to keep the game from going into extra innings.A narcissist, he has an ego that, with sufficient flattery, makes him a useful tool. Useful and, at least for the moment, powerful.

Putin very nearly flattered him out of Ukraine, but the military-industrial guys flattered him better, and in later innings in the game. The (private) profit of rare-earth minerals and a military parade on the Orange Man’s birthday turned the tide. The technocrats who bought him an election and stood by his side at the inaugural, told him ‘a great man’ could shake up the world with tariffs—and so he did—while they played ping-pong with Wall Street’s $trillions.

If you want to know the character of a narcissist, flatter his ego, and he’ll do your bidding.