StocktonAfterClass Ronald Stockton

I prepared this podcast last year (2023) but did not get around to posting it until now (2024).  It focuses upon the time a few years ago when  I was asked to speak to the graduating class.  The students were there and their parents.  Plus the Chancellor and Deans and other luminaries.    It was a really nice event.  

I did make one mistake.  When I came to the campus in 1973 the state of Michigan funded over 80% of our budget.  Today it is well under the 25% I mentioned, maybe closer to 15%.   An event such as this was not a time to ask for money, but I thought I would plant the seed. 

This summarizes the main findings of a book on this topic.  The Ottomans had experts in Zionism who monitored writings and developments very carefully.

This podcast has surprising  findings.

Note:  This was recorded during covid times as a class lecture (when we were not allowed to go live).  

Evangeline was a standard assignment in the 8th grade when I was a kid.  It was long and had big words but we read it because it made us better people.  This is the story of this poem, and of my experience with it.   

It is also the story of Longfellow, the most popular poet of his age, and of his poems.  The Village Smith, Paul Revere's Ride, Haiwatha, and the powerful Christmas poem/song, "I heard the Bells on Christmas Day." 

Longfellow had a painful life, but he kept writing those wonderful poems. 

Have you ever read a single poem by Longfellow?  This is your chance to encounter his creativity. 

In January, 2024 Hamas published a paper called "Our Narrative . . .  Operation Al -Aqsa Flood."  It is an 18 page document discussing their perspective on the events of October 7.  I had not read any Hamas explanations, beyond short statements quoted by people not friendly to their side, so I immediately printed this out and read it.  More than once. 

As I read this document, I realized I was not the only person who had never heard the Hamas perspective on those events.  I knew immediately that it was something I should turn into a podcast.  So here it is.  

I did make a mistake in the podcast.  The Israeli representative to the UN tore up a document in 2021, which I reported as 2001.  Then he got elected as Vice President of the organization in 2022, which I reported as 2002.  

  There is a word Nakba which many of you will recognize but some may not.  The word means Catastrophe.  It is the Palestinian term for the events of 1948 when Palestine ceased to exist and the Palestinian people lost most of their land and mostly ended up in exile.  

March 3 update:  Regarding whether there were sexual assaults during the attack of October 7,  there was a New York Times story with the rather inflammatory headline about the "weaponization of rape."  Then there was an expose of that story  alleging that one of the authors had a bad history involving racist references to Palestinians.  Then the NYT began an investigation of who had leaked such information (and more specifics) to the media.  Arab-Americans claimed they were being singled out in this investigation.  The NYT "guild" has filed a grievance against the Times leadership. 

Second update:  the UN issued a report saying there had been incidents of rape.  

 I have not read either of these stories.  

 
This is a summary of the main points in the ICJ ruling.

Below is a summary of other International Humanitarian Laws.  These definine various crimes that occur within the context of war.  They are distinct from genocide but could be a part of genocide.  They would be heard by the International Criminal Court rather than by the High Court of Justice.  The three most commonly discussed offenses are Ethnic Cleansing, Crimes Against Humanity, and War Crimes.
Ethnic Cleansing
"rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group."
 Crimes Against Humanity
Unlike other human rights violations, war crimes do not engage State responsibility but individual criminal responsibility. This means that individuals can be tried and found personally responsible for these crimes.
Prohibited acts include:
MurderExterminationEnslavement
 Deportation or forcible transfer of populationImprisonmentTortureSexual violencePersecution against an identifiable groupEnforced disappearance of personsThe crime of apartheidOther inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health War Crimes: Elements of the Crime 
War crimes are those violations of international humanitarian law (treaty or customary law) that incur individual criminal responsibility under international law. As a result, and in contrast to the crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, war crimes must always take place in the context of an armed conflict, either international or non-international.
Some examples of prohibited acts include: murder; mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; taking of hostages; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population; intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historical monuments or hospitals; pillaging; rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy or any other form of sexual violence; conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities.
War crimes contain two main elements:  A contextual element: “the conduct took place in the context of and was associated with an international/non-international armed conflict”; and A mental element: intent and knowledge both with regards to the individual act and the contextual element.
In contrast to genocide and crimes against humanity, war crimes can be committed against a diversity of victims, either combatants or non-combatants, depending on the type of crime. In international armed conflicts, victims include wounded and sick members of armed forces in the field and at sea, prisoners of war and civilian persons. In the case of non-international armed conflicts, protection is afforded to persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed ‘hors de combat’ by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause. In both types of conflicts protection is also afforded to medical and religious personnel, humanitarian workers and civil defence staff.
 
 
 

In December, 2023 South Africa filed a document before the High Court of Justice in the Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza.  This was for its actions against Gaza in the wake of the blood-chilling Hamas attack on Israeli military positions, towns, and a music festival on October 7.  Those attacks killed nearly 1200 people. 

There are three recent developments worth noting.  First, Mexico and Chile are preparing to charge Israel in the International Criminal Court with War Crimes.  This has a much lower standard of evidence for conviction than genocide.  Also various parties have raised the issue of "complicity in genocide."  What does this mean from a legal perspective?  I am not entirely sure but the U. S. and Britain may well be charged by a group of South African attorneys.  Finally, the President of Israel, Herzog, has just been accused of war crimes in the international criminal court.  This was just announced a few hours ago and there are no details about who filed the complaint, but he is now in Switzerland and could possibly be detained or arrested.  You will probably know more by the time you read this.  

For those interested, I have a talk delivered to a class  during a unit focusing mostly on the Armenian and Rwanda genocides.   I also have two earlier podcasts on the Attacks of October 7.  One was posted three days after the attacks, one three weeks later.  

Note:  There is a section in the document that discusses Israeli policy on the West Bank.  It discusses these policies as "apartheid."   Note that I have a podcast on this topic. 

This is a complex podcast.   If you find it painful, then you are not alone.