The Crimes of Netanyahu

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

The Crimes of Netanyahu

 

The crimes against humanity

Continue without pause

Netanyahu flicks his thumb at us

In defiance of all laws

 

Another thousand dead

Another week of terror

Netanyahu shrugs his shoulders

As if it was random error

 

The war continues on

Until his anger is abated

How many more must die

Before his rage is satiated?

 

We must find another way

And we must find it yesterday

For what Hamas started

Future generations will pay

 

For now there is no answer

There is only blood and pain

The violence will continue

Like a cruel and endless chain

 

The Children of Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

The Children of Gaza

 

The act of genocide

Can no longer be denied

The death and destruction

Cuts deep inside

 

When will we make an end?

On what does it depend?

A policy of vengeance

We can no longer defend

 

There are too many dead

Too many without bread

And none of us believe

A word Netanyahu said

 

We must end our support

Take the murderers to court

Put a stop to the killing

Playing out like a sport

 

The children are dying

Their mothers are crying

And all we can do

Is to say we are trying

 

End the war!

End the occupation!

Now!

 

End the Occupation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

End the Occupation

 

On peace in the Middle East

Our democracy may depend

A ceasefire is not enough

The occupation must end

 

We remember how it started

But it no longer really matters

The Palestinians of Gaza

Have been brutalized and battered

 

We demand an end to violence

We demand an end to war

We cannot sustain our silence

We will endure it no more

 

They are forgotten people

Denied hope, denied a home

The wandering tribes of Palestine

Abandoned and alone

 

You have pushed beyond the limits

Of our capacity to defend

You’ve become what you abhor

This occupation must end

 

Rafah (Never-ending War)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Rafah

 

So begins the siege of Rafah

As millions of innocents flee

But no one knows where they will go

A sea of refugees

 

The slaughter is unspeakable

The destruction is complete

Will anyone be spared

The stench of this defeat?

 

This war has cost too many lives

Or cast them into hell

Never will it be forgot

Palestinians remember well

 

The siege of Rafah will go on

This war defies an end

The bloodshed and the misery

This hatred will not mend

 

Until the darkness lifts

Until their hearts will bend

The horrors born of Rafah

Will plead for more revenge

 

Both sides will take a vow

To fight forever more

All of Palestine and Israel

The never-ending war

Ceasefire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Ceasefire

 

The time has come

to raise our voices all in one

This massacre must end

This onslaught must be done

On this our trust depends:

Ceasefire in Gaza now

 

Netanyahu must go

A lasting peace cannot be found

If nothing else we know

When Netanyahu is around

The hatred only grows

And shakes the hallowed ground

Not another blow:

Ceasefire in Gaza now

 

Two states born of one

It is the only way

The terrorists are stunned

Let’s bow our heads and pray

Hamas is on the run

Let it be today

This battle has been won

Ceasefire in Gaza now

 

Idiot Wind

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Idiot Wind *

 

We know that Netanyahu

Is a force against democracy

A voice for vengeance

A proponent of endless war

A perpetrator of genocide

But if you believe that Israeli forces

Dug the tunnels, planned and executed

The massacres of October 7^th

A brutal execution of their own people

The idiot wind is blowing

Through the vacuum of your mind

There is no end to fantasies

That prejudice can find

 

We know that Netanyahu failed

Failed to protect his people

He knew what was about to happen and

Failed to respond in time

We know that he is guilty of

Crimes against humanity

Crimes against civilization

Mass destruction and reckless

Disregard for innocent life

But if you believe the Israelis

Have no cause for rage and revenge

A rage founded in antiquity

A rage recorded for all time

The idiot wind is blowing

Through the missives of your kind

Through eyes that have been

Rendered selectively blind

 

* A song by Bob Dylan

 

Blind Vengeance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Blind Vengeance

 

People of Israel

Do you know the crimes

committed in your name?

 

What began as self defense

surrendered that rationale

when Netanyahu decided civilians

were subject to extermination

 

People of Israel

Have you seen the destruction

delivered in your name?

 

Hospitals are not hiding enemies

Schools are not training sites

An ambulance is not a target

Children are not expendable

Palestinians are not Hamas

Mothers are not soldiers

 

People of Israel

Do you know the blood your

leaders are spilling in your name?

 

I am not a terrorist apologist

I lament the unconscionable act

that unleashed this chain of horror

but just retribution has turned

into blind and brutal vengeance

 

People of Israel

I believe in your humanity

Help us to help your nation

return to the path of peace

 

Tears of Palestine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: JERUSALEM

Tears of Palestine

 

“I walk and count the bones of my beloveds

Along the Valley of Destruction.”

 

Wm. Blake, Jerusalem (1820)

 

The tears of Jerusalem became the tears of

Palestine that together formed a river  

that flowed into the sea.

 

Endless is the sorrow and the mourning of

the mothers and the anger of the fathers

and the vows of vengeance that the sons

and daughters carried through the ages

of antiquity.

 

The tears of Palestine became the tears of

Jerusalem that together formed a river

that flowed into the sea.

 

There is no peace on earth

Nor can there ever be

Until at last we find a cure

for this ancient blood disease

 

Hypocrisy: Gaza & Ukraine

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Hypocrisy: Gaza & Ukraine

 

If you condemn the Israelis

For their relentless attack on

Schools and hospitals in Gaza

On the mass destruction

On the many civilians slain

But fall silent on the bombing

By the Russians in Ukraine

Hypocrisy

 

If your tears flow and your anger rages

At the plight of the Palestinians

After months of this campaign

But after years of aggression

In the battle for Ukraine

All your anger is spent

All you outrage is restrained

Hypocrisy

 

If you fail to acknowledge

That Hamas landed the first blow

In an act so boldly evil

The reaction was foreknown

Yet you allow for Putin’s actions

With that’s the way the river flows

Hypocrisy

 

End the war in Gaza

Support Ukraine

Stop Netanyahu

End Putin’s reign

Hostages

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Hostages

 

Held against their will

Captured by a rabid mob

Down the spine a chill

Innocence is robbed

 

Let my people go!

Israelis cry in vain

Palestine cries back

Feel my people’s pain!

 

Alas they call a truce

Released a chosen few

They gave them what they asked

What else could they do?

 

Palestine and Israel

Are locked in this embrace

A dance of death and destiny

A never-ending chase

 

For peace can never come

To a people locked in hate

As long as we’re indifferent

To either people’s fate

 

Free all political prisoners!

Palestinians and Jews

Free every single one of them

Extend the military truce

 

Living with Fear

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

Living with Fear

 

We are but humans

We cannot live in constant fear

We adapt to our conditions

If danger is always everywhere

We alter our perception

We take it from the foreground

And push it to the back

If bombs fill the sky without relief

We keep our heads to the ground

We refuse to hear the sounds

Of bombs exploding, children crying

Whole buildings coming down

 

If suffering is a constant state

We change it to awareness

We are always on alert

We look for safe havens

We search the wastelands for relief

We find food and water

We find refuge from the storm

We live the lives we’re given

As fear becomes the norm

 

We no longer are afraid

And in moments of quietude

As rare and numbered as they may be

We pray that tomorrow it will end

We pray the bombs will not fall

We pray that suffering will mend

Until then we will survive

Until then we’ll stay alive

The Censure of Rashida Tlaib

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL & PALESTINE

 

The Censure of Rashida Tlaib

 

A curse on both your houses

How dare you use my name

To censure an honest colleague

For not bowing down in shame

 

She spoke her solemn truth

Though you may not like her tone

Few in congress will back her

But her beliefs are not alone

 

She speaks for those who have no voice

She speaks for those you do not hear

Though they are dying by the thousands

You refuse to shed a tear

 

Yes we cry for all of Israel

Should we not cry for Palestine too?

We will not cry for Hamas

Nor will we cry for Netanyahu

 

She speaks out against genocide

No matter what else you’ve heard

I you want to end the endless horror

You should take her at her word

 

Disproportionate Retribution

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Disproportionate Retribution

 

Hamas lit the tinder box

Israel fanned the flames

But the tinder lay in Gaza

Long before it had a name

 

We know what you have suffered

As sentient beings we feel your pain

But how much more can we witness

Before your suffering is in vain?

 

We plead for your forgiveness

We beg you for relief

Too many children and their parents

Are buried in their grief

 

Too many innocents have died

To feed the gods of retribution

The cost is rising on both sides

Foreclosing hope for a solution

 

The ayatollah does not care

He wants this war to rage

He wants all of us to be scared

He does not want to turn the page

 

But Netanyahu is the same

He also needs the flames of war

For holy vengeance is his shame

He is a warrior to his core

 

If we want this war to end

We must take it in our hands

On love of peace we must depend

To heal this torn and ancient land