Einstein - 'no greater calamity than Israel'

 

Albert Einstein: “The Israeli state idea is not according to my heart. I cannot understand why it is needed … I believe it is bad … There could be no greater calamity than a permanent discord between us and the Arab people … We must strive for a just and lasting compromise with the Arab people … Let us recall that in former times, no people lived in greater friendship with us than the ancestors of these Arabs."

A leader of those who thought a ‘Jewish’ state was needed was Theodor Herzl, an admirer of the British Empire, He wrote to Cecil Rhodes, founder of the white settler colony named after him. “You are being invited to help make history. It does not involve Africa but a piece of Asia Minor, not Englishmen but Jews … I turn to you … because it is something colonial ..”

Chaim Weizmann, who suceeded Herzl as leader of the Zionist movement agreed. “Should Palestine fall within the British sphere of influence and should they encourage Jewish settlement … we could develop the country, bring back civilisation and form a very effective guard for the Suez Canal.”

The British ruling class responded positively with the 1917 Balfour Declaration, a 67-word letter from British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, pledging British support for a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. This led to the creation of Israel, a colonial-settler state which disregarded the interests of the indigenous Palestinian population, made up of Arabs, Jews, Christians and non-believers.

The Jewish opponents of Zionism could be found amongst the Palestinian Jews and in Europe in the Jewish Bund, founded in 1897 in Poland and Russia. They stressed the principles of, socialism, secularism and doyikayt  or “localness.” Doyikaytwas was encapsulated in the slogan: “There, where we live, that is our country.” One of their early leaders, Viktor Adler, declared “Bundists wish to shatter the existing economic frameworks and show the Jewish masses how a new society can be built not by escape, but by struggle. We link the essence of the Jewish masses’ life to that of humankind”.

This tradition continues and Jewish opponents of Zionism are today at the forefront of opposition to Zionism. Even at the height of the Holocaust they were there. Primo Levi, a survivor of Auschwitz, wrote that, “Everyone has their Jews and for the Israelis they are the Palestinians”. Marek Edelman, one of the leaders of the1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising compared the Palestine resistance to Israel to the Jewish fighters in Warsaw.

This thinking can even be found at the heart of the Israeli state. Uri Avnery, ex-Israeli army officer declared, “What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints.” 

We are now witnessing Israel’s final extinction, to be replaced with the return of a Palestine that exists from the river to the sea and which will include all of its historical people; Muslims, Jews, Christians , and those of no faith, and all sharing a common land. 

This is Palestine, فِلَسْطِين, פלשתינה  

MY WORLD WATERWAYS

 

                                                                     Henri Matisse

MY WORLD WATERWAYS

"The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men.” Mark Twain

I am now working on my third memory book. The first was ‘My World Café’ about food. The second was ‘My World Music’. This one is ‘My World Waterways’. Chapters will include the Thames, the Regents Canal, the Stour, the Neretva, the Mississippi, the Neva, the Vitava and the Rio Grande. 

In ‘My World Music’ over 50 friends contributed to the final chapter with their own music memory. The stories were all very powerful, and I would like to repeat this to include your river or canal memories. Do you have a story from your life you wish to share? 

I have already received contributions which range from the crocodile-infested Daintree River in Australia, to a journey along the Mekong in Vietnam, to childhood tadpole collecting in an English river. The book will be illustrated by landscape artist, Jan Woolf, and designed by Roelof Bakker. I expect to complete the book by October 2026 so there is no rush if you wish to contribute. The maximum number of words is 400.

Please send your stories to david@davidwilson.org.uk

My World Music

 Brian Eno

What a lovely book it is. I am reading it and loving it

My first book, Left Field was published by Unbound,. my second, My World Cafe’ by Riversmeet and My World Music is published by me! It is available in paperback and on Kindle. 

I am grateful to Brian Eno for his praise and would like to add other comments to his. I am not asking for positive appreciations, indeed I welcome the occasional insult. ‘All publicity is good publicity’remains a truism.

If you have read the book please let me have your thoughts to add to Brian’s. Send to david@davidwilson.org.uk 

COMMENTS ON MY WORLD MUSIC

Brian Eno

What a lovely book it is. I am reading it and loving it

Orhan (Oha) Maslo, Director Mostar Rock School

Music saved my sanity and my life in post-war Bosnia. As Bob Marley said. ‘When it hits you, you feel no pain’. This book confirms that

Michael Walling, Border Crossings

Your Book is a total joy

Tarik Dervish

Congratulations again on a wonderful piece of work

Diana and Norman Boyer

Congratulations, a feat of love.  Educational, such a reminder of the music I've enjoyed in a transitory way You have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the artist that have crossed your path or you have seen & heard. 

Edwin Maynard

Wonderful book, David. I look forward to locating and following some of its many musical trails

Clare Thompson

Each chapter is an eye opener. I am – as always – humbled to learn more of your story of activism and bringing people together in your inimitable way. You are also making me listen and pay attention to music in a new way – again, thank you for the gift of listening//

Victoria Brittain

Your book – a great project

Deicola Neves, Camden Guitars

The only truth is music and this book explains why

Elleni Ross

Fascinating. I’s such a great idea to link stories of your life, to music and musicians.

Eva Zimmerman

 

It's so entertainingly written and the musical references very familiar.

My World Music is available on Kindle , as a paperback 

and can be bought at Camden Guitars  

********

"David Wilson has lived a life and a half. I was proud to play a minor role in War Child, an organisation in which David was inspirational. The broken world needed people like David then; it still does and it always will." -- Sir Tom Stoppard

"David Wilson is an adventurer and a free-thinker who ... did something truly useful with his life. His stubborn and yet self-effacing commitment to his ideals carried him through many daunting situations, and his sense of humour kept him able to see the funny side."-- Brian Eno

"What a life this man has led" - Dorothy Byrne, former head of Channel 4 TV News

"David Wilson is a national treasure" Mandla Langa, Winner of 2009 Commonwealth Prize

david@davidwilson.org.uk

Peter Mandelson and them bells

 

On 3 April 2008 Tony Blair gave a ‘faith’ lecture at Westminster Cathedral. Working with Stop the War and Brian Eno, I helped organise ‘rough-musiking’ to disrupt the event. People turned up with pots and pans, whistles and drums. I had this goat bell with me and when Peter Mandelson left the cathedral, I walked beside him along Victoria Street and rang it close to his ear, repeating the word 'Murderer!’ to him. The street was crowded and although Mandelson had two burly bodyguards accompanying him ,he was unable to set them on me.

"Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee." (John Donne).

Three centuries later, Antonio Gramsci said "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters."

Sadly that is still true, but we all need to be involved in mankind and never despair. Ring them bells.

"Oh, it's rush hour now

On the wheel and the plow

And the sun is going down

Upon the sacred cow

Ring them bells, for the time that flies

For the child that cries

When innocence dies" (Bob Dylan)

Ring Them Bells

Ashes to ashes, dust io dust

David Maxim Triesman, Baron Triesman (30 October 1943 – 30 January 2026)

I knew David Triesman when we were both students at Essex University. He was suspended in May 1968 after helping disrupt a meeting about chemical warfare, addressed by a speaker from the Ministry of Defence. His suspension was one of the reasons why the students and teaching staff declared the campus a ‘free’ university.

I introduced Triesman to my father who was Editor of The Lancet and he invited him to write about the May ‘68 events.

For a number of years, Triesman was a lecturer at South Bank Polytechnic, before becoming a full-time official at NATFHE, the lecturer’s union.

When I taught at Kilburn Polytechnic in north London in the 1980s, Triesman was national negotiating secretary at NATFHE. One of my fellow Kilburn lecturers, John Fernandes, taught at the police cadet school in Hendon and revealed racism there. He was threatened with dismissal and the national union management, including Triesman, refused to back him. Suported by rank and file action he kept his job. (thank you Merilyn Moos for reminding me of this).

Triesman moved on to become General Secretary of the Association of University Teachers while starting a new life in real estate, banking, publishing and fine art. He was an executive board member at the investment firm, Salamanca Group. He served on the boards of other companies, including chairing Victoria Management, UBS and Templewood Merchant Bank. Triesman was a director of Havin Bank (Havana International Bank) and One Ocean Enterprises. In 2011 he set upTriesman Associates, an investment company in private equity and finance. He was also Chairman of the Football Association.

Back in the political world he was appointed General Secretary of the Labour Party in 2001 and made a life peer in 2004. Triesman resigned from the party in 2019, stating that under Jeremy Corbyn it had become "no longer a safe political environment" for Jewish people. He spoke about the need to ‘defend’ Israel.

I have spent my life fighting for the ideals of May 1968, championing radical freedom, anti-authoritarianism, sexual liberation, rank-and-file trade unionism and the rejection of capitalist society.

I cannot understand how or why people such as David Triesman move so easily and swiftly from left to right, fom understanding how the system works to working for, and benefitting from, that system. I am not religious, but agree with the Christian Book of Common Prayer about those ashes and dust. It’s where quantum physics meets religious belief. Once we recognise that, we can become truly human in ourselves and with the rest of the world.

I conclude with two graffiti from May 68 Paris. ‘Sous Les pavé, la plage’, (Beneath the cobbles the beach). And most important for me and my life, 'La lutte continue' (the struggle continues) For Triesman it was just the loot.

www.davidwilson.org.uk

Brian Eno on 'My World Music'

 

Brian Eno

What a lovely book it is. I am reading it and loving it

My first book, Left Field was published by Unbound,. my second, My World Cafe’ by Riversmeet and My World Music is published by me! It is available in paperback and on Kindle. 

I am grateful to Brian Eno for his praise and would like to add other comments to his. I am not asking for positive appreciations, indeed I welcome the occasional insult. ‘All publicity is good publicity’remains a truism.

If you have read the book please let me have your thoughts to add to Brian’s. Send to david@davidwilson.org.uk 

COMMENTS ON MY WORLD MUSIC

Brian Eno

What a lovely book it is. I am reading it and loving it

Orhan (Oha) Maslo, Director Mostar Rock School

Music saved my sanity and my life in post-war Bosnia. As Bob Marley said. ‘When it hits you, you feel no pain’. This book confirms that

Michael Walling, Border Crossings

Your Book is a total joy

Tarik Dervish

Congratulations again on a wonderful piece of work

Diana and Norman Boyer

Congratulations, a feat of love.  I'm enjoying it, educational, such a reminder of the music I've enjoyed in a transitory way

Edwin Maynard

Wonderful book, David. I look forward to locating and following some of its many musical trails

Clare Thompson

Each chapter is an eye opener. I am – as always – humbled to learn more of your story of activism and bringing people together in your inimitable way. You are also making me listen and pay attention to music in a new way – again, thank you for the gift of listening//

Victoria Brittain

Your book – a great project

Deicola Neves, Camden Guitars

The only truth is music and this book explains why

Elleni Ross

Fascinating. I’s such a great idea to link stories of your life, to music and musicians.

Eva Zimmerman

 

It's so entertainingly written and the musical references very familiar.

My World Music is available on Kindle , as a paperback 

and can be bought at Camden Guitars  

********

"David Wilson has lived a life and a half. I was proud to play a minor role in War Child, an organisation in which David was inspirational. The broken world needed people like David then; it still does and it always will." -- Sir Tom Stoppard

"David Wilson is an adventurer and a free-thinker who ... did something truly useful with his life. His stubborn and yet self-effacing commitment to his ideals carried him through many daunting situations, and his sense of humour kept him able to see the funny side."-- Brian Eno

"What a life this man has led" - Dorothy Byrne, former head of Channel 4 TV News

"David Wilson is a national treasure" Mandla Langa, Winner of 2009 Commonwealth Prize

david@davidwilson.org.uk

Hasbara - organising genocide lies

 

Israel's government has a dedicated department set up to shape international public opinion and to counter those who campaign against their genocidal actions. It is known as ‘hasbara’. In 2025 its budget was $150 million. The budget for 2026 is said to be set at over $730 million. It is certainly money spent, but money well spent?

My Facebook blogs usually get no more than a few ‘likes’ and they are genuine likes. My one on the Palestine hunger strikers and posted on 13 January, has had more than a thousand ‘hits’ and over 600 comments and counting.

I am intrigued that I have suddenly acquired so many Facebook ‘friends’ and that so many of them clearly hate me and what I am writing about. I have been checking similar posts to mine and found the same comments posted on their Palestine hunger striker blogs. Indeed with exactly the same words, but many under different names. One of these, and with many more ‘hits’ than mine, is Eamomm McCann’s.

You don’t have to be a 21st century Sherlock Holmes to conclude these ‘comments’ are emerging from one source and paid for from that 2026 $730 million budget. Here are just some of them. Of course I could delete them from my facebook, but their vitriol and crude hatred should be read and shared.

A note to Hasbara: You need to put a little of this year’s budget into logically constructing your lies.

Give them bacon butties - missing every other meal is not a hunger strike – grave situation, it soon will be – Munch! Munch! - FS get her deliveroo – hope she’s a winner of the nunger strike olympics - special treatment for suspected criminal – hurry up and croak – they need to put their big boy/girl pants on. Play stupid games you win stupid prizes. - not heroes but cowards. They broke into military bases – delusional puppets – we don’t care – Awwwww – fuckwits for Palestine - criminals who should be force fed – get on with it - hurry up – win some, lose some - it’s just comical! Yer heart just pumps purple piss! - I have a bacon butty to gift – put them on a plane to Gaza - brainless idiots showing photos of the only fit bird amongst them – fuck the hunger strikers – goodbye – time she pulled the plug and give everybody some rest – slimmer of the year – what’s brave about it. Terrorist supporters – order a coffin with that there pizza - the real tragedy here is that leftists have radicalised her so badly that she's willing to die for a pretend genocide - What are her measurements?? I will start making the coffin -when’s the Wake David - it's like a toddler holding its breath because it's not getting its own way - hurry up and shuffle off so we won't keep having to read about your ‘hunger strike’ – just get on with it - Bye bye – sooner the better

Posted on my facebook on 13 January 2026

Heba Muraisi, a Palestine Action activist and the longest-fasting hunger striker of a group of eight, has told Al Jazeera that she no longer feels hunger, is suffering with pain and knows that her death may be imminent. The 31-year-old responded to questions via a friend who regularly visits her in prison. “Physically, I am deteriorating as the days go by. I no longer feel hunger, I feel pain. I don’t think about my life, I think about how or when I could die, but despite this, mentally I’ve never been stronger, more determined and sure, and most importantly, I feel calm and a great sense of ease. Even though the risks may be lifelong consequences or a devastating end, I think it’s important to fight for justice and for freedom.”

I attended all the London protests in support of these brave people until the day I was pushed over a barrier in Parliament Square by the Met police. As an 80 year old epileptic I could not continue. But if and when Heba and/or the others die I will be on the streets. Maybe David Lammy will rediscover his humanity and this will not happen. If it does, will you join me?

A time of monsters

 

The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.” - Antonio Gramsci

Many believe that Donal Trump’s USA is unique, but not so. He’s symptomatic of a political and economic system that stretches from the US to Netanyahu’s Israel via a UK allowing hunger strikers to die.

This system is one where the world's richest 1% own more wealth than the bottom 95% of the population combined with the wealth of the top 1% reaching a record $52 trillion by late 2025. (Oxfam)

This level of explotation can only be sustained with the consent of the many. When that breaks down it is time for armed thugs to patrol the streets, to kill, maim and strike fear into the subjected.

90 years ago that was the SA (brownshirts) in Germany. Today it is ICE (polo shirts and masks) in the USA.

Yes it is a “time of monsters”, but the new world has started the “struggle to be born”.

Jesse Welles performs ....

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