News bits: The CN threat du jour; Thinking about Guernica; Gaza update

Threats from Christian nationalist elites and enablers are n ow coming fast and enraged. The latest blast of aggression comes from radical Christian nationalist Franklin Graham telling the world that God is going to destroy the pro-abortionists in France for protecting abortion rights.

One can wonder how Graham feels about pro-abortionists in America who try to protect abortion rights. Probably the about same or worse.

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A WaPo commentary about the Picasso painting Guernica raises bits of history worth considering:

On April 27, 1937, the London Times reported the following:

“Guernica, the most ancient town of the Basques and the center of their cultural tradition, was completely destroyed yesterday afternoon by insurgent air raiders. The bombardment of the open town far behind the lines occupied precisely three hours and a quarter, during which a powerful fleet of aeroplanes … did not cease unloading on the town bombs weighing from 1000 lbs. downward. … The fighters, meanwhile, plunged low from above the center of the town to machine-gun those of the civilian population who had taken refuge in the fields.”

The Spanish Civil War began when Gen. Francisco Franco, with support from Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, carried out a coup against Spain’s newly installed left-wing government.

Pablo Picasso painted “Guernica,” arguably his greatest masterpiece, in response to this devastating attack, which took place during the Spanish Civil War.

The bombing of Guernica was intended by Hermann Göring, commander in chief of the German Luftwaffe, as a birthday gift for Hitler. The attack was delayed by several days because of logistical issues, but Hitler was pleased nonetheless. The plan was to maximize civilian casualties. Col. Wolfram von Richthofen, who was in charge of the attack, achieved this by pausing after a brief initial bombing, then, after civilians had come out of their shelters, launching a devastating second wave. People were trapped in the open, incinerated, asphyxiated and strafed with machine-gun fire. An estimated 1,500 civilians were killed. Guernica was leveled.

Richthofen, a cousin of Manfred von Richthofen, the notorious “Red Baron” of World War I, described the attack as “absolutely fabulous … a complete technical success.”

I was able to see Guernica in Spain. It is one of the most powerful and moving pieces of art I have ever experienced in person. 

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Disclaimer: This is not intended to equate what the Nazis did to Guernica with what Israel’s war against Hamas is doing to Gaza. It is intended as a Gaza update.

In a long article, the WaPo reports about people missing in Gaza (article not behind paywall):

Thousands of Gazans have gone missing. 

No one is accounting for them.

Many disappeared under the rubble after airstrikes. Others are believed to have been detained at Israeli checkpoints while fleeing south or trying to return to the north. Some simply left one day and never came back.

Their desperate families search hospitals and contact hotlines set up by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). They scour photos of bodies in the streets and of blindfolded men detained by Israeli forces. They share pictures of relatives online, pleading for leads.

From October through February, the ICRC received reports of 5,118 Palestinians missing in Gaza. The Washington Post interviewed 15 people who lost contact with friends and family in Gaza since Oct. 7 — in only two cases were they able to find them. The most painful part, many said, was being in the dark about their fate.

Israel’s war in Gaza, launched after the devastating Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 31,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians but says the majority of the dead are women and children. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimates it has killed between 11,500 and 13,000 militants, as it seeks to eradicate Hamas from the enclave.

The ministry relies mostly on reports from hospitals for its death counts. With the enclave’s medical system in shambles, Palestinian health officials say many more deaths have gone unrecorded.