#israel is just a military base and will never be a country

[miramaramora]

The news reporter Jamal Hawele just recieved a live threat from an Israeli soldier while he was reporting

Just in case you were looking for exhibit 10000#

Of how despicable the military base called israel is

#real news #free palestine #israel palestine conflict #free gaza #israel news #white phosphorus #hamas are freedom fighters not terrorists #news reporter #this is a threat #zionbase #israel is just a military base and will never be a country

[sayruq]

I want everyone to understand that even if Israel wins this (I mean it won't but just imagine), it won't recover from this. It won't recover from getting caught off guard on Oct 7th. The government and the IDF spent days unable to have a strategic response to the Palestinian fighters while their own soldiers deserted and their allies openly questioned the wisdom of a ground invasion in Gaza. That's why they're bombing Gaza, it is the only way to project strength to the world but it is also alienating billions of people. The world has never been more pro Palestine than this moment in time.

Just like how America being forced to flee Afghanistan led to a series of Ls globally, Israel struggling against Hamas, PFLP, Islamic Jihad, and other groups will have disastrous effects locally and internationally. I mean, the political class is already falling apart with Netanyahu blaming government officials for this disaster. The Israeli government have no unity or cohesion which is not a great sign to put it lightly. War usually binds people, even rival political groups, and especially allies. America has been hinting that it doesn't approve of some of actions taken by Israel. It could be just Biden and his people trying to softly distance him from the genocide in Gaza but you also have former and current military leaders disapproving of Israel's military strategy.

The thing is you don't see Iran openly questioning the Palestinians. You don't see Hezbollah running to the press to let them know they think Hamas' strategy is weak. Every single Palestinian militia group, including the ones in the West Bank, are working together. Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinians are all coordinating. In the past week, they would attack Israeli settlements and military bases and American bases in Iraq and Syria at the same time. They've even managed to get new support from the Yemeni Ansar Allah group.

Israel's main export is security- meaning weapons manufacturing and training. How many countries will rush to have their police or soldiers train with the IDF after witnessing them fold while in battle (in the latest ground incursion, the IDF lasted only 15 minutes inside Gaza according to Al Jazeera)? How many countries will line up to buy Israeli tanks after seeing them get taken out easily by guerilla fighters? How many countries and individual investors will want to invest in Israel when it can't go 5 years without a war or genocide?

I believe with all my heart we will soon see a liberated Palestine.

#palestine #free palestine #free gaza #gaza #colonialism

[hero-israel]

sorry if this is a dumb question and i understand if you don't want to answer but do you have links to posts explaining why israel isn't an apartheid state? i swear i read posts like that on your blog before but i don't know how to refind them

Israeli Arabs have legal equality with Jews. Same restaurants, same pools, same seats on the bus, same voting rights. I would favorably compare the treatment of Israeli Arabs with that of any minority group in any country on Earth.

The West Bank has a military occupation, with (pretty fast) checkpoints and no right to vote about the government running that military. Military occupations are bad and some of us have been against this particular one for decades. The anti-occupation movement hasn't gotten anywhere, they've just been stuck. Being stuck in a military occupation for X more years doesn't make it apartheid, just like being stuck in a bad marriage for X more years doesn't make you divorced. Meanwhile, the 2020 Abraham Accords showed that multiple Arab states were willing to accept this unchanging status quo and deal with Israel as it is. Those two factors - the stagnant, unchanging nature of the occupation, and the clear loss of interest in the Palestinian cause - combined to have the latest crop of awareness-raising college interns at some shifty NGOs try to force change by abracadabra'ing together a new concept of "apartheid" that exists solely for Israel. And it is working, just like "Christ-killer" and "stabbed Germany in the back" worked.

In 2010, Human Rights Watch published an extremely critical report on Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Dragged them up one wall and down the other. Yet there was no accusation of "apartheid" there. In the report, page 33, they cited a lawsuit by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel that had said it was apartheid for the West Bank military occupation authorities to ban Palestinians from driving on Highway 443 after repeated firebombings / shootings against Israelis. The Israeli High Court ruled that it was inappropriate to ban Palestinians from the road, and it re-established their equal driving access - they have had it ever since. The court also said that the accusation of apartheid behind that now-ended ban was dishonest, because the security concerns were not based on race; there were and are no "Jewish-only" roads anywhere, even when WB Palestinians were denied road access, Israeli Arabs could and did drive there. The HRW 2010 report included a long summary of that finding, without challenge. As bad as they saw Israel, they agreed it wasn't apartheid.

Then in 2020 came the Abraham Accords, so while nothing at all had changed in the administration of the West Bank, in 2021 HRW said it actually was apartheid. It really is that simple. The most famous legal convention banning apartheid specifies that it is race-based. HRW instead went with a different legal convention on apartheid, one that says it could be based on national origin if it involves discrimination among citizens of the same country.... and then they up and added their own twist to that, saying they will consider it apartheid if there is discrimination based on national origin AMONG PEOPLE WHO AREN'T CITIZENS OF THE SAME COUNTRY. In a very real sense, HRW declared Mexico is an apartheid state because Americans can't vote in its elections.

In 2022, Amnesty International followed with their own report, saying that not only was the military occupation now "apartheid," but that Israel itself had been an apartheid state ever since it was established in 1948. This moral perversion had the effect of saying Israel literally INVENTED apartheid since in May 1948 it didn't even exist in South Africa yet. It also said that Amnesty International - founded 1961 - had been looking at an apartheid the whole time but never recognized it. To make things even more dishonest, Amnesty said they "are not claiming Israeli conditions are analogous to South Africa," meaning anything that shows how Israel is different from South Africa doesn't count. They're using the South African word for the South African policy but it's actually not like South Africa at all so be quiet, neener neener no backsies.

I shouldn't have to take that seriously. Neither should anyone. Palestinians and their advocates should be ashamed to have to lean on such an obvious bad-faith lie.

Nelson Mandela, who died in 2013, never once accused Israel of apartheid, and instead repeatedly said he supported Zionism and a 2-state solution. Mandela's lawyer, still alive, says the accusation is a lie. Mansour Abbas, leader of the Arab Islamist party that joined Israel's governing coalition in 2021, says the accusation is a lie. And if people want to bandy around NGO business cards, here is the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2017:

“The Red Cross was very familiar with the regime that prevailed in South Africa during the apartheid period, and we are responding to all those who raise their claim of apartheid against Israel: No, there is no apartheid here, no regime of superiority of race, of denial of basic human rights to a group of people because of their alleged racial inferiority. There is a bloody national conflict, whose most prominent and tragic characteristic is its continuation over the years, decades-long, and there is a state of occupation. Not apartheid.”

There's a lot more you can see about the shifty terminology, unreliable sourcing, and longstanding culture of antisemitism and racism within Amnesty International. People who can cite chapter and verse of why the Salvation Army, Autism Speaks, Chik-Fil-A and Harry Potter are problematic should not be shocked.

#israel #palestine #amnesty international #apartheid #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #false accusations #european antisemitism #jumblr #human rights watch

[joyejoyu]

Some sensitive stuff but if you care about current going ons in Palestine I encourage you to read:

I am genuinely devastated by the cognitive dissonance world leaders and celebrities are exhibiting re: Gaza. As a Levantine Arab whose parent’s homes were destroyed in war ignited by Israeli occupation, I am vehemently Pro-Palestine and sincerely encourage people to be critical of Pro-Israeli propaganda. Israel has been recognized time and time again by the United Nations and several human rights organizations as a colonial-settler state that has and continues to commit apartheid. Israel has always been a white supremacist and Zionist project financially backed by America and Europe solely for the benefits of keeping Palestinians oppressed while utilizing the land as a makeshift military base in the Levant. World leaders are lying through their teeth in order to retain all the benefits that come with subjugation. It is not a ‘conflict’ nor is it ‘complicated’. If you don’t support what Russia is doing to Ukraine, you should not support what Israel is doing to Palestine. There is never an excuse for massacre at this scale for this long.

I will be adding many resources below while also reblogging many informational posts. I know this is just my art Tumblr but I am incredibly passionate about this situation and it effects my family directly.

Links:

How ‘Israel’ came to be and how it was on the blood of indigenous Palestinians and a white supremicist project funded by the UK and America:

What has been happening in Gaza for almost 80 years:

The sheer amount of carnage that Israeli officials hide from the general public and claim is ‘less’ than Israeli casualties:

How Americans are brainwashed into helping with and advocating apartheid and ethnic cleansing:

How Israelites and zionists hide behind anti-semitism when confronted with the reality of Palestinian genocide and any critique on Israeli apartheid. As well as how utilizing this term as a shield dismisses the actual meaning of anti-semitism and diminishes it’s value during genuine critique:

Human rights resources

There are many more but this is enough to start. Please don’t stay silent and don’t blindly believe the overwhelming (and very calculated and intentional) wave of pro-Israeli sentiment.

#personal #please help Palestinians and be critical of things you see online #especially all the recent waves of PR being posted online #resource list

[dailyanarchistposts]

I am currently detained in an Israeli jail, the result of refusing to attend or cooperate with criminal charges laid against me and two others for joining Palestinian protests in the West Bank against Israel’s colonial rule. Because I am an Israeli citizen, the proceedings in the case are held in an Israeli court in Jerusalem and not at the military court, where Palestinians are tried.

It has been almost nine years since the last time I was incarcerated for more than a day or two. Much has changed since. Politically, reality does not even resemble that of a decade ago, and none of the changes were for the better.

Politically, the world seems to have lost much of its interest in the Palestinian struggle for liberation, placing Israel at one of the historical peaks of its political strength. I am in no position to discuss the profound changes within Israeli society and how even farther to the right it has drifted. Israeli liberals are much better suited for such a task, because they hold their country dear and feel a sense of belonging that I cannot feel and do not want to feel.

Personally, I am older, more tired and, mostly, not as healthy as I was. Of course, the price I have paid for my part in the struggle is a fraction of that paid by Palestinian comrades, but I cannot deny its subjective weight on me: from physical injuries, some irreversible, through sporadic despair, anxiety and sense of helplessness, to the encumbering sensation of loss and the presence of death – and the grip all these have on my day-to-day life. And yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Right now, just as it was back then, sitting in prison is better than any other alternative available to me.

The legal fallacies that riddle the case against us are of little significance. While it is fair to assume that had I agreed to cooperate, the trial would have ended up with an acquittal, my refusal to recognize the court’s legitimacy is based on two main grounds.

The first is that my Palestinian comrades do not enjoy the luxury of being tried in the relatively comfortable conditions of the Israeli courts. Rather, they are tried as subjects in the parody of a legal system that are Israel’s military courts. Unlike me, Palestinians do not have the option of refusing to cooperate with their captors, since the vast majority of them are tried while remanded into custody for the duration of their proceedings.

Additionally, the punishment Palestinians are faced with is significantly harsher than that specified in Israeli law. Thus, in this regard as well, despite refusing to recognize the court’s legitimacy, the price I am likely to pay is significantly lower than that paid by my comrades.

The second, more fundamental ground to refuse to cooperate is that all Israeli courts, military or otherwise, lack any legitimacy to preside over matters of resisting Israeli colonial rule, which employs a hybrid regime, ranging between a distorted and racially discriminatory democracy in its sovereign territory and a flat-out military dictatorship in the occupied territories.

Faced with the tremendous shift to the right in Israeli politics, the shrinking remnants of the Zionist left – once the country’s dominant elite group – are consumed by lamenting the decline of Israeli democracy. But what democracy is it they wish to defend? The one that has dispossessed its Palestinian citizens of their lands and their rights? The one that, at best, views these Palestinian citizens as second-class? Perhaps it is the democracy that governs the Gaza Strip through vicious siege while it reigns as a military dictatorship in the West Bank?

Despite the obvious nature of the Israeli regime, Israeli liberals are not willing to contest the fundamental premise of internal Israeli discourse and acknowledge that the State of Israel simply is not a democracy. Never was.

To join the fight to topple Israeli apartheid, the few Jewish citizens of Israel willing to do so will first have to recognize that they are overprivileged and be willing to pay the price of relinquishing that status. An open rebellion against the regime has been taking place for decades, carried out by the Palestinian resistance movement. The price paid by those involved in it is immense. Jewish citizens of Israel must cross over and walk in their footsteps.

#anti-colonialism #anti-prison #Israel #Jewish anarchism #anarchism #climate crisis #climate change #resistance #autonomy #revolution #ecology #community building #practical anarchism #anarchist society #practical #Jonathan Pollak #practical anarchy #anarchy #daily posts #communism #anti capitalist #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism #organization #grassroots #grass roots #anarchists #libraries #leftism #social issues

[matan4il]

Well.

Israel maybe attacked Iran tonight (at 4 a.m Israeli time) or it was someone else (maybe Switzerland had an issue with Iran to settle on Iranian tyrant Khamenei's bday), it was done with just 3 rather small drones (the kind which can't cross the 1,600 kilometers, around 1,000 miles, between Israel and Iran) aimed at the military base in Isfahan (which Iran's attack on Israel 5 days ago was launched from), or it was more, or it even entailed missiles, it caused damage, or it didn't because everything was intercepted (or that's just Iran's track record of pretending like it's never hit), it was very meaningful by reminding Iran that its air defences are penetrable (but without going far enough, to force Iran to retaliate), or it just demonstrated military abilities that Iran was already aware that Israel has.

This is Schrödinger's counterstrike (or it isn't).

Basically, I've taken in so many different reports, and commentators' interpretations of what this means and how it will influence things to come, it feels impossible to say anything with any kind of certainty. Except maybe this: even though Israeli, Iranian and American seniors have all spoken today, none have referred to this attack officially. However you look at it, to me it seems like all 3 countries are doing that, to help de-escalate the situation. I think that's the bottom line for now. Iran is the head of the snake, nothing of Oct 7 onwards would have happened without its funding, but the current front that Israel and the US want to focus on, is still in Gaza. For now.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #israelunderattack #iran

[hussyknee]

Fellas, is it an act of war against a Western European country to hold their citizens prisoner in the open air prison they're carpet bombing?

Lebanon's Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis have been launching attacks on US military bases in Syria and Iraq and firing missiles at Israel in tandem with Hamas's attacks. All three are funded by Iran.

(I am HEAVING with laughter at Vox and every single one of these propagandist chucklefucks calling them "militias" and "terrorist organisations" and trying to frame this as justification for continuing to fund Israel like. MOTHERFUCKER WHOSE REGION ARE YOU IN EXACTLY?? WHO IS GENOCIDING PEOPLE ON THEIR OWN SOIL??)

"But they're fundie theocratic military states!!!"

*looks at Israel*

*looks at you*

*looks at current state of US*

Oh, ARE they?

US officials have met with the Lebanese caretaker government in an effort to try and prevent the conflict from spreading into Lebanon.

Um. Was this before or after Israel poured white phosphorus on Lebanon? Do y'all even have any control over your dog?

(Btw if you MCU brainrotted Western leftists don't stop trying to pick a Good Guy out of this mess instead of understanding basic geo-politics and the horrific ground realities of the countries the US and its allies have left in tatters, you're frankly just as much of an enemy to the people in those countries as your leaders are. Every one of these people are fascist cunts.)

For those of you who have been BLEATING about Ukraine non-stop, like it's NOT an expendable non-NATO country they're only interested in defending in case Putin gets any bright ideas about Poland, here's an opinion that makes sense to me:

Tell me it wouldn't be perfectly on brand if the US government announced, "Our great democracy bows to the will of the people. We hear you, we see you. We will divest...from Ukraine."

The West has never given one singular shit about protecting ANYONE from genocide. Vulnerability is liability. The only difference between them and Putin is that Putin is greedy megalomaniacal fascist surrounded by self-interested yes-men and the US is run by a committee of greedy egomaniacal fascists surrounded by self-interested yes-men whose end goal is keeping the death machine spinning money rather than even "winning" territories. All they have to do to turn this around is divest from Israel and focus on Ukraine. And no, Israel can't throw in with Putin because it'll be too busy trying to fight off three countries at once without the sugar from its Daddy.

Putin will not stop at Ukraine, for the same reason the US didn't stop at Afghanistan. Empires are built on their military power and militaries need to be fed and kept active and kept active to be fed. The minute you stop, it tries to eat itself. If Putin makes a move on Poland, NATO has to respond, and if the West is also embroiled in an all-out war with the Middle East, well. It looks kinda like a global conflict.

Oh and btw, if this does escalate into another regional war in the Middle East, we're going to be plunged into an oil crisis. Which might actually be the last straw for the UK economy, but it very DEFINITELY will be for the rest of the Global South.

(Also Biden's already auctioned off the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska for oil companies for such an intensive scale of fracking that it's projected to tip the world over the edge of climate collapse. In the event of a war in the ME, the US is going to need that oil soooooo. Good luck stopping it.)

#gaza genocide #free palestine #war in ukraine #death to america #death to israel #geopolitics #us politics #middle east #iran #hezbollah #lebanon #world news #current events #knee of huss

[palestinegenocide]

Zionism will never be viewed the same after the Gaza genocide

How do you wrap your head around genocide? As one numb week follows another, our leaders blind themselves to massacre and famine.

Joe Biden can see no “compelling alternative to how Israel [wages] a war in these circumstances without doing grievous harm to civilians,” Aaron David Miller writes in the New York Times, excusing the president’s support for genocide. So, Israel isn’t being deliberately cruel and sadistic. The Times coverage would just have you believe they just have no choice– as Donald Johnson wrote in a letter to the paper. “There is no middle ground between what Israel is doing and Gandhian pacifism: They just had to use 2000 lb bombs in urban settings. They have to torture captives and cut off food.”

Miller and other liberal Zionists have adopted that stance, but they are having little influence on Democrats. Polls show that the American people favor giving humanitarian aid to Gaza in far greater numbers than they do giving military aid to Israel, and the progressive base of the Democratic Party has started a political “firestorm” over U.S. support for genocide. The Zionist group J Street postponed its 2024 conference, surely because its own rank and file are enraged by Israel.

James Carville said on MSNBC this week that if Biden loses, it’s Israel’s fault, because the catastrophe in Gaza is an issue “all across the country.”

“This Gaza stuff, this is not just a problem with some snot-nosed Ivy League people…This is a problem all across the country. And I hope the president and Blinken can get this thing calmed down because if it doesn’t get calmed down before the Democratic convention, it’s going to be a very ugly time in Chicago. I promise you that. No matter what happens, I know it’s a huge problem.”

Last week, Brad Sherman, the Israel-loving Congress member from Los Angeles, fought back, accusing “anti-Israel forces” of an “attempt to penetrate and muddy our national discourse.”

Protesters affiliated with the antiwar group Code Pink seek to ask Rep. Brad Sherman about his support for the massacres of Palestinians in Gaza, in a video posted March 20, 2024. The congressman from Los Angeles/Malibu ran away from the protesters and accused them of seeking the genocide of Jews. Screenshot.

Sherman accused them of antisemitism. “There’s blood on your hands for the genocide—you’re trying to kill every Jew.”

That is the chief refuge for Democrats who excuse Israel’s actions. To say that critics of genocide are motivated by antisemitism.

But even liberal media are giving a platform to progressive critics. “The United States is complicit in genocide,” Mehdi Hasan said this week on New York public radio, and when the host pushed back and said Hasan was not blaming Hamas, Hasan said of course he denounces Hamas, but his tax dollars are not going to support Hamas. He also pointed out the inevitable consequences of military occupation. “The oppressed will always rise against the oppressor.”

And in wonderful media news this week, Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg withdrew from a speaking engagement in Kentucky after students questioned his record in the Israeli military nearly 40 years ago.

Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic, withdrew from a scheduled speaking event at the University of Kentucky (UK) Wednesday, citing a last-minute schedule change, amidst concerns from students about his past as a former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) prison guard and his views on Zionism…. “We were informed that students expressed concern as to why a former IDF prison guard would be speaking on democracy and journalism at an event celebrating the integration of UK. Students were told he withdrew to not cause harm on campus,” the representative [of a Palestinian solidarity group] stated.

The event was billed as “The Future of Journalism and the Health of Our Democracy.” That’s a little bit of accountability. The editor of the Atlantic is finally being called out for his service for Israel. The writer Yakov Hirsch repeatedly explained on our site that Netanyahu could not have maintained his faultless reputation in the U.S. mainstream without Goldberg fostering “hasbara culture.”

And bear in mind, that Goldberg used to brag about his military service. He wrote a whole memoir about it. Now, times are changing. And other editors who carried water for Israel will surely be called on to defend that work.

This process is just beginning. Zionists still have esteem in the U.S. discourse. The view that Israel supporters promote bigotry against Palestinians is still off-limits. Even as mainstream Jewish organizations assert that those who support Palestinian rights are bigoted against Jews.

“Israel supporters should be seen as on the same moral level as supporters of Bull Connor, but in the U.S. and Western mainstream you can only point to antisemitism— you can never point to anti-Palestinian racism on the Israel side,” Donald Johnson has written on our site.

“We cannot make progress on this issue if the extreme racism of the pro-genocide side is never discussed. People have to be able to say that any group, whether white southerners or South Africans or Nation of Islam members or Christian evangelical Zionists or Germans or, yes, Jewish supporters of Israel, can be racists. They can make racism central to their ideology. But Zionist racism is still a taboo subject, automatically branded as antisemitic, because fundamentally Palestinians are seen as lesser.”

#gaza #israel #gaza strip #gazaunderattack #genocide #israel is a terrorist state #free gaza #free palestine #palestine #jerusalem #news #world news #breaking news #latest news #palestine news #war on gaza #war news #news update #support palestine #rafah #save rafah #free rafah #keep eyes on rafah #rafah under attack #all eyes on rafah #tel aviv #current events #yemen #al quds #khan younis

[geopoliticswithshoaib]

The 3 billion dollars aid we give to israel is the best investment we make.If there were not an Israel, we’d have to invent one to protect america's interest in the region.

-Joe Biden,US Congress,1986

Israel was never a country.Its just a massive american military base, overseeing control of the resource-rich middle east.

When a country attempts to acquire nuclear capabilities, USA and its allies use a combination of military and economic sanctions to deter such actions.The nuclear program of israel never faced any opposition from USA and its allies.

Why an active occupying force that consistently invades other countries would be allowed to possess such destructive weapons???????

#geopolitics with shoaib #us government #israel #gaza #palestine #russia #iran #usa #usa news #imperialism #war #world war #free palestine

[phoenixyfriend]

Unless you mean it as "Israel should not exist," in which case I need to say that I am pro-Free Palestine and such, but draw the line at "the State of Israel should be Dismantled and all Jewish people driven out of the ME in general, not just occupied West Bank or the forcibly taken areas of Jerusalem," which is a real and disturbingly sincere take I've encountered

I’m honestly really disappointed in you. Of all the actual Palestinians I listen to, here and elsewhere, I’ve never heard the stance that Jews should be driven out of the ME. I cannot help but assume that you do not listen to Palestinians, because of this and your belief that somehow the end to their occupation and oppression does not necessitate the end to the racist colonialist Israeli state. The state of israel not only should be dismantled but must be dismantled for the freedom of Palestinians everywhere. There is no kind of reform that can fix an institution predicated on ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and colonialism.

Well, first off, I did say 'take that I've encountered,' not 'thing that Palestinians have said,' because I have seen it and needed to specify, on account of how I have no idea what anon means by pro-Palestine, given that they were anonymous and the message was only four words. When I know that there are people online that treat pro-Palestine as 'kill or drive out the Jews,' I do have to clarify this, to avoid being misunderstood (which has happened anyway).

But also... the thing is that I'm not just considering this as Palestine-and-Israel.

I am considering this as Palestine-and-Israel-and-their-neighbors.

It doesn't really matter that Palestinians don't want to drive out the Jewish civilians of Israel when many of the military groups in the region do. The Houthi slogan is "God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam." Iran and its proxies (including Hamas and Hezbollah) hold similar or the same views, they just don't have it in the middle of their slogans, and they haven't successfully driven out all but one Jewish person (the one in prison) from the countries they're in, though Lebanon (Hezbollah) has gotten it down to forty. Iran's got it down to under 0.1%, but that's still over 8,000 people.

That's also why I'm hesitant to support the 'Israel should be dismantled' cause as such. Precedent in the area is that the Jewish people get chased out or killed. Dismantling Israel or remaking it into a fused state with Palestine, whatever, needs to be approached with a strong awareness for what the militant groups in the region may do in revenge, not just to the government, but to the civilians and children and so on. We cannot assume that all people will act in good faith when precedent indicates that many will not.

This does not in any way defend Israel's actions, for all that they use it as a justification for what they are doing. This is just something that needs to be considered and adjusted for if resolving the conflict is needed. Maybe dismantling Israel's government and building something new can happen without killing the Jewish people of the area or disenfranchising Palestinians. Maybe there is a way forward that can keep people alive and healthy, if not entirely happy--because compromise never makes everyone happy--but please understand that my 'people may try to drive the Jews out of the ME' belief is based on the fact that they already did. In so many countries, they already did.

#Anonymous #current events #palestine #israel #gaza #death tw #phoenix answers asks #antisemitism

[eretzyisrael]

by Hadar Sela

“More than 50 journalists have sent an open letter calling on Israel and Egypt to provide “free and unfettered access to Gaza for all foreign media”.

The letter is signed by correspondents and presenters for broadcasters with UK bases, including the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen, Lyse Doucet and Mishal Husain.

It says the need for comprehensive on-the-ground reporting is “imperative”. […]

The letter calls on Israel’s government to “openly state its permission for international journalists to operate in Gaza”.

It also asks Egyptian authorities to allow foreign press access to the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza.”

In addition to Jeremy Bowen, Lyse Doucet and Mishal Husain, the other thirteen BBC journalists who signed the letter include Orla Guerin, Clive Myrie, Fergal Keane, Quentin Sommerville and Tom Bateman.

The next morning, Jeremy Bowen put out the following Tweet:

That edition of BBC Radio 4’s ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ was aired on February 17th and Bowen’s piece is the lead item (from 00:37 here). 

“International media have been campaigning to gain access to Gaza in the months since the Israeli bombardment began – with only occasional access granted, which is closely supervised by the Israeli military. More often, news organisations have relied on Palestinian journalists already living and working in Gaza, who continue to operate under dangerous conditions. Jeremy Bowen reflects on the difficulties of telling the story of the Israel-Gaza war.”

Bowen: “Israel and Egypt – the two countries that control the borders – don’t let international journalists into the Gaza Strip. […]

I can only surmise that Israel is not allowing reporters to work freely inside Gaza because their soldiers are doing things they do not want us to see.”

Later in the item, Bowen refers to the case against Israel brought to the ICJ by South Africa, claiming that “the court has ruled that Israel has a plausible case to answer on allegations of genocide”. After that debatable interpretation of the court’s ruling, Bowen goes on to tell BBC audiences that:

Bowen: “…foreign journalists might uncover evidence that backs up those accusations of war crimes as well as the even more serious one of genocide. Till we get in, we’ll never know.”

In other words, Jeremy Bowen – and presumably his co-signatories too – would have the public believe that only reporting on the ground in the Gaza Strip by him and his colleagues can provide an accurate account of what is happening there.

That assertion, however, is not even remotely supported by the records of Bowen and others among the signatories when they have been given free access to report from the Gaza Strip in the past. Here are just a few examples:

In 2012, Bowen (and others) tried to persuade BBC audiences that an Israeli operation against Hamas was in fact part of an election campaign:

EXAMINING THE BBC’S PORTRAYAL OF OPERATION ‘PILLAR OF CLOUD’ AS ISRAELI ELECTIONEERING

During the same operation, BBC journalists vigorously promoted a story concerning the death of the son of a BBC employee which was later shown to be inaccurate. Jeremy Bowen was the corporation’s Middle East editor at the time.

REVISITING A FIVE YEAR-OLD BBC STORY

During the 2014 conflict, Bowen promoted unverified casualty figures and devoted considerable energy to denial of Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields while providing amplification for accusations of ‘war crimes’ and ignoring the issue of shortfall missiles.

BBC CLAIMS THAT ISRAEL TARGETED A CENTRE FOR THE DISABLED IN GAZA SHOWN TO BE INACCURATE

HAMAS PR DEPARTMENT INVOKES BBC’S BOWEN

BBC’S BOWEN SAW NO HUMAN SHIELDS IN GAZA – BUT REPORTS THEM IN MOSUL

IN WHICH THE BBC’S JEREMY BOWEN REPEATS HIS ‘NO HUMAN SHIELDS IN GAZA’ CLAIMS

During the same 2014 conflict, the BBC’s Lyse Doucet produced remarkably little – and distinctly unhelpful – reporting on the topic of Hamas’ tunnel system as well as reporting from locations in Gaza including the Shuja’iya neighbourhood.

BBC FAILS TO ADEQUATELY INFORM AUDIENCES ON TERRORIST TUNNELS (AND WORSE)

TWENTY-THREE SECONDS OF BBC REPORTING ON GAZA TUNNELS

EXAMINING LYSE DOUCET’S CLAIM THAT SHE REPORTED NEW HAMAS TUNNELS ON BBC

BBC’S DOUCET PROMOTES AND AMPLIFIES HAMAS “MASSACRE” PROPAGANDA ON WS RADIO

BBC NEWS PASSES UP ON THE CHANCE TO CORRECT GAZA MISINFORMATION

Orla Guerin’s contributions to BBC coverage of the 2014 conflict included promotion of unverified Hamas-supplied casualty figures and the notion of Israeli ‘occupation’ of the Gaza Strip nine years after disengagement. Like her colleague Jeremy Bowen, Guerin also saw no evidence of Hamas’ use of human shields during her time reporting from the Gaza Strip.

ORLA GUERIN’S PARTING SHOT BREACHES BBC EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

BBC COMPLAINTS: ‘IT WAS HARD FOR JOURNALISTS IN GAZA TO SEE ROCKETS BEING FIRED’

In 2018 Jeremy Bowen misled BBC audiences on the topic of the background to the ‘Great Return March’.

BBC’S MIDDLE EAST EDITOR ‘EXPLAINS’ GAZA VIOLENCE

In 2021 Bowen produced a particularly egregious report about deaths caused by a shortfall missile.

BBC’S JEREMY BOWEN REWRITES THE BEIT HANOUN SHORTFALL ROCKET INCIDENT

In other words, even at times when BBC journalists have had free access to the Gaza Strip during periods of violence and armed conflict, their physical presence on the ground did not guarantee accurate and impartial coverage. 

Indeed, the current conflict demonstrates precisely how years of serial BBC avoidance of topics such as the Hamas tunnel network, weapons smuggling, Hamas’ use of human shields and its abuse of civilian facilities such as hospitals, schools, universities and mosques have been profoundly unhelpful to members of the BBC’s funding public who are now trying to understand the background to the events since October 7th. 

#jeremy bowen #liar #bbc #media biasa #hamas #gaza

[stephobrien]

The ICJ ruled that it's plausible that Israel's assault on Gaza could amount to a genocide.

Being a signatory the Genocide Convention means America has an obligation to prevent genocide.

And yet, America's ambassador just vetoed yet another attempt to pass a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza.

According to the above article, "She told reporters the Arab draft did not link the release of the hostages to a cease-fire, which would give Hamas a halt to fighting without requiring it to take any action. That would mean “that the fighting would have continued because without the hostage releases we know that the fighting is going to continue,” she said."

This excuse seems to ignore the fact that that Hamas has offered a deal that would involve both the release of the hostages AND an end to the fighting.

It's the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the most reluctant to stop the fighting. And he's been very clear about the fact that, despite Israel having given a nod to international law by participating in the ICJ hearing, he has no intention of actually abiding by the ruling.

“No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anyone else," Netanyahu said in televised remarks.

In a statement to media, he also said, "We’re continuing the war to the end. It will continue until Hamas is destroyed — until victory…until all the goals we set are met: destroying Hamas, releasing our hostages and removing the threat from Gaza."

(If you think this sounds reasonable, imagine if Hamas had killed 29,000 Israelis, restricted most of Israel's access to food, water, and medicine to the point where Israelis were starving, and damaged or destroyed over half of all the buildings in Israel, and then said they would continue until the Likud and IDF were completely destroyed, so they could never attack Palestinians again.)

Netanyahu has long opposed a two-state solution, even going so far as to prop up Hamas. He endangered innocent Israelis' lives so he could use Hamas as an excuse to avoid real negotiations, which could lead to Palestinian statehood and a chance for REAL peace that's based on justice and equality rather than oppression and control.

His policies and rhetoric have drawn criticism from his fellow Israelis, including thousands of protestors, and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the latter of whom said:

“It isn’t fashionable to trust Palestinians, any Palestinians. This is the time when you’re meant to hate them. But this is bullshit. When I argue with people, sometimes I say, ‘What is the solution? What do you think can be done? Do you think that we can continue to control 4.5 million people without rights, with unlimited occupation, forever? Do you think that can work?’ Then they, of course, don’t have an answer.”

Netanyahu won't end the war, or abide by international law, willingly. We need to keep pressuring our governments to take TANGIBLE ACTION to make the Israeli government stop, whether that's sanctions, cessation of aid and military cooperation, or whatever your country is in a position to do.

Don't stop contacting your representatives, and urging them to put pressure on the Israeli government.

And for those who need to be reminded: please direct your anger toward the government officials who are in a position to do something about this, and toward the companies that are complicit in Israel's violence.

Do NOT direct it toward random Jewish people, businesses, or places of worship that have absolutely no influence on or complicity in the violence you're protesting.

#Palestine #Free Palestine #Gaza #Gaza genocide #Israel Palestine conflict #Israel Palestine war #Israel #collective punishment #Netanyahu is a war criminal #genocide Joe #Canada is complicit #America is complicit #UNSC #UN security council

[cyarsk52-20]

“What about the Palestinians?”

Exactly! Why isn’t the US and every Middle Eastern country banding together to go into Gaza together and eliminate Hamas safely? Why is everyone kicking back and telling Israel “no, not like that” but never helping? Why has the world not helped end this permanently?

A ceasefire is not a solution! We KNOW Hamas will break it AGAIN? When we don’t provide a solution, how can we sit on our high horses and judge them for not wanting to continue to be murdered? Seems like people just want to blame and not do the real work

Sitting back and saying “no, not like that” to desperate people is a really shitty thing to do if you’re not going to help. It’s not new news that Hamas uses Palestinians as shields. The international community should have ended this years ago

Seriously, what’s the endgame? Israel agrees to a ceasefire AGAIN. Hamas breaks it AGAIN by murdering more Israelis. You think it’s cool just to let that continue? What’s your solution?

Even if there’s a two state solution with Hamas running Palestinians like they already are, Hamas will CONTINUE to attack Israel! The death continues unless Palestinians are no longer ruled by Hamas!

Every year you kick the can down the road without eliminating Hamas is another year they can put more military bases under hospitals, bombs under elementary schools, increasing casualties hundred-fold. Time is not helping, only making things worse

If you truly cared about saving Palestinian lives, you would have amplified Israel’s call for evacuation of Gaza (piss poor job at the Genocide everyone is falsely accusing them of.) but no. Y’all just want to yell at Israel and feel morally superior

But as you see, many Palestinians ARE evacuating because they want to live, and even though they don’t have freedom of speech to say so, would LOVE to see Hamas gone and not waging war on their heads every few months!

Humanitarian efforts should be focused on evacuating those who are sick and old, especially out of hospitals that have military complexes under them. But that would make too much sense and you’d have to empathize with and cooperate with Israel to save Palestinians

Y’all just want to sew division and hate and don’t care about finding solutions. You’re using Palestinian suffering for moral righteousness and clicks and to justify your antisemitism. You haven’t even thought through the issue in the most basic way. Morally bereft and ignorant

#politics #palestine #anti zionisim #gaza #israel #antisemitism #anti zionism ��� antisemitism #pro palestine ≠ antisemitism #hamas ≠ palestine #jewish ≠ zionist #jewish ≠ israel #Israel #free palestine #isreal #palestinians #israel palestine conflict #hamas war crimes #hamas is isis #hamas massacre #israel hamas war #netanyahu #benjamin netanyahu #hamas attack #Check on your Jewish and Muslim friends #they are not okay rn #they are terrified #against antisemitism #against Islamophobia

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Weird how supporting Ukraine in Russia's war of aggression is an NPC move and not really worth supporting (with many right-wingers actually supporting Russia) but supporting Israel is totally based and the only right thing to do.

Thank you anon, I've been waiting for some idiot to try and compare these two things. So let's list some of the ways the two situations are different.

Ukraine is not our ally. Israel is.

Ukraine provoked Russia by trying to join NATO, which was specifically forbidden by an agreement NATO had with Russia. Israel did nothing to provoke Hamas other than refuse to be genocided by religious fanatics.

Ukranian independence means nothing for the United States. Our situation is exactly the same no matter who wins that war. Israel is the only democracy in the middle east. It's the only country that has nukes in the middle east. Its existence draws the attention of terrorist states that would otherwise turn their violence back towards us. Its existence gives the various Islamic factions, many of which hate each other almost as much as they hate Jews or America, something to focus on instead of having the fundamentalists immediately go to war with the arab nations that are slowly westernizing. I can't overstate how much a stable, westernized middle east would benefit the US, and Israel's existence is important for that goal.

Russia is a legit government that declared war on another legit government. Hamas is a terrorist organization pretending to be a government that raided Israel, kidnapped and raped hundreds of people, murdered civilians, slaughtered babies, and stole children.

Russia has nukes. Hamas doesn't. If Putin is backed into a corner there's a decent chance he'll use those nukes. If Russia loses the war and that leads to Putin being ousted and a fight for power in Russia, those nukes could be stolen or sold to foreign powers that want to destroy the US and the west. If Russia collapses, then the chances of those nukes going outside of Russia increases drastically.

Those are just a few ways the two situations are different, and why any comparison between the two is stupid and ignorant. Now, if you want to know my personal thoughts, since I know people like you love to pretend that all right wingers have the exact same opinions on everything and demand we prostrate ourselves and self-flagellate over things we've never said, I'll readily admit that I have a deep sympathy for the historic, and modern, plight of the Jews that I don't have for Ukrainians. I'm much more emotionally invested in Israel than I am in Ukraine. But I do hope Ukraine wins. I think every country and every culture should be free to govern itself. I don't support Putin, I don't support Russia, and I think it's hilarious that what used to be the second most powerful military in the world is having so much trouble conquering a tiny country they should have, on paper at least, steamrolled in a few weeks.

But I also don't support the US getting involved in foreign conflicts unless there's something tangible to be gained for us, either economically, strategically, or diplomatically. We get nothing for our investment in Ukraine. We get a lot for our investment in Israel.

[17isrighthere]

the western world being rotten to the core is not surprising news or anything new but theres a certain type of despair and rage realising that these countries like america are SO desparate for oil, resources, military bases while also flouting dangerous ideologies that they will back a genocidal state like israel and support millions of people being massacred and wiped out from their ancient homeland AND be willing to drag the entire of the middle east into a war since israel made the offensive against iran first but ofc news articles will never report it that way but then its even more sobering because the lives of brown people are really just seen as collateral and its normal for them to suffer and for their homes to be razed to the ground

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

POV: You're playing a progressive game.

Dude, you wanna play "Mission Impossible: Israel Edition"?

Yeah, sure.

It's 1947 and the UN the land of Israel to a Jewish state and an Arab state. As a Jew, your mission is... survive!

That's it? Okay.

Let's draw the first card... War! Local Arabs attacking Jews all over the land, joined by the armies of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. Do you fight back or surrender?

If I surrender, do I survive?

No.

Then I fight back.

OK, let's draw another one... You lose a huge amount of your population but miraculously manage to win. Are you willing to give back some of the territories you gained in exchange for peace?

Of course, I just want to survive.

Great and now we have... Terror! Hundreds of Israelis killed by Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza. Do you wish to surrender, hunt the terrorists or give the Palestinians autonomy so they can form a peaceful and independent society alongside Israel?

Let's give them autonomy.

OK you get... More terror! Over a thousand Israelis die in countless attacks all over Israel.

Oh wow, I won't be able to survive like this. Let's fight the terrorists in the West Bank and withdraw from Gaza completely. I'll even give the Palestinians all the facilities we created over there. I'm sure they'll find a use for it.

Interesting... The people of Gaza elected Hamas as their ruler and it swore to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews. They also dismantled the infrastructure you gave them and used it to build rockets which they fire towards you. How do you respond?

Okay let's talk to Egypt and together we'll form a tight border around Gaza to control what goes in and out.

Okay... People are mad at you because you formed a blockade.

But they'll kill me if I won't... well then let's give Gaza electricity, fuel, supplies, and billions of dollars.

Okay you get... Even more terror! Hamas uses all the aid to develop terror infrastructure while the people of Gaza remain poor.

This game is not that easy...

You waited too long and now Hamas crossed the border, killed 1500 Israelis and kidnapped 240, all in one day!

OK enough is enough. I enter Gaza to destroy Hamas.

Let's see... Many of your soldiers die fighting in urban territory. You're having trouble because Hamas hides among civilians.

Oh man. Let's use the Air Force and target Hamas officials only.

Hamas uses civilians as human shields. Do you wish to proceed?

Look, I'll put tremendous efforts into targeting Hamas only with as few civilian casualties as possible.

Let's see... Hamas builds military bases inside residential areas, schools, and hospitals, so, unfortunately, civilians die.

OK let me think...

While you were thinking, 30 Israelis died.

Wait a second...

50 Israelis more. Your people fear for their lives.

OK I'll notify the people of Gaza before striking so they have time to evacuate.

Hamas blocks the roads so civilians can't leave.

What do you want me to do?

Now Hamas says that Israel is just the beginning and they want to take on all Western democracies.

OK now I'm sure the world will understand if I keep fighting Hamas while trying as hard as I can to avoid collateral damage.

Let's see... Most people accuse you of performing a genocide and demand you cease fire.

OK, happy to, but only if Hamas will surrender and return the hostages.

They refuse. You are now accused of ethnic cleansing and considered a war criminal.

I'm starting to think I cannot win this game.

==

"Israel is the only country in the world never allowed to win a war." -- Douglas Murray

Remember when Boko Haram kidnapped 300 girls and everyone was all #BringBackOurGirls? Let's leave aside the fact they also kidnapped 10,000 boys and nobody said a word.

What are we currently hearing from Western countries, and particularly from western elites? Motions and calls for a "ceasefire." Not a demand for Hamas to surrender and #BringBackTheHostages, but for everyone to put their guns down so the terrorists can regroup, rearm and reload, and plan even more of the atrocities they've already promised.

I saw one person on social media say "couldn't they start with asking Hamas to please surrender?" I thought they were kidding. They were not. Which is like "why are there still monkeys?" Apparently scientists just never considered this, and Israel just never asked nicely.

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it" "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors." -- Hamas Covenant, 1988.

Who is making demands of Hamas? Nobody actually expects anything of them, because they know they're terrorists. But they're the ones of which we should be demanding the most.

The only thing you can do when being assaulted by wokescolds, of any variety, is to just do the right thing and ignore them. When they have aligned themselves with full-blown terrorists who have a fatwa issued against them, they don't have the moral high ground.

https://fatwacouncil.org/2023/03/09/hamasfatwa/

FATWA | Palestinian Human Rights in Gaza March 9, 2023

The Islamic Fatwa Council (IFC) deems the recently publicized audio and video material containing testimonies of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip to be both alarming and concerning. It is the responsibility of the Islamic Seminaries to take a clear and firm stance in light of the inhumane actions of Hamas.

Based on the requests of countless believers, The Islamic Fatwa Council has reviewed extensive documentation of Hamas behavior towards Palestinians in Gaza, including their recently publicized testimonies. Our findings - which are also displayed in our jurisprudential reasoning - result in our ruling that:

1. Hamas bears responsibility for its own reign of corruption and terror against Palestinian civilians within Gaza; 2. It is prohibited to pray for, join, support, finance, or fight on behalf of Hamas - an entity that adheres to the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Furthermore, The Islamic Fatwa Council joins The UAE Fatwa Council and the Council of Senior Scholars of Saudi Arabia in declaring the Muslim Brotherhood movement and all of its branches as terrorist organizations that defame Islam and operate in opposition to mainstream Islamic unity, theology and jurisprudence.

#israel #gaza #gaza strip #hamas #no win scenario #palestine genocide #ethnic cleansing #free gaza #free palestine #free gaza from hamas #free palestine from hamas #islamic terrorism #islam #islamic supremacy #hamas terrorists #exterminate hamas #down with hamas #religion is a mental illness