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paper-mario-wiki · 4 months

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genuine question coming from someone who is trying their best to support palestine but can't stomach condoning hamas's actions. how can you justify the murder of civilians and sexual violence that happened on october 7th? i know the fight for palestinian liberation is more important but they said orders to rape israeli women came from higher up in hamas. how can we support these people?

I will not be debating people in the notes of this post or in followup asks. I am not an authority on this subject, I am an individual giving commentary as I see it.

Do not attempt to follow this discourse up with intent to own me. You will waste your time and look stupid, I promise. Just unfollow and block me.

If your intent is genuine, and you are sincerely confused, then I will tell you that the first thing you must do is understand that your perspective of what happened on October 7th was not your own. It was made by a committee of communications officials and sold to you by news organizations to implant within you a version of what happened so that you would feel this precise feeling of hesitation, discomfort, and desire to withdraw yourself from the discussion. And that version is often full of blatant, contradictory, and easily fact-checkable lies. Israel knows that it doesn't have to make everyone support its cause to get away with it: if they can make enough people look away while they commit genocide, this too is a victory.

The sexual violence against Israeli women by Hamas has been vastly unsubstantiated, especially in comparison to the verifiable claims of IDF soldiers using sexual violence against Palestinian women. Go to any news articles and you will see "Claims of [number] of Israeli women raped by Hamas". You don't see firsthand reports, and you don't see consistent numbers, just people speaking for this group of unnamed and uncounted women. Further, many of the photos and videos of violence happening to women you see typically attached to these articles have turned out to be verified as Israeli soldiers assaulting Palestinian women during previous conflicts.

And that's another important note: previous conflicts. The date on everyone's mind has been October 7th, because that's when Hamas made an attack on the concert. Make no mistake, this was not the beginning of this conflict. And Palestine was not the aggressor.

Here is a graph of people killed as a result of the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine from 2002 to 2014. Notice, if you will, the yellow vs the pale blue. Can you guess which color represents which group? Just kidding you don't have to guess, the graph tells you.

After WW2, the European-Jewish population (which was 90% of the Jewish population at the time) emigrated to their holy land after over 1000 years. This land, now Palestine, had been under control by Muslim kingdoms since around 640 AD. The UN created a proposition following the Holocaust, submitted to create 2 states within Palestine: 54% would go to the Jewish population, and 46% would go to the Arab population. The Palestinian representatives rejected this proposal, but the Jewish representatives agreed, and over the next few years there would be a massive displacement of Muslims during what was called the Nakba; a cataclysmic event that saw 700,000 Palestinians (80% of them) displaced from the territory that the Israeli occupying force had claimed.

Since then there has been an ongoing pushing and cleansing of Palestinians over time. The remaining land that was not stolen during the 1948 mandate has been shrinking as Israel tightens its grip on the land and the people, exerting the force given to it by the United States to completely absorb the area. The process of which has been torturous and extraordinarily traumatic on the Palestinian population.

This map represents generations of murder, rape, and torture of Palestinians. A people who had their land forcefully taken from them, and have been made to be unwilling neighbors with their aggressors ever since. There are countless articles of IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens alike abusing Palestinians. Stealing their homes, starving their children, mocking their faith. This form of violent nationalism is born from Zionism, which was created by secular men, and has existed for less than a single century. The ideals of Zionism can only be seen out with the COMPLETE annihilation of the Palestinian people, something the terroristic Israeli force sees to go through with.

Hamas, at the moment, is fighting for the unconditional freedom of Palestine from their colonizers. We are seeing, in real time, the furious spirit of Palestine resisting what some of the worlds strongest military forces are trying to make to be their final death. In that impossible fight, they are seeing victories in urban warfare, and extreme coordination in guerilla tactics that we haven't seen since the Vietnam war. And during all of that, it has still been verifiably reported that they've been treating hostages well, many of them speaking positively about their time in captivity and expressing extreme dissatisfaction with Netanyahu's cabinet, something reflected in the staggering lack of direct interviews with hostages released.

Let's not mince words here, Hamas is absolutely killing people. Hamas is killing as many IDF soldiers as they possibly can, and yes, even some Israeli civilians have died. While it's true that these number significantly fewer than Palestinian civilian casualties, I'm not bold as to claim that that is not horrible. But this too is the fault of purposeful abuse of civilian population centers by the Israeli government. Ask yourself for a moment:

Why would Israel, being so aware of the horrifying whims of the savage Palestinians, allow a massive open-air concert to happen DIRECTLY on an unpatrolled border between Israel and Palestine? Why too does Israel insist on housing Civilian populations as close to Palestine as possible? They've already showed us: the military uses the deaths of their civilians as warrant to punish Palestinians in any way and to any extent they see fit.

Even if we're discounting the murderous occupier civilians shooting at Palestinian families and forcing them out of their life-long homes, it's still horrible to see otherwise incidentally innocent Israeli civilians die. Innocent death is inherently horrible. But even in a world where what happened on October 7th didn't happen, Israel intended to ensure the death, innocent or not, of all Palestinians who resist giving up their land. Hamas, Palestinian resistance groups, and now other Arab states have chosen to fight against this. Millions of people around the globe have chosen to unite and fight for them for this reason as well. It is why I support Palestine.

When a society lets mass atrocities happen in slow motion over decades, those atrocities become normal. And when those experiencing these atrocities fight back with economical blows of violence, it becomes a shocking disruption to the normal for those who haven't been paying attention, or were born into it; something the west relies on, and has packaged and sold as "terrorism" in the past few decades.

The modern Zionistic body of Israel has been a terroristic, murderous entity since its inception less than 100 years ago.

Do not let yourself be swayed into believing that murder, if done slowly enough, is not murder.

#anon #cw rape #long post

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rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world · 27 days

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Let us be clear: The atrocities committed by the Israeli military in al-Shifa hospital are the direct result of the US government’s continued support. Today, the Israeli military ended its two-week siege on Gaza City’s al-Shifa Medical Complex, the largest hospital in all of Palestine, leaving it in ruins. The military left destruction in its wake, murdering over 400 people, executing civilians, kidnapping and torturing hundreds of medical workers and patients, and destroying what remains of the hospital.

Many of the Palestinians killed by the Israeli military were tied up and run over by Israeli bulldozers, unable to defend themselves. Israeli soldiers also executed Palestinian prisoners while they were handcuffed, some while their families were forced to watch. Hundreds of Palestinian bodies were left discarded around the complex, unburied.

The Israeli military carries out these atrocities against Palestinians because it is protected by the US government. With full backing from the US, the Israeli government is brutally and forcibly imposing the goal of Zionism: creating a Jewish ethnostate on the premise of “maximum land with minimum Palestinians,” which requires the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land.

These atrocities are not limited to al-Shifa. Last night, the Israeli military attacked al-Aqsa hospital, killing at least four people. The Israeli military is able to destroy the majority of all healthcare in Gaza due to the impunity the US grants it. While the Israeli military was attacking al-Shifa, the Biden administration approved more weapons to Israel.

Mass organized violence has been the Israeli state’s tactic since 1948, when over 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed during the Nakba, using the very same tactics we saw at al-Shifa Hospital.

We unite against state-sponsored killing and ethnic cleansing. We demand an end to the US’ continual funding of atrocities. As the genocide against Palestinians escalates, it’s critical that we stand firmly in our anti-Zionism and oppose the ongoing Nakba perpetuated by the Israeli state.

We choose the struggle for justice over silence and complicity. Take action at the link in our bio. (@jewishvoiceforpeace on Instagram or at https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/tell-congress-end-us-military-funding-to-israel

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workersolidarity · 20 days

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[ 📹 A montage of scenes from six months of Israeli siege, bombardment, blockade, and genocide in the Gaza Strip as part of "Israel's" goal of ethnically cleansing the entirety of the Gaza Strip and genociding the Palestinian population that refuses to leave their homeland.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

ISRAELI OCCUPATION COMMITTS DEADLY MASSACRE ON THE EVE OF EID AL-FITR AS GAZA BOMBINGS RAMPS UP ONCE AGAIN

On the 187th day of "Israel's" special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed several massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 122 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 56 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

In the latest Zionist massacre and atrocity, the Israeli occupation air forces bombed a residential building belonging to the Abu Youssef family, located in the Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, largely destroying the building and killing at least 14 Palestinian civilians, the majority of which were women and children, and wounding a large number of others.

The attack targeted a residential square housing Palestinian families and comes on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, the celebrations and prayers which mark the end of the Holy month of Ramadan, and the welcoming of the month of Shawwal, a major Muslim holiday.

Similarly, occupation warplanes bombed agricultural lands in the Al-Zuhur neighborhood, north of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least one woman and wounding two others.

In another tragedy, a Zionist sniper shot a young Palestinian man near the Shuhada junction in central Gaza, resulting in the man's death.

At the same time, Zionist occupation forces destroyed a residential tower in the city of Al-Zahra, north of the Nuseirat Camp, in central Gaza.

In the meantime, local civil defense crews continue to recover the bodies of those murdered by the Israeli occupation in the Khan Yunis governate, in the southern Gaza Strip, after the withdrawal of the Zionist army from the area after months of ground operations, with reports that local paramedics transported the bodies of at least three citizens killed by the occupation in the southeast of Khan Yunis.

Occupation fighter jets also bombed a residential home in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, while also dropping bombs in the vicinity of the Al-Khazandar station, northwest of Gaza City.

Several Palestinian civilians were also martyred and wounded as a result of the Zionist bombing of a residential building in the eastern neighborhoods of the Jabalia Refugee Camp, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, as Israeli bombings slaughtered innocent families in the Gaza Strip, Zionist-extremist colonists launched an attack on the Palestinian village of Burqa, located to the east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

According to local sources, more than 30 Israeli colonial settlers launched an attack on the village of Burqa, firing automatic weapons with live bullets towards Palestinian families, injuring four civilians, including at least one 15-year-old child. The colonists also burned a barn during the attack which was used to house sheep.

The Palestinian Resistance, in particular the Mujahideen Brigades, belonging to the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, announced today a joint operation conducted with the Al-Qassam Brigades, belonging to the Hamas Resistance movement, in which Resistance forces attacked a unit of Israeli occupation soldiers operating southwest of Gaza City using mortar shells, successfully hitting their targets.

In other news today, Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin announced the Irish government would be submitting a proposal to the Parliament for the recognition of a Palestinian State in the next few weeks as part of "broader international discussions."

In a speech before the Irish Parliament, Martin said that "None of you has any doubt that recognition of a Palestinian state will happen," and that postponing the decision "is no longer convincing or defensible anymore."

Martin went on to slam the Israeli occupation's genocidal war in Gaza, telling Parliament that he had "no doubt that war crimes have been committed, and I strongly condemn the ongoing bombing of Palestinian citizens of Gaza," adding that the recognition of a Palestinian state could "strengthen the Arab peace initiative."

As a result of "Israel's" special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll among the Palestinian population of the enclave has risen in excess of 33'482 Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation, over 14'000 of which being children, accounting for over 44% of those killed, while another 76'049 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning on October 7th, 2023.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

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zvaigzdelasas · 7 months

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Article published 2021

The U.S. has a habit of ignoring its own laws when it comes to arming and supporting authoritarian regimes. The latest example of this came last month when the Biden administration waived Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which was created to block U.S. military assistance to Azerbaijan during and after the first Karabakh war.

One administration after another has issued this waiver since it became available in 2002 in the name of counter-terrorism cooperation, but events in the last year have made the usual rubber-stamping of supplying weapons to the Aliyev regime much more controversial, and rightly so. Azerbaijan’s aggressive military campaign in Karabakh last year was exactly what the original cutoff in military assistance was intended to discourage, and the assault on Karabakh proved that Baku’s commitment to diplomacy was a lie. Issuing the waiver in the wake of the second Karabakh war is indefensible. Doing so shortly after recognizing the Armenian genocide is a slap in the face to the Armenian-American community, and it makes a mockery of the Biden administration’s pretensions to making human rights central to its foreign policy. Azerbaijan is just one of many client governments whose war crimes the U.S. has ignored in order to keep military assistance flowing. Enabling further aggression against the people of Karabakh and Armenia is a particularly obnoxious and shameful example of how our government’s partnerships with corrupt authoritarian states puts innocent lives in jeopardy. Within weeks of the administration’s decision, there were already reports of new incursions by Azerbaijan’s forces into Armenian territory.[,,,] Specifically, members of Congress should insist that Secretary Blinken explain why he signed off on this when the government of Azerbaijan is putting its war crimes on display in its appalling Military Trophies Park, complete with “ghoulish displays of helmets and caricatured mannequins of Armenian soldiers.” The dehumanization of Armenians has become a major feature of Azerbaijan’s official ideology, and by supporting Azerbaijan’s government the U.S. is giving its stamp of approval to a regime that both denies the Armenian genocide and threatens to commit another one.[...] It is no accident that the amendment that created the waiver for Section 907 was passed just a few months after the September 11 attacks. Our government’s “war on terror” has spawned a host of destructive policies, and establishing a closer security relationship with the dictatorship in Azerbaijan in the name of combating terrorism was one of them.[...] There are some hard-liners in Washington that were cheerleading for Azerbaijan during its aggressive war in Karabakh, and they are no doubt pleased with the Biden administration’s decision to ignore Azerbaijan’s many crimes. According to the hard-liners’ view, backing Azerbaijan is not only tolerable but necessary to counter Russian and Iranian influence in the region.[...]

Presented with the opportunity to undo Trump’s decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, Biden has demurred, and it now appears that no reversal of that decision will be forthcoming. Given the chance to block an unjustifiable $23 billion sale of advanced weapons to the United Arab Emirates, Biden has let it go ahead. Issuing the waiver for military assistance to Azerbaijan makes the same kind of mistake. If Biden and Blinken want to make good on their rhetoric about emphasizing the importance of human rights in their foreign policy, they should begin by cutting off all military assistance to Azerbaijan. U.S. and Turkish support for Azerbaijan have served to create a menace in the Caucasus. The least that the U.S. can do is to stop aiding that menace as it threatens the stability of the region.

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beardedmrbean · 5 months

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PHILADELPHIA – In the City of Brotherly Love, Gemma Levy sometimes doesn’t feel safe.

Levy decided to attend the University of Pennsylvania partly because of its long history of tolerance toward Jewish students like her. But with recent events – pro-Palestinian protests, antisemitic chants, university President Liz Magill’s perplexing remarks about genocide and her subsequent resignation – the campus hasn’t seemed all that tolerant.

“I’ve felt super unsafe at times,” Levy, a freshman cognitive science major from Brooklyn, said while hurrying to class along the tree-lined Locust Walk in the oldest part of the campus. “It’s a weird experience to feel that way.”

It’s an unsettling experience for the city, too.

Philadelphia, known as the birthplace of the United States, is where the Founding Fathers met and debated the future of the new country. Founded on the principles of religious freedom, it’s home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the country.

The University of Pennsylvania, founded primarily by Benjamin Franklin and now regarded as one of the nation’s premier schools of higher learning, kept its doors open to Jewish students when Harvard and other Ivy League colleges implemented quotas and other measures to limit their enrollment or keep them out altogether.

Today, though, Philadelphia and the university are at the epicenter of the clash over free speech and antisemitism, the Israel-Hamas war and the right to feel safe and secure.

How did that happen? In Philadelphia of all places?

“We’re a microcosm of society,” said Michael Balaban, president and chief executive officer of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Antisemitism is a virus that mutates over time and is easily spread through the prevalence of social media, Balaban said.

“We see it online in vicious ways every single second of the day,” he said.

'Vile, antisemitic messages'

Antisemitism in Philadelphia has turned up online, on campus and in the streets.

In November, the university responded to what it described as “vile, antisemitic messages” threatening violence against the Jewish community. Antisemitic emails were sent to a number of staffers, and antisemitic language was projected onto several campus buildings. The school said it planned to increase security across the campus, including at Penn Hillel, a Jewish student organization.

A month later, an off-campus protest by pro-Palestinian demonstrators was widely condemned for targeting the Jewish-owned falafel restaurant Goldie. Video posted on social media showed a large crowd gathered outside the restaurant, chanting: “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the restaurant was singled out because its owner, Philadelphia-based Israeli chef Michael Solomonov, had raised over $100,000 for an Israeli nonprofit that provided emergency relief services to Israeli Defense Forces soldiers after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Regardless, the White House, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and others condemned the protesters’ actions, calling them antisemitic and reminiscent of a dark time in history.

Then came Magill’s downfall.

Magill and the presidents of two other elite universities – Claudine Gay of Harvard and Sally Kornbluth of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – already had been under scrutiny over how their institutions had responded to a rise in antisemitism on their campuses when they agreed to testify last week before a GOP-led House congressional panel.

Lawmakers lobbed a series of tough questions at the three college leaders, who hedged when Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., asked whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ code of conduct against bullying and harassment.

Appearing to sense a trap, Magill and the other two presidents gave carefully worded responses that sounded scripted and lawyerly but failed to directly answer the question. In one exchange, Magill called those decisions “context-dependent” but conceded that calls for genocide could be considered harassment “if the speech turns into conduct.”

The backlash was fast and brutal. To some, the presidents’ responses raised questions about whether the schools would adequately protect Jewish students. The White House condemned their answers, donors threatened to withhold millions of dollars, and the House committee announced an investigation into the universities' policies and disciplinary procedures.

Magill tried to walk back her comments, but the damage was done. She resigned last Saturday but will remain at the university as a tenured law professor. Scott Bok, chairman of the university’s board of trustees, also stepped down.

Julie Platt, the trustees’ interim chair, declined requests for an interview but said in a statement after Magill’s resignation that a leadership change at the university was “necessary and appropriate.”

While Penn has made strides in addressing the rise of antisemitism on campus, “we have not made all of the progress that we should have and intend to accomplish,” she said.

Magill, who had been president for just a little over a year, was already on shaky ground even before her testimony. She had come under fire in September over a Palestinian Writers’ Festival that was held at the university and drew criticism for including speakers who have been accused of antisemitism. Magill and others had raised concerns about the program but did not stop it, citing support for “the free exchange of ideas” – even those that are controversial and “incompatible with our institutional values.”

Last week, a pair of Jewish students sued the university, claiming it has become a lab for "virulent anti-Jewish hatred, harassment and discrimination."

Author Jerome Karabel, who has written about the history of exclusion at Ivy League schools, said it is ironic that Penn is facing charges that it hasn’t done enough to quell antisemitism on campus. At some point, all of the other Ivy League schools tried to limit Jewish enrollment. Penn never had any such limitations, he said.

“You could argue that Penn, historically, has been the friendliest of the Ivy League schools for Jewish students,” Karabel said.

'An inclusive and welcoming community for all students'

On campus, there were few outward signs of turmoil this week. With final exams under way, students hurried to class on a cold, blustery late-fall morning. Stickers and fliers supporting the Palestinian people and urging a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war were posted on billboards and along walkways and pedestrian bridges.

At Houston Hall, which the university says is the oldest student union in the country, a small group of students has been staging a sit-in since mid-November to show support for the Palestinians. Early one afternoon this week, protesters nestled in big chairs and slept under sheets on cushions. Others painted posters and fliers listing their demands: A cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. The protection of freedom of speech on campus. “Critical thought” on the subject of Palestine. A place for Palestinian studies.

“Nobody here is calling for the genocide of Jews,” insisted Clancy Murray, who is working on a Ph.D. in political science.

Murray said several Jewish students have joined the sit-in but acknowledged that some feel unsafe in the current environment. Some Palestinian students on campus aren’t comfortable being visible either, Murray said, because of threats and the possibility of doxing, harassment and even violence and hate crimes.

As for Magill’s departure, Murray said it’s concerning “that she was driven out” and that “there are a handful of donors who are empowered to dictate what is and what is not acceptable speech on campus.”

David Donovan, who was on his way to his daughter’s graduation from Penn’s nursing school, said emotions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war are charging tensions on campus like never before.

“We are more sensitive to the feelings of other people, and that’s a net positive, I believe,” said Donovan, a history teacher from Morristown, N.J.

When it comes to deciding what constitutes free speech vs. hate speech, Donovan said, “we still have to be very apprehensive and think very carefully that our positions are backed by reason.”

“We need to err on the side of free speech,” Donovan added, acknowledging, “That’s an easy thing for me to believe as a straight, white man.”

The community at large is also grappling with issues of free speech. Some Jewish families are rethinking outward expressions of Judaism, Balaban said.

At his home in the Wynnewood suburb, Balaban flies both the Israeli and American flags in the front of his house and displays a menorah in the window. Before, “that would never have been a question in my mind to do it or not to do it,” he said. But with everything that has happened, “in my household, the question was, ‘Are we OK doing this?’” he said.

“Of course, the answer is, yes, we're going to,” Balaban said. “But did we worry that someone may do something? The answer is yes. I think we will always display an Israeli flag with pride. We will always display symbols of our Judaism. But there was a pause of what does that mean.”

'We will come through this difficult moment'

So what's next? How do the community and the university heal after the trauma of the past few months?

"This is a strong community built on a sturdy foundation. We will come through this difficult moment," the university promised in an email message to students this week.

The university pledged to redouble its commitment to ensuring that Penn is a place where “intellectual growth is cultivated” and students are “supported as a person.”

“Initiatives recently launched to address bigotry and hatred on our campus will continue, and this will be an inclusive and welcoming community for all students,” the message said.

Levy urged school administrators to be more proactive and less reactive.

“I hope,” she said, “instead of being on the defensive and apologizing after things happen, they’ll take steps to actually stop these incidents in the first place.”

#nunyas news

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intersectionalpraxis · 7 months

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The hospital was not bombed by Israel, it was a result of a faulty missile launch by the Islamic jihad. There are video evidence for that, and probably more to come.

Israel is committing war crimes right now and has been relentlessly bombing Gaza: killing now up to 3000 innocent Palestinian civilians JUST these past several days. Most of whom are children because they represent 50% of Gaza's population.

There have been innumerable Israeli propaganda videos dehumanizing Palestinian people, yet without fail -videos of Israeli soldiers in Gaza and West Bank brutalizing Palestinian civilians and often proudly spewing genocidal rhetoric about oppressing the Palestinian people -are often taken down.

Israeli apartheid has been ongoing violently for 75 years, and NO major western/European power had openly condemned this deliberate ethnic cleansing, which had been systemically done by the Israeli government by settling illegally on Indigenous Palestinian land in the first place with help from Britain and the United States, displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people during thr Nakba of 1948 (which forced these people into Gaza) and an estimated tens of thousands were murdered if they did not go).

Do you think for one second that I would believe ANYTHING that comes out of Israeli governmental/military mouths when they lied about Hamas beheading 40 Israel babies heads (when Israeli military actually beheaded 10 Palestinian babies heads), or the fact they LIED about an assault on a German woman, as well as countless other sexual assault allegations, which in this case was proven to be false and something to further their violent agenda. Less we also conveniently forget to mention the amount of Palestinian women that the IDF/Israeli officials have raped and brutalized during 'interrogations,' which of course Isreal/Netanyahu vehemently denies because it's not becoming of a democratic nation right?

Rampant crimes against humanity, breaking of Geneva Conventions, getting 3 BILLION in military aid EVERY year from the United States. Controlling what goes in and out of Gaza for decades, and making Gaza the largest concentration camp in the world. Intending to decimate Palestinian people and some of ya'll can't stop to actually think about what is really happening? To see how Western media, without fail, has been almost immediately spreading Isreali propaganda without sharing content and videos from the ground in Palestine (it certainly doesn't help the Israeli government cut electricity and wifi).

So before you come on my page and try to proclaim/claim that Israel is innocent or is not at all at fault for this massacre, maybe unpack it more and bear witness to Palestinians losing their lives for simply existing in what Israeli settlers consider to be their right to control.

Here is a series of tweets that convey information about this strike and also with original evidence of the strike, which people have already distinguished as NOT a rocket (which is what the Israeli government said initially):

This person also did great work debunking the EDITED video Israel posted about the bombing if you want to take a look:

And we now how confirmation this happened:

FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸

#feminist #intersectionality #palestine #freepalastine🇵🇸#gaza #israel is an apartheid state #israel #history #human rights

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apas-95 · 2 years

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what are your thoughts on the police files that just got leaked from xinjiang reeducation camps?

The ones from a supposed 'anonymous hacker' who's veracity was verified by... the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and Adrian Zenz, the ones who published them? What's that - we investigated if we were lying, and found ourselves to not be?

The same Adrian Zenz who says he's 'led by god' on a mission against China, whose prior research has already been torn to bits - his figure of a million supposed detainees coming from oral interviews with only eight people; his numbers showing an apparent alarming amount of IUD operations being a result of him literally just adding extra zeroes to a number 'accidentally' and implying, if given a second of thought, that every single woman in Xinjiang got a dozen IUD operations - this Adrian Zenz:

Adrian Zenz, who works for the surely-unbiased Victims Of Communism memorial foundation (which published this supposed 'leak'), an arm of the far-right Heritage Foundation.

All of which just-so-happens to come out as a UN delegation arrives in Xinjiang, surely ready to overshadow the reality that they, like every prior human rights delegation to the region, will not find a shred of evidence of what would be an incredibly gigantic, undeniable operation.

If such a terrible thing were really happening (without any apparent motive on the part of the Chinese government beyond Being Evil), wouldn't there be more clear evidence than blurry satellite pictures of schools and farms misidentified as concentration camps, random pictures of unrelated prisoners, and even Taiwanese BDSM footage rebranded to 'footage of torture in Xinjiang'?

Wouldn't someone, anyone with a shred more credibility than Adrian Zenz and the Victims Of Communism foundation be the original, primary source for any of the supposed leaks or studies that every article on Xinjiang traces back to?

We're already seeing the west in the midst of a propaganda war, where experts have said, openly, that the truth doesn't matter as much as making sure that what you're saying hurts The Enemy and helps The Good Guys - that misinformation can be a positive force, as long as you aim it at your enemy and believe it wholeheartedly - are we expected to just take them on good faith?

Most of the world isn't. The parts that are are the same ones in every map like this - the ones that don't recognise Palestine, the ones that oppose UN resolutions against glorifying neo-nazism, the ones that have 14% of the world's population but 73% of its wealth.

It's easy to say, thirty years later, that of course Iraqi soldiers weren't taking babies out of incubators, that of course they didn't have WMDs - but in the moment, in the churn, when you're caught up in the swell and you lose your bearings, it's a lot harder. If you notice you're on the side of the ones braying for war, and that they'll lie to get it, maybe that's a sign to rethink.

I understand why you'd believe it. If there's the slightest chance that this were really happening, I'd want to be one of the people who stood up. I wouldn't want to be someone who, in the pages of history, sat there, happily following the status quo as it committed terrible atrocities. The people in charge also understand, and they know that it's a powerful response. Atrocity propaganda is nothing new.

If you really care about standing on the right side of history, about actually opposing crimes against humanity while the world around you stands silent - then siding with the United States, the genocidal settler colony, the invader, the torturer, the armorer of apartheid, the boot on the neck of progress everywhere in the world; it's not the way to go.

#xinjiang #china #voc #zenz

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tieflingkisser · 1 month

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21 March 2024: Israel continues attack on al-Shifa Hospital with systemic violence

Israeli forces have continued their siege and attacks on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for the fourth consecutive day. On Thursday, the Israeli army detonated and completely destroyed the specialized surgery building, which it had already bombed and set on fire on Monday.

Since Monday, Israeli soldiers have killed at least 140 Palestinians at al-Shifa, including more than 50 between Wednesday and Thursday, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). During the ongoing raid, the Israeli army prevented doctors and medical staff from treating their patients, resulting in more than a dozen deaths. The Government Media Office in Gaza stated that “doctors and nurses were arrested and removed from the departments and forced to strip off their clothes, and prevented from reaching the patient rooms to attempt to save them.” Israel’s army, the media office added, is “systematically and deliberately committing the crime [of] genocide with premeditated intention, and is committing horrendous and clear crimes against humanity by using the weapon of starving the sick and wounded, and practicing deliberate medical negligence against them, the rest of the medical and nursing staff, and the displaced people inside the compound.”

The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor says it has documented eyewitness accounts of Israeli soldiers arresting and then executing Palestinians inside the hospital, “reflecting a pattern of systemic violence.”

“Israeli soldiers repeatedly took prisoners into the hospital’s morgue area, that gunshots were then heard, and that the soldiers left without the prisoners,” the group reported, citing a survivor of the raid, on Wednesday. According to one eyewitness, who was detained, handcuffed, stripped naked and left for more than nine hours in the hospital courtyard, Israeli soldiers led small groups of detained Palestinians into hospital buildings, including the morgue. “Gunshots were heard, with the soldiers then leaving the area to bring another group there,” the witness said. “These civilians were likely subjected to unlawful killings and executions, as all the information obtained by Euro-Med Monitor’s field team suggests that since Al-Shifa Medical Complex was restored on Sunday/Monday night, 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in and outside of it,” the group reported.

[keep reading]

#free palestine #palestine #news

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sliimehag · 2 months

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https://x.com/bonsaisky/status/1763188725431873726?s=46

Every time I think Israel and the US can't sink lower, wow they sure do!

#fuck israel #israel is illegitimate #israel is committing genocide #israel is a terrorist state #free palestine #palestine #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #boycott israel #gaza #free gaza #free palestine 🇵🇸#palestine will be free 🇵🇸#the usa funds genocide #the united states funds genocide #the usa forces solders to unwillingly commit genocide #the united states forces soldiers to commit genocide

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modeus-the-unbound · 2 months

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Let me start off this post with a bold statment. Godfrey is the single biggest political statement in Elden Ring.

Yes, this guy. The big buff wrestler man with grey hair and lion Stand (jojo!)

Because his name isn't Godfrey, it's Hoarah Loux. But to along with his culture, he had to seperate himself from his own name. Hoarah Loux was the chieftain of a group of people whose home is only reffered to as "The Badlands" before encountering Marika. Now we don't have much on specific details of how their meeting went, but considering Marika and the Golden Order in game are responsible for either the subjugation or genocide of multiple groups, (Misbegotten, Zamor, Trolls, Fire Giants, Omen, and Albinauric.) Its not unreasonable to assume her meeting with Hoarah Loux and his people was not treated as a meeting of equals. But mutliple mentions of this group he led mention respecting power and strength, so even an unfair agreement between them could have been fostered due to Marika's power as a goddess. Hence why Hoarah Loux had to shed his "savage" name and culture to become a "proper" lord for Marika as Godfrey. Similar acts were commited by the United States to indigenous tribes of the America's and to slaves brought here from Africa. They were forced to go by "good christian names" in order to seperate them from their own cultures.

In game, a starting class for the player is Hero. They are specified as having descended from the badlands chieftain. Now whether that's literal like the image of Nepheli in it's example art, or metaphorical in that they come from his tribe/cultural group isn't clear....because I can't read the original Japanese. But what I can read are context clues.

All of the Hero classes equipment contain a line about how they shun excessive adornments. But in all his depictions as Godfrey, he looks very adorned, with his massive cape and fine clothing intermixed with his armor. Something he removes when entering his second phase.

When you bring him down to 50% health, Godfrey tears away his spirit bound companion Serosh, his oppulent armor and clothing, and even his axe. He offers to and I quote, "fight you as Hoarah Loux, Warrior!" And his new boss title above his healthbar reflects that, no longer reading Godfrey, First Elden Lord. This means even he knows that Godfrey is not him, he is Hoarah Loux a man whose people outside of Nepheli and possibly the player...aren't shown in game. There is no location in game where they are, or historically were.

And considering prior to the games start, Hoarah Loux and a large group of people who "Lost the grace of gold" were banished from the lands between to wage war eternally outside of it...I think most of those people were the people of Hoarah Loux's culture. We learn that Marika made Hoarah Loux the Elden Lord in order for him to act as her general, and it would only make sense for his troops to be comprised of the people who came from the same warrior culture he did. That's why I think they are called the "Hero" class. Hoarah Loux's people fought at the front lines of the Golden Order's conquests, became hero's to the common folk and once their use was over, they were banished alongside their leader. This is similar to how in the United States, we call our soldiers "Hero's" but then a disproportionate number of it's soldiers come from it's territories and not it's actual states. Locations that lack government representation and aren't considered US citizens. Such as the people from the American territory of Samoa, Guam, and Peurto Rico.

Because Badlands isn't a location inside of the map we play, and it doesn't fit the way other locations are named. It's a title for a specific type of biome, like Taiga or Bayou. Hoarah Loux is the leader of a people who were subjucated, used as soldiers, seen as too savage to be allowed to keep their names and culture (in Hoarah Loux's case), and then sent away as soon as they were inconvenient to keep around. They don't even get the dignity of having the land qthey hailed from remebered as anything more than a geographical feature.

So to reiterate. The old man who power bombs your character while shirtless is the most political statement in the whole game. If you know what your looking at.

#Elden Ring #politics in games #hoarah loux #godfrey #modeus's autistic ramblings #holy shit my thumbs hurt

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alwaysbewoke · 4 months

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I’m sad to say this. ⁣ ⁣ I was just told by a friend at Meta that it’s likely my Instagram account will be permanently deleted in the next few weeks. And that my account alone has been a constant source of heated arguments internally at the company with the governments of both Israel and the United States working directly with Meta on why my account should be banned. ⁣ ⁣ Their argument is going to be that I’m a Hamas sympathizer and that since the United States has them labeled as a terrorist organization, that Meta’s rules against supporting terrorists are being violated.⁣ ⁣ Nevermind that Israel has killed over 2,000% more people than Hamas.⁣ ⁣ Nevermind that Israel finally admits that only 1 baby was killed on October 7th and that over 1,000 Palestinian babies have been slaughtered. ⁣ ⁣ Who is blowing up mosques and schools and hospitals and churches?⁣ ⁣ Who is using snipers to kill old Catholic mothers taking refuge in churches?⁣ ⁣ WHO WHO WHO???⁣ ⁣ WHO CUT OFF THE WATER?⁣ ⁣ Who is starving kids to death?⁣ ⁣ Who left babies to die on incubators?⁣ ⁣ Who shut down almost every hospital in Gaza?⁣ ⁣ WHO WHO WHO???⁣ ⁣ Tell me @meta⁣ ⁣ Who does the ENTIRE WORLD say is committing war crimes??⁣ ⁣ Who posts videos of soldiers stealing valuables and treasures from homes?⁣ ⁣ Who shot and killed their own hostages?⁣ ⁣ Tell me!!! Who who who WHO??⁣ ⁣ Who beats and slaps and humiliates their hostages?⁣ ⁣ Who ended chemotherapy in Gaza?⁣ ⁣ Who blew up the zoo?⁣ ⁣ Who blew up the national archives?⁣ ⁣ Who blew up the libraries?⁣ ⁣ Who destroyed the beaches?⁣ ⁣ Who bulldozed cemeteries??⁣ ⁣ WHO WHO WHO?⁣ ⁣ Who sterilized Ethiopian women again their will?⁣ ⁣ Who continues to steal land as we speak - in violation of international law?⁣ ⁣ Tell me who the terrorists are? WHO?!!!⁣ ⁣ Who blew up entire refugee camps?⁣ ⁣ Who killed Reem? ⁣ ⁣ Who blew the legs and arms off of over 1,000 Palestinian children?⁣ ⁣ Who is burning the skin off of thousands of children?⁣ ⁣ So listen, @Meta - you can ban me for advocating for Palestinians, but it’s YOU that supports the terrorists.⁣ ⁣ It’s YOU that protect and defend this genocide at every turn.⁣ ⁣ It’s not me.⁣ It’s you. ⁣ That’s who.

shaunking

i don't fuck with shaun king like that but this is just another example of israel forcing censorship everywhere they can cause the truth is getting out and no one is falling for their lies an propaganda anymore (esp not young people).

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tomorrowusa · 6 months

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High-profile Russians have left no doubt in anybody's mind that they are intent on committing genocide in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin and his ethno-nationalist minions are intent on wiping out the concept of Ukraine as a country. That is what genocide is about as defined Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Vladimir Putin, along with other Russian officials and state-controlled media, openly declare their objective: the obliteration of the Ukrainian nation. The machinery of Russian state propaganda promotes a genocidal mindset towards Ukrainians among Russian soldiers today. In Ukraine’s occupied territories, Russian forces are fulfilling their pledges through a series of atrocities, exemplified by the unearthing of mass graves and torture facilities in liberated cities such as Bucha and Izium.

You can see all ten quotes in the main link at the top of this post. But this is one that is particularly odious.

“[Ukrainian children] should have been drowned in the Tysyna [river], right there, where the duckling swims. Just drown those children, drown them right in Tysyna [river]… Whoever says that Russia occupied them, you throw them in the river with a strong undercurrent… Shove them right into those huts and burn them up… [Ukraine] is not supposed to exist at all,” Anton Krasovskyi, former Director of Broadcasting of Russia’s state-funded RT, said on 23 October 2022.

Putin and Company are basically Hamas-on-the-Volga. And we shouldn't be distracted by events elsewhere from the genocidal activities of Putin's Russia.

The Russian military’s aggression against Ukraine has resulted in numerous documented war crimes, as confirmed by international organizations, human rights NGOs, and Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office. The International Criminal Court (ICC) initiated an investigation into the situation in Ukraine on 2 March 2022, encompassing potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Furthermore, on 17 March 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, on suspicion of a specific war crime: the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Russia during the invasion.

Yep, Putin is a wanted war criminal. Despite that, there is a Putin Caucus in the US House of Representatives encouraged by Putin vassal Donald Trump.

If you are in the US, contact your representatives in the US House and urge them to make aid to Ukraine a priority. Any House member of either party is worth a message – though you may wish to skip any Republican with a grade below a C on this list.

For contact information and to find out exactly who represents your district, check out this site. Have your ZIP+4 ready.

Find Your Representative | house.gov

If your rep has been supportive in the past, a quick thank you is appreciated as well as good manners.

Support for democracy at home and democracy abroad are linked. People who are 2020 election deniers are almost always Putin apologists.

#invasion of ukraine #russia's war of aggression #genocide #russian imperialism #vladimir putin #ethno-nationalism #send putin to the hague!#war crimes #international criminal court #hamas-on-the volga #un convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide #us house of representatives #aid to ukraine #геноцид #военные преступления #владимир путин #путин - военный преступник #отправить путина в гаагу #путин хуйло #бей путина #русский империализм #союз постсоветских клептократических ватников #руки прочь от украины!#геть з україни #вторгнення оркостану в україну #деокупація #будь сміливим як україна #україна переможе #слава україні!#героям слава!

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workersolidarity · 11 days

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[ 📹 Scenes from destruction evident in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, following a week of Israeli occupation ground operations and non-stop bombardment of the camp, destroying the vast majority of the camp's residential buildings.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

CARNAGE IN THE GAZA STRIP CONTINUES AS ISRAELI OCCUPATION TARGETS NUSEIRAT CAMP BEFORE PLANNED ATTACK ON RAFAH

On the 196th day of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 4 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 42 citizens, mostly women and children, while another 63 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health stated on Friday that over 730'000 Palestinian citizens of Gaza, in particular the north of the enclave, suffer from a severe lack of healthcare services and accused the Zionist occupation of deliberately destroying Gaza's healthcare system.

In the meantime, at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the United States vetoed a resolution which would have granted full membership status at the United Nations for the State of Palestine.

The Security Council overwhelmingly supported the measure to induct Palestine into the United Nations with full statehood rights, with 12 member-states voting in favor, two abstaining (UK and Switzerland), and only the United States voting against the resolution, vetoing the measure.

In other news, a battalion commander with the IOF announced on Thursday while speaking with his Battalion's soldiers, that the Israeli occupation army would be entering Rafah following the end of the current ground operation concentrated on the outskirts of the Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army's 162nd military division said it had completed its ground operation inside the Nuseirat Camp, which lasted about a week, as occupation warplanes hammered the camp with endless airstrikes. The occupation army also attempted to isolate the two halves of the Gaza Strip from one another and prevented displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes in the north of the enclave.

The Commander of the Israeli occupation forces' 932nd battalion said that following the end of its ground operations on the outskirts of the Nuseirat Camp, “We are going to Rafah, and the people of Israel are counting on you to implement this in the best way, as in Nuseirat, Zaytoun, and Burj al-Tuffah, and as in Al-Shifa (hospital), so in Rafah as well," portending future mass massacres of Palestinian civilians in the city of Rafah.

Elsewhere in Gaza, the carnage continued with the Israeli occupation forces renewing intense airstrikes targeting the Al-Shati Refugee Camp, west of Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip.

According to local reporting, at least four Palestinian were killed, and several others wounded, after Zionist occupation fighter jets bombed a residential home belonging to the Al-Sir family, which at the time of the bombardment was sheltering displaced Palestinians, including members of the Abu Jiyab family in the Al-Shati refugee camp.

At the same time, IOF warplanes bombed a residential building in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of five Palestinian civilians and wounding a number of others. Victims were transported to the Arab al-Ahli Hospital, also in Gaza City.

Similarly, occupation forces bombed 10th Street, south of Gaza City.

Yet another occupation airstrike targeted in the vicinity of the Al-Shati Camp, west of Gaza City, killing one Palestinian civilian and wounding at least three others.

In another bit of horrific news, the decomposing corpses of about 30 Palestinians were discovered in two mass graves dug in the courtyard of the Al-Shifa medical complex, in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, including the bodies of women and the elderly, while the fates of roughly 1'000 Palestinians who were present in the hospital during the Israeli raid remain unknown at this time.

Israeli occupation warplanes also bombed several sites in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

At the same time, Zionist soldiers opened gunfire on displaced Palestinians east of Jabalia, in the north of Gaza, martyring three civilians and wounding several others.

Elsewhere in Gaza, Zionist occupation aircraft bombarded a civilian residence belonging to the Qishlan family in the New Camp area of the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, after which, local paramedic and civil defense crews retrieved the bodies of two Palestinians killed in the strike. The bodies of the dead were taken to nearby Al-Awda Hospital in the camp.

As a result of a previous IOF airstrike, which targeted a tent belonging to the Ayyad family, east of Rafah City, in the southern Gaza Strip, the death toll rose to 11 overnight as victims succumbed to their injuries.

In the Khan Yunis Governate, local civil defense personnel managed to recover the decomposing bodies of four civilians from various areas of the city over the last day, while paramedic crews from the north of the Nuseirat Camp, in central Gaza, recovered the bodies of another 9 martyrs following the withdrawal of occupation forces from the area.

Additionally, warplanes with the Israeli occupation army bombed several sites in the Al-Mughraqa area, in the central Gaza Strip, wounding several citizens, while another young man was murdered by the bullets of the Israeli occupation's snipers east of Deir al-Balah, also in central Gaza.

As a result of "Israel's" ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the death toll among the population of Gaza now exceeds 34'012 Palestinians killed, including over 14'560 children and 9'582 women, while another 76'833 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

April 19th, 2024

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#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

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quotesfrommyreading · 1 year

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Leader Maynard points to three theories commonly used to explain mass killings and war atrocities. But all three can be debunked.

The first explanation is what I call the Broken Brains hypothesis. This is the notion that the sadism of torturing innocents or committing genocide makes sense only if the perpetrators have abnormal brains, or even are psychopaths. Experts turned to the Broken Brains theory when trying to understand the Nazis. An array of psychiatrists closely examined and interviewed the Nuremberg war criminals. After one of the top Nazi perpetrators, Robert Ley, hanged himself while awaiting trial, his brain was preserved, shipped by air mail to the United States, and studied by neuropathologists, who found that he had brain damage, “a longstanding degenerative process of the frontal lobes.”

But as research continued, it became clear that Ley was an outlier, that the architects of the Holocaust likely did not have brain pathologies, and that the Nazis’ genocidal machine had so many people pulling various levers that most of them had to be neurologically normal. This was not a case of a few psychopaths, but rather of millions engaged in what Hannah Arendt famously called “the banality of evil.”

It’s possible that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is an undiagnosed psychopath, but that can’t explain the widespread barbarism throughout the war in Ukraine, especially as the Russian military fills with conscripts, ordinary Russians who have been forced into combat. There might be psychopaths within the world’s military ranks, and psychopaths might be overrepresented in positions of power. But Leader Maynard says researchers agree that those carrying out horrific violence do not, by and large, have different brains from the rest of us.

The second common explanation is what I call the Lord of the Flies hypothesis—the idea that we are all killers by nature, with an innate capacity for cruelty, and that we commit atrocities when we are on war-zone “islands” that are free from constraints and consequences. Once placed into a conflict, any of us could engage in torture.

Yet research from experts such as Rebecca Littman and Elizabeth Levy Paluck shows that most people have a hard time killing other people. Other scholars have argued that in many of the great battles of history, such as Gettysburg, an astonishing number of guns were left loaded and unused—because it’s so psychologically difficult for untrained killers to shoot human beings, even when their own life is at risk. If most people find it difficult to fire a gun at someone else, how could they electrocute them in a hole in the ground, as apparently occurred in the city of Kherson last month?

A third common explanation for mass killings and wartime atrocities is what I call the theory of Coerced Killers—the idea that evil emerges at gunpoint, that we are capable of atrocities when we feel we have no other choice. Some people do engage in horrific violence only in such circumstances, or because they fear retribution against themselves or their families. But the most rigorous analysis of historical mass violence suggests that these cases make up a tiny minority of the overall picture.

If these three explanations don’t explain mass killings generally—or help make sense of what’s happening in Ukraine—then what does? The answer, according to Leader Maynard’s extensive analysis of atrocities, is ideology. By this he does not necessarily mean the grand isms of 20th-century history, but instead simply a set of political beliefs about how the world works, or should work. Mass killings become more likely when a society engaged in warfare produces a coherent narrative about why extreme violence is desirable or at least justified for a grander strategic purpose. Ideology acts as a social glue, ensuring that the architects of the violence, the rank-and-file soldiers who carry it out, and the broader public all tolerate, or even applaud, atrocities.

Crucially, Leader Maynard finds evidence that perpetrators need not be “true believers” or hard-liners who buy into a regime’s ideological mythmaking. Instead, the existence of the ideology and its widespread acceptance in society can provide a sufficient justification for their violence.

— Do ‘Ordinary’ People Commit War Crimes?

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news4dzhozhar · 5 months

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When it comes to the Israeli-led ‘war on terror’, follow the money

It is easy to get distracted by US officials pledging to rally support for a “humanitarian pause” and reducing the number of civilian casualties in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

But what matters is the actions of the Biden administration, not empty platitudes. In early November, the US State Department approved a $320m sale of guided bomb kits, reportedly assisting Israel to more precisely hit targets in Gaza. According to The New York Times, “Modern militaries generally add the guidance systems on their bombs with the goal of minimizing civilian casualties, although the damage can still be devastating, especially in urban areas.”

The United Nations and every major human rights group in the world have routinely condemned Israeli actions in Gaza, along with the Hamas barbarism on October 7, and accused the Israeli army of potentially committing war crimes. Human Rights Watch has rightly called for a suspension of all weapons transfers to Israel and Hamas.

The spectre of 9/11 and the catastrophic response by the US after that fateful September day 22 years ago hangs over Israeli actions in the last month.

US President Joe Biden, in remarks in Israel on October 18, said, “After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. And while we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”

Calling some US actions after 9/11 “mistakes” is the height of imperial arrogance. During the Bush administration and beyond, inarguably the most destructive US presidency in the 21st century, there was a worldwide torture campaign, the creation and expansion of the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, the illegal invasion of Iraq, the use of black sites for extraordinary rendition and the death of nearly five million people, according to Brown University’s Cost of War Project.

Today, Israel is also filled with anger and vengeance and does not care one iota about the death of Palestinian civilians. Many in the Netanyahu-led government have expressed genocidal intent towards the entire Palestinian population. Most in the Israeli military and public are celebrating the physical abuse of Palestinians. Amid an atmosphere that is remarkably similar to the US after 9/11, the Israeli “war on terror” is taking shape.

With resounding approval from the general public, the Israeli army has undertaken systematic carpet bombing of the Gaza Strip, dropping in a month more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives, the equivalent of two nuclear bombs. The bombardment of the small enclave mirrors the US air campaigns that used an extraordinary amount of ordnance on Iraq and Afghanistan over two decades, leaving behind immense devastation.

There are already reports that Israel is also stepping up the use of torture against detainees. Since October 7, its forces have rounded up thousands of Palestinians, including children, in the occupied West Bank. Many allege serious physical abuse and arbitrary detention. Palestinians from Gaza, who had worked in Israel, were also arrested and tortured before being released back to Gaza.

Violence by Israeli settlers and soldiers has also surged in the occupied West Bank. More than 200 Palestinians have been murdered, many by live ammunition, as far-right Israeli settlers are taking the opportunity to terrorise the Palestinian population while the world’s attention is fixed on Gaza.

The Israeli government has handed out thousands of weapons to settlers, with more potentially on the way, leaving Palestinians even more exposed than before to deadly violence, with no legitimate authority able to protect them.

In the months and years ahead, Israel will likely launch a global assassination drive to track, target and kill Hamas leaders and key backers, reminiscent of the US’s own campaign of so-called targeted killings after 9/11. Israel’s former intelligence head, Amos Yadlin, has confirmed this inevitable plan of worldwide vengeance.

But Israel’s “war on terror” will not be only about revenge, just as the US’s was not.

The Israeli arms industry has been thriving in recent years, with a record $12.5bn in sales in 2022, double the figure from one decade ago. In the last year, 24 percent of arms went to Arab states, including Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. According to the Israeli Defence Ministry’s own figures, the number of countries buying Israeli drones has jumped 40 percent in the last three years, munitions have grown by 45 percent and spyware and related cyber-equipment soared from 67 to 83 countries in 2022.

As I write in my book, The Palestine Laboratory, Israel has used both the endless occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with the siege on Gaza, to “battle-test” ever-evolving new forms of repression and surveillance. These offensive tools are then marketed and sold to the majority of nations on the planet.

In this context, the current war on Gaza will certainly be good for business. The Israeli army’s social media team is already proudly promoting the first time in battle use of the Elbit-made Iron Sling, a mortar designed to hit Hamas rocket launching sites. This is a war for a local and global public audience as well as potential foreign buyers looking to build up their arsenal.

Israel is also likely hoping to expand the sale of its high-tech military and intelligence tools. Even Israeli spyware company, NSO Group, mired in scandals for years, is looking to get in on the action, pitching themselves to Washington as an essential part of this new “war on terror”.

In its assault on Gaza, the Israeli army has boasted about using artificial intelligence (AI) in combat to “produce reliable targets quickly and accurately”. For years, Israel has claimed that it is a pioneer in AI-enabled warfare but there is no evidence that it has reduced civilian casualties while using it. The current death toll of more than 12,000 people in Gaza – the vast majority of them civilians – certainly does not lend credence to this claim.

In the occupied West Bank, AI is used to deepen the complete monitoring and control of Palestinians. It is not a liberating technology in Palestine. It is the complete opposite.

Israel’s pursuit of an ethno-nationalist agenda endangers both Palestinians and critical Jews within the country and across the world. Israel remains an inspiration for huge swaths of the global right and far right, from India to Hungary, in building a lose global coalition of nations opposed to immigration, multiculturalism and abiding by human rights norms.

With Israel claiming that it is fighting a war between so-called Western values and “barbarism”, the decimation of Palestinians’ lives and livelihoods in Gaza is a sign of an increasingly erratic and wild Israeli state. And yet, as it embarks on a dark and bloody “war on terror”, the Western world is supporting it every step of the way.

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