dragynkeep

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April 25, 2025 JVP at George Washington University posts statement in support of terror attack in Kashmir:

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I do love seeing all the antisemites scream about pine trees in Israel whenever there's some sort of ecological issue or disaster going on or they want to use them as "proof" that Israel is a white European colonial project. Why? Because I've never seen them say what pine trees are the culprit. It's always some allusion to pine trees being non-native to the region and that they were planted to make the country "more European" or something like that. The articles are written in English for a Western audience that has pines in their backyard and are likely associated with the winter months in their culture. The implication here is "how could your Winter Xmas Pine Tree survive in the desert?!" which leads to the colonial assumptions and so on and so forth.

This entire schtick plays upon the general populace not understanding anything about ecology, range distributions, species, and other biological concepts. Most people see the term "pine tree" and assume it's the same pine trees they've seen their entire lives. The concept of different species all being colloquially referred to as "pine tree" is not a common conception.

So if you're reading any of those articles or posts that scream about colonialization because of "pine trees" then you need to stop and ask "what species?" Because the JNF has planted 3 particular pines - The Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), the Turkish Pine (Pinus brutia), and the Canary Pine (Pinus canariensis).

All three species are endemic to the Mediterranean region and are subtropical species. Meaning, all three have distributions that include Israel in their native range and have a biological history of being there. At one point or another many of them were cut down for some use (from what I understand, primarily for ship construction during the Ottoman Empire). In fact, the Aleppo was almost wiped out from its Middle Eastern distribution until it was brought back (and the three species are all closely related and adapted for the climate in the region).

Now, I've seen variations of the land shouldn't have been greened, they cut down native forests, they drained swamps, etc, etc... as criticisms. I even had the "they shouldn't have drained and greened the swamps" as an argument, barring the fact that the swamps only existed because the native forest was cut down for use by the Ottoman's and as such caused environmental degradation and change.

And the thing is, there's valid criticism for planting so much pine. It's a very dry tree species that catches fire easily. Especially when it becomes sick and/or damaged. There's also concern that it's planted in parts of Israel that are not suitable for said tree species. But at no point are they a foreign invasive species. They are native to the region.

However, what stands out the most to me is that never do one of these articles, blog posts, rants, or antisemitic screeds mention Eucalyptus.

That's right.

Eucalyptus, a genus (or Tribe) primarily endemic to Australia, was brought in to drain swamp, wetlands, and marshlands and make them habitable. And not just one! But multiple species were introduced for this purpose (Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus gomphocephala, and Eucalyptus torelliana).

Not a single writing has ever mentioned these trees, and that should be a big warning flag that what you're about to read is mired in half truths, falsities, and lies of omission besides outright ignorance. Solely focusing on pine trees is to elicit the response I mentioned above in Western audiences who only associate "pine tree" with their winter time and climate. It's a malicious technique to manipulate the reader and come to a false conclusion and assumption that will stoke their outrage at the "colonial" behavior of planting "colonial non-native" trees.

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A post shared by Syrians love israelis (@syrians_love_israelis)

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You thought I had forgotten about sending you cringe memes..... You. Thought. Wrong.

I thought I was FREE of this NIGHTMARE-

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This is really random and mostly unprompted but I just absolutely cannot fucking stand the pure hatred that people hurl at Gal Gadot *strictly* because she’s an Israeli woman, and she’s proud of that. I’m a very very casual follower of hers from the Wonder Woman days, so it’s possible that she truly did or said something awful which could validate the hatred. But even if she did, I wouldn’t know… because 99.9% of the reasons given for why people hate her and spend their days shit talking her and harassing her and her family ALWAYS fall back to “well… she’s Israeli. She was in the idf. She posted in support of Israel on Oct 7. She wanted the hostages released. She doesn’t like Hamas. She is proud to be Israeli.” like ??? Okay??? An Israeli Jewish woman is not ashamed of the fact that she’s Israeli or Jewish and its reason to hate her and direct some of the most vile, antisemitic things at her? And I swearrrr, this hatred also did not exist (or it wasn’t as bad) until she started posting/talking more about being Israeli in general. Just say the quiet part out loud for us next time guys. We can read between the lines anyway.

I remember when Wonder Woman first came out and there was a huge boycott just because she was Israeli and people started spreading the “she killed innocent people” bs for her IDF service. when it was disproven bc she was a gym trainer, they continued with “well she was still helping The Enemy!” just so they could keep hating her. then there was backlash because shortly after, she posted a picture lighting her shabbat candles (i think with her infant daughter?) saying she prayed for victims of Hamas. in, like, 2016. that’s the extent of her “controversies” until Oct 7. just being Israeli and praying for victims of terrorism. she didn’t even specify who the victims were, bc she was talking about anyone harmed by them.

it’s gotten worse obviously and even more ridiculous reasoning, but even back then I thought it was insane. like, so she wants people to be okay and live peacefully? that’s a bad thing now? and the same people hating Gal for her mandatory service are the same fuckass kpop weirdos obsessing over their idols who have no problem with and even sympathize with the kpop stars who have to serve. you don’t think your idol is out killing people? some people watched the hunger games movies and identified with Gale a little too much. but it’s all to show that it’s clearly bc she’s an Israeli jew and that’s 2 strikes already against her. anything else is just seen as a third and final strike to ‘cancel’ her. it’s getting so tiring to listen to.

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i am once again recommending the third narrative!

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I've been seeing a lot of goyim go "this must have been what it was like when the holocaust first started. Look at all these (insert various non jewish groups) being oppressed!!!"

And it pisses me off. Like ignoring that most people making those posts have posted antisemitism themselves, I'm just!!!!

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The funny thing about it is, even if Yasuke were there and wasn't a samurai, he was gone be a Black samurai when we played this Assassin's motherfucking Creed game TODAY 😤. Imagine, out of all the things that coulda bothered you about the inaccuracies and leaps of logic of that series, and THIS is the thing that's gonna stop your enjoyment. Mm. We know what you are, and so do you.

Anyway, all rise for the scheduled applause of Yasuke the Black Samurai this fine morning 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

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Ignoring that this is also the series that does not try to be a historically accurate game from the very first game, this also just... isn't true?

Oda Nobunga was well documented to be fascinated by Yasuke, and so gave Yasuke a house, stipend, servants and a sword, all of which were connected to the status of samurai.

He wasn't a samurai in the traditional sense given that he wasn't born in the samurai class nor underwent the training in the traditional sense, but this is ignoring that during that time, the term "samurai" that we see it today is not as clear cut during the Sengoku period.

Not only that, but there is plenty of historical evidence in forms of letters and Japanese historical records that he was given everything that was expected of the samurai class, and even did duties while under Nobunaga. At the very least, he was given the responsibilities and respect of the samurai even if the actual word was not used to describe him.

I've been in this series since 2010, and this "issue" with Yasuke is the biggest one I've ever since and it's the inaccuracy that's not even a complete inaccuracy!

This is also the series with Ezio had a fist fight with the pope, never met one Jewish person despite being from a banking family in Florence and then later in Rome, and there's magical items that can mind control people coming from our ancestors who died from the earth blowing up or something, I stopped paying attention to the present storyline after AC3.

So yeah, the issue isn't that Yasuke was never a samurai. He absolutely was in practicality. The issue is he's Black and racist dudebros don't have the balls to admit it.

Yasuke (Assassin's Creed Shadows)

See, with all the antiblack racism we've been put through over this man's sheer existence, is proof enough that he's excellent Black character design. Everyone rise and give Yasuke a standing ovation right NEOW-

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Why leftist racism hurts more

When we say "racism" most people think of right wing racism. But I really think it's time to give left wing racism more recognition especially since it's becoming more and more prevalent.

When I was a kid I thought of the right and left wing as bad and good. My naive mindset thought all the racism comes from the "Evil Right(TM)" while the " Hero Left(TM)" tries to fight it (yea yea i know but i was a wee kid so don't @ me) But as I grew older I realized what a HUGE mistake that was.

The thing is that when a right wing racist meets me, a person from the middle east, they'll call me some slur and make it clear they don't like me. It sucks. Fuck them for that! But at least I know where I'm standing with that right winger.

But with leftist racists though... God... IT'S SO CONVOLUTED. First they'll pretend to be supportive and friendly because " We support minorities! We love POC😃 We listen to the oppressed people😍Diversity yay!" But then I try to tell them about my experiences, about how my country(Iran) is being destroyed by the theoretic dictatorship of islamic republic and how the main reason we're suffering in Iran is in fact the IR regime and not MAINLY the US government and SUDDENLY it's like they deflate. They realize I'm not affirming their "America is the root of all evil" views. They realize not every government that says "America bad" is good. They have to face the uncomfortable fact that Islamist fundamentalism does exist and that it's horrible. Then just like that, the mask of performative support drops. Suddenly they're not interested in listening to a muslim-raised middle eastener anymore because "OMG wdym i can't just support any regime that is against America ???" " I'm not comfortable speaking against the Islamic republic's crimes cuz i don't wanna be Islamophobic😐" "Ummm actually you must be fooled by the Evil Western Governments(TM) and I just decided your experiences aren't valid anymore cuz you're not affirming my biased views of the middle east🙃" "I'm sure I know more about your country than yourself because I'm an Educated American (TM) and i'm gonna save you poor brainwashed middle easterns cuz don't know anything :)" " I think my own TikTok research is more accurate than your first hand experiences😉"

BOOM! All their racism, elitism etc just pops out as soon as you DARE to slightly disagree with their biased views. You realize they've been seeing you as a "lesser being" all along...

It's the back stabing that hurts the most... the gut wrenching feeling when you give your trust to someone just to watch them crush it...

I never put my trust in a right winger because they clearly announce they hate me. But the leftists make me trust them just to pull the rug from under me when I'm not "useful" to them anymore. This is why leftist racism hurts more...

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this piece is from last April:

a year later, she can finally go home:

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via rootsmetals and tmasudin

“(((they))) are polluting the German Aryan white Arab race and that’s why we must eradicate them!” not a fresh take

Ashkenazim and Mizrahim are both Jewish, so the “mixed” marriages he’s mad about here (more honestly: the race mixing he’s mad about) doesn’t even make sense, except in some bizarre racist construct where Ashkenazim are “white” and Mizrahim are “brown Arabs” (which is not accurate and not what these terms mean), and thus the conclusion is he believes in a supremacist ideology and opposes what he views as racial dilution. which. yikes.

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https://www.jewishrefugees.org.uk/2025/02/the-life-and-death-of-shlomo-mansour-by-matti-friedman.html

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First:

I disagreed with some of Pope Francis' positions, but admired him regardless.

I think he was simply mistaken, not an antisemite. I don't think there was any hatred in him.

It was an unexpected treat to see a Jesuit and a Franciscan thinker become Pope. He was more ecumenical a Pontif than I expected to see in my lifetime after John Paul II passed.

If you are hurting from his passing, please accept my sincere condolences.

Second:

It didn't take the antisemites long to blame the Jews for Pope Francis' death, despite his age and recent health challenges. Here's a sampling from Twitter: