#GREATER ISRAEL PROJECT

[alfedena]

People do not realize that when we say Israel is a settler-colonial state, we mean it was literally devised in junction with European imperialism around the turn of the century.

Political Zionism was founded by Theodore Herzl. Originally, Zionists were not specifically interested in the land of Palestine as a colonial project. In fact, Herzl was debating making Argentina the focus of mass Zionist migration, which is quite ironic considering Argentina's colonial and Aryanist past. British-controlled Uganda was also offered as a possibility by Joseph Chamberlain, a Conservative imperialist.

To encourage mass Jewish migration to Palestine, he worked with the British, who had recently drove the Ottoman Empire out of the Levant, and now boasted political dominance in the region, thanks to the Sykes–Picot Agreement between the UK, France, Italy, and Russia which covertly authorized British influence in Palestine, which had become a target of colonial expansion. He specifically wished to collaborate with Cecil Rhodes, a British imperialist who played a lead role in colonizing Zimbabwe and Zambia, and later took inspiration from his time spent extracting wealth from Africa as the founder of mining conglomerate the British South Africa Company.

Herzl’s personal goals for Zionism were colonial. He said in a letter to Rhodes:

“You are being invited to help make history. It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor; not Englishmen but Jews […] How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial […] I […] have examined this plan and found it correct and practicable. It is a plan full of culture, excellent for the group of people for whom it is directly designed, and quite good for England, for Greater Britain [...]”

At that time, Palestine was predominately populated with Arab Muslims and Christians, as well as Arab Jews (Old Yishuv) and Druze. Jews made up around 6% of the population. The Ottoman government specifically released a manifesto at the start of Zionist migration condemning the colonization, stating:

“[Jews] among us […] who have been living in our province since before the war; they are as we are, and their loyalties are our own.”

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 on behalf of parliament, officially established the British Mandate of Palestine, sowing the seeds for the modern state of Israel, by means of the UK's ongoing occupation of the region.

Zionism was never about promoting Jewish culture or safety; it has always been tied up in Western (settler-)colonial expansion. !من النهر إلى البحر

[fiercynn]

poetry outlets that support a free palestine

after finding out that the poetry foundation/POETRY magazine pulled a piece that discussed anti-zionism because they "don't want to pick a side" during the current genocide, i decided to put together a list of online outlets who are explicitly in solidarity with palestine where you can read (english-language) poetry, including, except where otherwise stated, by palestinian poets!

my criteria for this is not simply that they have published palestinian poets or pro-palestine statements in the past; i only chose outlets that, since october 7, 2023, have done one of the following:

published a solidarity statement against israeli occupation & genocide

signed onto the open letter for writers against the war on gaza and/or the open letter boycotting the poetry foundation

published content that is explicitly pro-palestine or anti-zionist, including poetry that explicitly deals with israeli occupation & genocide

shared posts that are pro-palestine on their social media accounts

fyi this is undoubtedly a very small sample. also some of these sites primarily feature nonfiction or short stories, but they do all publish poetry.

outlets that focus entirely on palestinian or SWANA (southwest asia and north africa) literature

we are not numbers, a palestinian youth-led project to write about palestinian lives

arab lit, a magazine for arabic literature in translation that is run by a crowd-funded collective

sumuo, an arab magazine, platform, and community (they appear to have a forthcoming palestine special print issue edited by leena aboutaleb and zaina alsous)

mizna, a platform for contemporary SWANA (southwest asian & north africa) lit, film, and art

the markaz review, a literary arts publication and cultural institution that curates content and programs on the greater middle east and communities in diaspora

online magazines who have published special issues of all palestinian writers (and all of them publish palestinian poets in their regular issues too)

fiyah literary magazine in december 2021, edited by nadia shammas and summer farah (if you have $6 usd to spare, proceeds from the e-book go to medical aid for palestinians)

strange horizons in march 2021, edited by rasha abdulhadi

the baffler in june 2021, curated by poet/translators fady joudah & lena khalaf tuffaha

the markaz review has two palestine-specific issues, on gaza and on palestinians in israel, currently free to download

literary hub featured palestinian poets in 2018 for the anniversary of the 1948 nakba

adi magazine, who have shifted their current (october 2023) issue to be all palestinian writers

outlets that generally seem to be pro-palestine/publish pro-palestine pieces and palestinian poetry

protean magazine (here's their solidarity statement)

poetry online (offering no-fee submissions to palestinian writers)

sundog lit (offering no-fee submissions to palestinian writers through december 1, 2023)

guernica magazine (here's a twitter thread of palestinian poetry they've published) guernica ended up publishing a zionist piece so fuck them too

split this rock (here's their solidarity statement)

the margins by the asian-american writers' workshop

the offing magazine

rusted radishes

voicemail poems

jewish currents

the drift magazine

asymptote

the poetry project

ctrl + v journal

the funambulist magazine

n+1 magazine (signed onto the open letter and they have many pro-palestine articles, but i'm not sure if they have published palestinian poets specifically)

hammer & hope (signed onto the letter but they are a new magazine only on their second issue and don't appear to have published any palestinian poets yet)

if you know others, please add them on!

[adisquietfollows]

The biggest blow to my faith in the hard-line pro-Palestine movement came in 2015, when I tried (and ultimately failed) to lobby for a Gaza airport. An internationally run, Israeli-approved airfield in Gaza wasn’t going to end the fighting, but it might give people the option to go in and out of Gaza and provide some freedom of movement for Palestinians trapped by the blockade in the Strip. I had detailed plans: the location, flight plans, the radar coverage, destinations, aircraft type, security, and robust outreach to all relevant parties. I was having productive talks with senior Israeli government officials and the Israel Defense Forces, and used intermediaries to obtain approval and support from the Palestinian leadership. The project received immense interest from the people of Gaza. What I didn’t have was the support of pro-Palestine activists.  They opposed my efforts, because cooperation would just make Israel “look good, if only parts of the blockade are addressed and not all of it.” That wasn’t acceptable to them, even if the Palestinian people stood to benefit. Some believed that with freedom of movement, many Gazans would choose to leave, thereby fulfilling the “Zionist plot” to empty the Strip of its inhabitants, essentially arguing that imprisoned Gazans were better for the greater cause.  [...] They’re genuinely unwilling to acknowledge that the goal should be coexistence.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Because the olive tree has long been symbolic of the Indigenous Palestinian presence, the JNF plants mostly pine trees, which do not carry a Palestinian political meaning. Hundreds of thousands of pine trees were planted in the desert, where only a few thorny bushes had earlier grown, necessitating the diversion of water from its natural paths to irrigate them. Pine seeds are easily dispersed, by wind or fire, and saplings grew in open areas, where they took over the previously barren space. Trees are nature’s “green lung,” generating oxygen and filtering pollutants. However, following massive and deadly wildfires in northern Israel, environmental studies have shown that the Zionist afforestation project contributed to environmental devastation. Ecologists today are recommending that Israelis plant fewer trees and limit themselves to replanting with native trees. This is because the new Israeli forests were causing more warming than cooling, as their dense tree canopies absorb solar radiation, whereas the lighter colors of the native desert plants had once reflected the sun’s heat away from the soil.

[...]

An Indigenous people attuned to the land would have tended it more carefully, seeking to preserve rather than transform it. Instead, the JNF’s determination to “make the desert bloom” has been detrimental to Palestine’s very nature, and its soil, which once sustained the people. Where once there was sustainable biodiversity, Israel supplanted a monoculture of pine trees. The very geography of Palestine today shows the ugly face of apartheid: recently planted “forests” within the 1948 borders, irrigated by water from diverted aquifers under parched Palestinian fields, and strips of bare land heavily sprayed with herbicides surrounding the majority-Palestinian areas.

Nada Elia, Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts: Feminism, Inter/nationalism, and Palestine

[capybaracorn]

Demands for Canada to stop supplying weapons to Israel grow louder

But loopholes and a lack of transparency stall efforts to hold government accountable for its role in arming Israel.

Montreal, Canada – Human rights advocates are accusing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of misleading the public over weapons sales to Israel, which have come under greater scrutiny amid the deadly Israeli bombardment of Gaza.

At issue is legislation that prohibits the government from exporting military equipment to foreign actors if there is a risk it can be used in human rights abuses.

But regulatory loopholes, combined with a lack of clarity over what Canada sends to Israel, have complicated efforts to end the transfers.

Dozens of Canadian civil society groups this month urged Trudeau to end arms exports to Israel, arguing they violate Canadian and international law because the weapons could be used in the Gaza Strip.

But in the face of mounting pressure since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, Canada’s foreign affairs ministry has tried to downplay the state’s role in helping Israel build its arsenal.

“Global Affairs Canada can confirm that Canada has not received any requests, and therefore not issued any permits, for full weapon systems for major conventional arms or light weapons to Israel for over 30 years,” the department told Al Jazeera in an email on Friday.

“The permits which have been granted since October 7, 2023, are for the export of non-lethal equipment.”

But advocates say this misrepresents the total volume of Canada’s military exports to Israel, which totalled more than $15m ($21.3m Canadian) in 2022, according to the government’s own figures.

It also shines a spotlight on the nation’s longstanding lack of transparency around these transfers.

“Canadian companies have exported over [$84m, $114m Canadian] in military goods to Israel since 2015 when the Trudeau government was elected,” said Michael Bueckert, vice president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, an advocacy group.

“And they have continued to approve arms exports since October 7 despite the clear risk of genocide in Gaza,” Bueckert told Al Jazeera.

“Unable to defend its own policy, this government is misleading Canadians into thinking that we aren’t exporting weapons to Israel at all. As Canadians increasingly demand that their government impose an arms embargo on Israel, politicians are trying to pretend that the arms trade doesn’t exist.”

Lack of information

While Canada may not transfer full weapons systems to Israel, the two countries enjoy “a consistent arms trade relationship”, said Kelsey Gallagher, a researcher at Project Ploughshares, a peace research institute.

The vast majority of Canada’s military exports to Israel come in the form of parts and components. These typically fall into three categories, Gallagher explained: electronics and space equipment; military aerospace exports and components; and finally, bombs, missiles, rockets and general military explosives and components.

But beyond these broad categories, which were gleaned by examining Canada’s own domestic and international reports on weapons exports, Gallagher said it remains unclear “what these actual pieces of technology are”.

“We don’t know what companies are exporting them. We don’t know exactly what their end use is,” he told Al Jazeera.

Global Affairs Canada did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s question about what “non-lethal equipment” the government has approved for export to Israel since October 7.

“What does this mean? No one knows because there’s no definition of that and it really could be quite a number of things,” said Henry Off, a Toronto-based lawyer and board member of the group Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR).

Human rights lawyers and activists also suspect that Canadian military components are reaching Israel via the United States, including for installation in fighter jets such as the F-35 aircraft.

But these transfers are difficult to track because a decades-old deal between Canada and the US – 1956’s Defence Production Sharing Agreement – has created “a unique and comprehensive set of loopholes that are afforded to Canadian arms transfers to the US”, said Gallagher.

“These exports are treated with zero transparency. There is no regulation of, or reporting of, the transfer of Canadian-made military components to the US, including those that could be re-transferred to Israel,” he said.

The result, he added, is that “it is very difficult to challenge what are problematic transfers if we do not have the information with which to do so”.

Domestic, international law

Despite these hurdles, Canadian human rights advocates are pressuring the government to end its weapons sales to Israel, particularly in light of the Israeli military’s continued assault on Gaza.

Nearly 28,000 Palestinians have been killed over the past four months and rights advocates have meticulously documented the impact on the ground of Israel’s indiscriminate bombing, and its vast destruction of the enclave. The world’s top court, the International Court of Justice, also determined last month that Palestinians in Gaza face a plausible risk of genocide.

Against that backdrop, eliminating weapons transfers to Israel is effectively a demand for “Canada [to] abide by its own laws”, said Off, the Toronto lawyer.

That’s because Canada’s Export and Import Permits Act obliges the foreign minister to “deny exports and brokering permit applications for military goods and technology … if there is a substantial risk that the items would undermine peace and security”.

The minister should also deny exports if they “could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws” or in “serious acts of gender-based violence or serious acts of violence against women and children”, the law states.

Meanwhile, Canada is also party to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a United Nations pact that bans transfers if states have knowledge the arms could be used in genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other violations of international law.

But according to Off, despite a growing list of Israeli human rights violations since October 7, Canada “has been approving the transfer of military goods and technology that might fuel” them.

Late last month, Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights wrote a letter to Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly demanding an immediate end to the transfers. The group said it would consider next steps, including possible legal action, if action is not taken.

‘It takes a village’

Still, Canada insists that it maintains one of the strongest arms export control regimes in the world.

Asked whether his government intends to end arms transfers to Israel, Trudeau said in Parliament on January 31 that Canada “puts human rights and protection of human rights at the centre of all our decision-making”.

“It has always been the case and we have been consistent in making sure that we are responsible in the way we do that. We will continue to be so,” the prime minister said.

Gallagher, at Project Ploughshares, told Al Jazeera, however, that Canada maintains “a level of permissibility” in choosing which countries it chooses to arm, including Israel.

And while Canadian weapons exports to the Israeli government pale in comparison to other countries – notably the US, which sends billions of dollars in military aid to Israel annually – Off said, “Any difference is a difference.”

“It takes a village to make these instruments of death and it should make a difference if we cut off Canada’s contributions,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the pressure on Canada also sends a message to other countries “potentially aiding and abetting Israel’s slaughter of Gaza”.

“If you send arms to countries committing serious violations of international humanitarian law, you will be held to account.”

[zahraaziza]

a call to action for everyone who is passionate about palestine:

i have no idea who this message is going to reach, but for the little time i am on this platform, i will amplify the importance of partaking in raising awareness for the palestinian cause.

since i haven't been on here for a long time, i was honestly shocked to return to a ton of informative posts, reblogged in high numbers by my mutuals, on what is happening in palestine.

this current movement on social media, the fact that people across generations are, slowly but surely, waking up to the 76 years of torment, land theft, occupation and genocide the palestinian people are subjected to, has never happened before.

it was about damn time.

everyone, let it be a die heart zionist, a willingly ignorant person or the "people" that are in charge and have all the buttons below their fingertips that could get them to put an end to all of this-

they are never ever going to stop at making you feel insignificant. they are going to downplay your efforts as an activist. they are going to make you question your integrity. they are going to bring up seemingly unrelated issues, in a deplorable effort to make you feel like the "load" that we, as activists and people that are trying to raise awareness about palestine, carry is too much of a burden, to keep going.

they'll tell you things like:

"what is my contribution going to change? we're all doomed to die anyways with how things are going"

"what could a singular dollar/ euro, that i spend, possibly do to support israel? i don't wanna miss out on (xyz item)"

"well if you're so adamant about saving the world, then why don't you go to gaza yourself?"

"yeah right, if that's the case then i would have to also care about (xyz historically oppressed group of people) and i would have to do this, this and that to raise awareness on (xyz historically oppressed group)"

never ever let these individuals in. never ever let them see you doubting your own self or your efforts as an activist.

when i tell you that standing on business has never been more crucial, you can take my word for it.

as someone who, due to the communities i belong to, has practically grown up defending this cause, i can tell you that the tides have not once started to turn the slightest bit in favor for the palestinian cause in the publics perception. most especially in the west.

now is the time to get up on our feet and make room for palestinian voices, not the seeds of doubt planted by zionists.

anyone that still genuinely believes that one, they can't do anything to bring about any change

two, believes there is any legitimacy in the existence of an "israeli state",

or three, denounces and dares to critique the forms of resistance coming from the oppressed palestinians, after five whole months of the ongoing israeli operation to annihilate them to move closer to the achievement of the "greater israel" project, is immediately disqualified in any discussions on the palestinian fight for freedom.

don't ever give your time to zionist apologists or people that try to infiltrate the pro watermelon movement, in order to gain an outlet, in which they can voice their sympathy for core ideas of the zionist movement (a right to israels existence, pseudo self defense argument, pseudo the people are not the state argument, pseudo not all israelis are settlers argument) without further notice.

now is the time of focus. partake in all the activities you can. do your part. do what is achievable.

palestinians, whether it be in the diaspora or on the ground in gaza and the west bank, don't have time for our inconsistencies.

try to control your spending habits as much as you can, try to control the pop culture (tv, music, film) you consume as much as you can. that is the very least we can do.

also, a teeny tiny, but crucial note, we all need to internalize is the fact that we need to decenter ourselves from the end goal, which is the liberation of palestine and land back to the palestinian people.

the people that are going to free palestine aren't us.

palestinians are going to free palestine. the palestinian resistance is going to free palestine.

our obligation is to facilitate that to happen. we partake in the bds boycott, put pressure on representatives of our countries and take to the streets and social media to make the voices of palestine heard.

looking inward and coming to that realization is utmost important for us as non palestinians to know our place in the bigger picture, so we can move on, organize and operate from there.

by no means am i a representative of this cause. but i am human. so i hope that you could all take something from my message.

from the river to the see, palestine will be free!!!

[internetxanarchy]

chat if the memeification of kamala harris takes us to the oval office i will simply jump for joy. i truly believe this insane marketing strategy could grab the attention of enough of gen z to turn the election around. once again i urge everyone to VOTE IN NOVEMBER.

not voting is a choice to elect trump. voting 3rd party is a choice to elect trump. 3rd party votes made up less than 3% of the votes in 2016. we must vote blue. if you strongly believe that you simply don’t want to vote blue in the fall, you are extremely privileged and i urge you to take a look at the people around you who are not as fortunate. a trump presidency risks a national abortion ban, mass deportation, and more insane conservative policies like project 2025. you are putting trans people, disabled people and people of color all around you at risk by choosing to vote 3rd party.

as far as palestine goes, kamala has shown greater urgency and willingness to condemn israel for their actions. any policies she would put in place or actions she would take are better than trump.

get out there and vote.

[girlactionfigure]

the British

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

For many years, there has been a concerted effort to delegitimize the State of Israel as a British colonial project. These people decontextualize one single paragraph-long, non-binding statement -- the 1917 Balfour Declaration -- and ignore everything that happened before and since. 

The fact of the matter is that by the time the British actually occupied the territory that now encompasses the State of Israel and the Palestinian Territories, they actively worked with the Arabs against the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state. 

Anyone familiar with the complicated history of the conflict beyond the same tired propaganda talking points knows this. Our own grandparents know this, because it was they who suffered under British curfews, detention camps, unfair laws, and more.

THE BALFOUR DECLARATION: IN CONTEXT

In 1897, at the First Zionist Congress, the Zionist movement decided that “Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz ­Israel [the Land of Israel] secured under public law.” In other words, the Zionist movement sought to accomplish its goals through legal means, rather than through violence. To do this, the Zionists tried lobbying a number of world powers, most significantly, the Ottomans, who then ruled over what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories. They were unsuccessful. In fact, the Ottoman Empire tightened its anti-Jewish restrictions in the Land of Israel in response.

Meanwhile, as the Ottoman Empire weakened, a number of Indigenous religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East, as well as the Arabs, began vying for their own independence. This was especially true during World War I, after it was revealed that the British and the French had conspired to take over the spoils of the vast Ottoman Empire once the Ottomans were defeated. Other groups that made public -- though ultimately unsuccessful -- bids for sovereignty included the Assyrians and the Kurds. In other words, given the context of the period and the region, Zionism was not an anomaly, but rather, it fell in line with what other national groups were doing at the time.

In 1916, the British promised the Arabs a unified Arab state in Greater Syria, which included what is now Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Jordan, and parts of Turkey. A year later, in 1917, the British signed the Balfour Declaration, supporting the establishment of a “Jewish national home,” which, in the eyes of the Arabs, contradicted the promise the British had made just the previous year.

“His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

WHAT WAS THE BALFOUR DECLARATION?

The Balfour Declaration was a statement issued in 1917 by the British government supporting the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine. 

There are two important things to keep in mind: (1) in 1917, Palestine was not yet under British rule; thus, the British had no actual power to assign it to anyone, and (2) by the time the British were given administrative powers over Palestine, they’d already changed their tune in favor of the Arab aspirations. It’s also important to note that the Balfour Declaration never specified the exact nature of this “national home for the Jewish people,”and, as such, the British felt that this promise did not actually contradict the earlier promise they had made to the Arabs in 1916 regarding a unified Arab state in Greater Syria. 

The causes for the Balfour Declaration are subject to speculation. Some historians believe the British wanted to reward Chaim Weizmann, one of the most active proponents for a Jewish state, for producing acetone, which was critical to the British war effort during World War I. Others believe the British were desperate for the Americans to enter World War I, and because they held the antisemitic view that Jews had a great deal of power over the American government, they thought that in rewarding the Jews, the Jews would reward them. Others claim Lord Balfour was a Christian Zionist -- not to be confused with a Christian who is a Zionist -- and he felt that the returning of the Jews to the Land of Israel would hasten the Second Coming of Jesus. Finally, others think the British “embraced” Zionism because they felt that it would justify their colonization of Palestine over the French colonization of Palestine, as the French were also vying for control of that strip of land.

BRITISH RESPONSE TO ARAB VIOLENCE

British rule over Palestine was characterized by appeasement to -- and oftentimes outright support for -- the Arabs, even when the Arabs carried out antisemitic massacres against the Jews. After the 1920 Nebi Musa pogrom in Jerusalem, for example, the Jews accused the British of complicity, as they had actively prevented the Jews in the Old City from getting help. In fact, it was this riot that led to the formation of the Haganah, the first Zionist paramilitary in Mandatory Palestine, as the Zionist movement realized that the British could not -- or were not willing to -- protect the Jewish population of Palestine.

In 1936, the Arab Higher Committee, the Arab leadership in Mandatory Palestine, called for a general strike and boycott of Jewish products. This quickly escalated into violence and terrorism, leading to the massacre of some 500 Jews and hundreds of British. Due to their inadequacy in protecting the Jewish population, once again, the British reluctantly agreed to arm the Haganah.

In 1937, the British issued the Peel Commission to investigate the causes of unrest in Palestine. The investigators decided that partitioning the land into one Jewish state and one Arab state was the best option -- putting partition on the table for the first time. The Jews agreed to the plan reluctantly -- the terms weren’t great, though Chaim Weizmann said the Zionist movement was prepared to accept a state “even if it’s the size of a tablecloth” -- but the Arabs rejected it vehemently. Wishing to appease the Arabs, the British immediately discarded the 1937 Peel Plan and instead rewarded the Arab perpetrators of the violence with the 1939 White Paper.

THE 1939 WHITE PAPER

Given the results of the 1937 Peel Commission, which found that it was the Arab leadership that had instigated the violence of the Arab Revolt (against Jewish immigration), the Jews in Palestine were absolutely dismayed when the British issued the 1939 White Paper.

The White Paper, in direct contradiction with the findings of the Peel Commission, called for the establishment of a singular Palestinian Arab state. The Jews felt that, in light of previous promises, hundreds of years of Arab subjugation of Jews, and Arab violence against the Jews in Palestine, a single, Arab-majority state would shatter any illusion of Jewish self-determination. 

Most damningly, the White Paper also almost entirely banned Jewish immigration, while Arab immigration continued to flow freely and without restriction into Palestine. The White Paper limited Jewish immigration to up to 75,000 people within a period of 5 years, and any further immigration would be subject to the approval of the Arabs. Keep in mind that this was on the brink of World War II, when millions of Jews were desperate to escape Europe.

Jews were also banned from purchasing any lands owned by Arabs, save for 5% of the Mandate territory. 

The Jewish Agency for Palestine issued a statement saying that the British were denying the Jews their rights in the “darkest hour of Jewish history.”

ALIYAH BET

Aliyah Bet is the code name for the wave of Jewish illegal immigration and illegal rescue missions to Mandatory Palestine between 1920-1948, and particularly after 1939, after the British passed the 1939 White Paper. Aliyah Bet happened in two phases: phase one (1934-1942/1944) and phase two (1945-1948).

The rescue missions were carried out by a network of Zionist organizations. Some 62 missions were carried out between 1937-1944, the majority of them unsuccessful and often ending with catastrophic results. 

Some 70,000 Jews, aboard 62 or 66 vessels (sources differ), attempted to reach Palestine via ship during World War II. Only ~15,000 made it safely, as most were unable to penetrate the British blockade. Five ships sunk, resulting in nearly 1,600 casualties.

After the war, the Haganah continued its illicit operations, now smuggling Holocaust survivors out of Europe. Overall, some 70,000 Jews arrived to Palestine in over 100 ships throughout the course of Aliyah Bet. This was a modest number considering the high number of Jews that attempted to travel to Palestine unsuccessfully. 

Aliyah Bet created a conundrum for the British. On the one hand, they were trying to appease the Arab Higher Committee, which decried Jewish immigration. On the other hand, the world saw the British as cruel, keeping Holocaust survivors trapped in detention camps and banning them from Palestine.

Had the British supported the Zionist movement, there would have been no need for Aliyah Bet, nor would 1600 Holocaust refugees have died at sea en route to Palestine.

DETENTION CAMPS IN CYPRUS

The 1939 British White Paper remained in effect until 1948, with the establishment of the State of Israel. After the end of the Holocaust, Aliyah Bet continued in full force. Most of the would-be immigrants -- Holocaust survivors -- were detained by the British and placed in prison and internment camps. The largest of the camps were located in Cyprus, which was a British colony at the time.

Between 1946 and 1949, some 53,510 Jews were held prisoner in these camps. The majority had arrived from the Balkans and Eastern Europe, though a small number of Moroccan Jews were imprisoned as well. 80% of the prisoners were between the ages of 13-35, and 6,000 of them were orphans. Some 2,000 Jewish children were born in the camps. After Israel’s independence, Israel evacuated the last 10,200 prisoners into Israel.

The conditions at the camps were atrocious and inhumane.Jews had to face obstacles such as poor sanitation, overcrowding, lack of privacy, and a shortage of drinkable water. The American Joint Distribution Committee, which provided medical aid, extra food rations, and more, stated that the British treated Jewish refugees in Cyprus worse than they treated Nazi prisoners of war in adjacent camps. 

Tents and barracks were overcrowded. There was a severe clothing and shoe shortage. The food was bad quality. Undoubtedly the biggest issue was lack of water, particularly during the summer, which resulted in poor sanitary conditions and the spread of disease. The British officers responsible for the refugees were unwilling and indifferent. The barbed wire and watchtowers reminded the Jewish refugees of their time in Nazi concentration camps, which was retraumatizing. Additionally, the camps had been built by Nazi POWs, which understandably upset the Jewish detainees.

Some 400 Jews died in the internment camps in Cyprus.

Jewish children in a British detainment camp in Cyprus after the Holocaust. Some 400 Jews died in these camps, due to lack of sanitation, malnutrition, subpar medical care, ill-treatment, and other poor conditions.

ATLIT

Atlit was a British concentration camp near Haifa used to hold Arabs and Jews under administrative detention (i.e. without a trial) during the period of the British Mandate. It was built in the 1930s and was primarily used to imprison Jewish refugees who arrived in Palestine. Some 10,000 Jewish refugees were held there. 

Men and women were separated upon arrival and sent to showers to be deloused with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane. Since many of the prisoners were Nazi concentration camp survivors, the showers were especially frightening and traumatic. Barbed wire formed a barrier between the men and women in the camp and the perimeter was surrounded by watchtowers eerily reminiscent of the Nazi camps. Children were separated from their parents. 

A nurse at Atlit described the conditions in 1947: “"...when the Jewish Agency asked me to come here, I felt maybe at last I could do something for the survivors. Then I saw the things that you're seeing now. The results of the Nazi dehumanization. People with no belief in the future, apathetic, quarrelsome, no morals...”

JEWISH INSURGENCY AGAINST THE BRITISH

Had the British been “on the side of the Zionists,” then there would have been no need for the Zionists to launch an insurgency against the British.

Zionist non-violent and violent (including terrorism) resistance to the British began after the 1939 White Paper. It was temporarily put on hold with the outbreak of the Holocaust, when the head of the Jewish Agency and future first prime minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, announced, “We must assist the British in the war as if there were no White Paper and we must resist the White Paper as if there were no war.”

Towards the end of the Holocaust, however, the Irgun resumed its anti-British operations, when its leader and future prime minister Menachem Begin announced in February of 1944: “There can no longer be an armistice between the Jewish Nation and its youth and a British administration in the Land of Israel which has been delivering our brethren to Hitler…Our nation is at war with this regime and it is a fight to the finish.” 

The Haganah, which was under the jurisdiction of the officially recognized Jewish leadership in Palestine, remained mostly cooperative with the British, while putting pressure on them to open up Jewish refugee restrictions.

 Perhaps most infamous of all Irgun operations was the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, where the British held administrative quarters. Begin had warned the British of the bombing in advance, giving them ample time to evacuate their staff and hotel guests, but they didn’t listen. In the end, 91 people were killed in the bombing.

Following the bombing, the Irgun and Lehi continued attacking British police and military targets. In retaliation, the British imposed a number of restrictions on the Jewish population of Palestine,such as martial law, military curfews, random searches, and mass arrests. Tensions grew between the Haganah — which condemned the bombings — and the Irgun and Lehi.

BRITISH ANTISEMITISM

The unrest in Palestine reignited widespread British antisemitic sentiment, both within the Mandate and in Great Britain. 

For example, after the Irgun kidnapped and hung two British sergeants, British soldiers went on a rampage in Tel Aviv, indiscriminately attacking the Jewish community and killing five Jews. In Great Britain, the outraged population rioted against the Jewish community, a riot which devolved into a pogrom, with many carrying signs with messages such as “Hitler was right.”

Jews were consistently put under curfews and subjected to ill-treatment.

Winston Churchill himself wrote that the British soldiers in Palestine were strongly pro-Arab. The Jewish Agency issued frequent complaints that the soldiers made antisemitic remarks, such as “bloody Jew,” “pigs,” or even vowing to finish the job that Hitler had started. 

It was the British officers in Palestine that first engaged in Holocaust inversion; that is, the depiction of Jews as Nazis. In March of 1945 — about two months before the Nazis even surrendered — the High Commissioner of Palestine, Lord Gort, told the Colonial Secretary in London that “the establishment of any Jewish State in Palestine…will almost inevitably mean the rebirth of National Socialism [i.e. Nazism] in some guise.”

Sir John Bagot Glubb, who later became the British Commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion during the 1948 war, called Jews “unlikeable, aggressive, stiff-necked, vengeful, and imbued with the idea of [being] a superior race.”

1948

The British abstained from voting in the 1948 United Nations Partition Vote. Some British officials, most notably British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, openly opposed any partition or establishment of a Jewish state.

The British fought in both official and unofficial capacities alongside the Arabs in the 1948 war. In other words, they fought against the establishment of a Jewish state and in favor of an Arab state. Most importantly, British officer John Bagot Glubb commanded the Jordanian Arab Legion in 1948.

After the British withdrew from Mandatory Palestine on the eve of Israel’s independence, they handed their arms over to the Arabs, not the Jews. In fact, it was British intelligence that convinced the Arabs to invade in 1948.

At one point in 1949, the British even considered invading the State of Israel to protect their own interests in Egypt.

In conclusion:

Before the British even set foot in Palestine, they had made contradictory promises of sovereignty to Jews, Arabs, and other Middle Eastern minorities.

However, by the time that the British actually were in Palestine, they actively did everything they possibly could to appease the Arabs, thus working to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state.

Had a Jewish state not become a reality in spite of the British, the Balfour Declaration would have long been forgotten, just like the unfulfilled promises the British made to the Assyrians and Kurds.

The fact of the matter is that virtually every border in the Middle East was carved up by the British and French, yet only the Jewish state is delegitimized on that basis. In fact, some countries were invented by the British entirely. For example, the British aided in the creation of Saudi Arabia by funding and supporting the Al Saud family, which, with their help, came to dominate a large chunk of the Arabian Peninsula. The British quite literally invented Iraq when they created the Mandate of Iraq in 1921 in part of what had long been known as other regions, including Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia. And, of course, the British created Jordan when they handed an enormous piece of the Mandate of Palestine over to the Hashemites in 1922. The Hashemites are from Arabia, not Transjordan.

For a full bibliography of my sources, please head over to my Instagram

rootsmetals

EDIT - 1948 slide - partition vote was in 1947! Sorry typo 😅

the British put Jewish children (Holocaust survivors!!!!) in concentration camps to appease the Palestinian Arab leaders, but the BaLfOuR dEcLaRaTiOn, right? 🙄 Crazy how certain people think it’s totally fine to whitewash this horrid history when this whitewashing comes at the expense of Jews and Jewish trauma. Genuinely wondering if you’d treat another minority’s history like this.

[opencommunion]

"As Europe drowned in Palestinian blood, European verbal sadism softened and has been exchanged for a few grimaces and tragic statements in the media forced by the mountain of chopped-up Palestinian bodies. But ultimately, the support of all European governments for 'Israel' in its genocide has remained intact as seen in the refusal to join South Africa's demand at the ICJ. The hands of all are soaked in blood. The European position is cloaked in a gigantic refined hypocrisy that includes some votes in the UN Security Council in favor of a ceasefire but no real action in their governments.

... Whoever controls with his hand the taps of armament, economic, commercial, or institutional, to open or close them at will, is in practice the one who directs the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine. The European and US governments operate with their hands these taps that feed the Zionist regime, because 'Israel' is not self-sufficient and maintains a circular colonial economy of dependence on the Western metropolis. To this is added an important trade with Turkey and the supply of fuel from Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan, which also comes to it through Turkey.

... Israeli GDP fell by 20% in the last quarter of 2023 due to the staggering spending on the war machine of $300 million per day ($10 billion per month), unsustainable for a population smaller than that of Portugal. Other factors are added to this, such as the paralysis in many economic sectors, the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Israeli settlers who have emptied the settlements near the dividing line with Lebanon and Gaza, the reduction of commercial exchange, or the disappearance of foreign tourism, among others.

These figures would have led to the collapse of any country of that size, and it is obvious that there is assisted ventilation from the European metropolis and the USA. Therefore, Europe and the USA are leading in practice this genocide and exploration of ethnic cleansing to culminate their colonial project in Palestine.

... Despite all this gigantic coalition of criminal forces and the beginning of a months-long period of sadistic mass torture, today, as a year ago, as on October 7, my prediction is that the Palestinians will resist in Palestine, even if 'Israel' manages to explode a regional open war and in that gigantic chaos further escalates the massacre. 

The Palestinians will defeat the mental Dark Ages of Europe and the USA by resisting with their feet on their land, with the weapons they can dispose of, and by having the necessary and sufficient (non-Western) allies as the Algerians or the Vietnamese had. The colonial regimes applied greater sadism the closer they came to their end, and likewise, the Israeli regime will intensify its internal decomposition, accelerating its horizon of collapse. This statement is not the product of naive optimism, nor is it because the academic Ilan Pappe says so. It is because the recent history of colonialism tells us so, and above all, because it is reaffirmed by the Palestinians who are piled up on the colossal firing squad of the Gaza wall."

Daniel Lobato for Al Mayadeen, "US, Europe conducting the genocide, and their colony in Palestine, 'Israel', is executing it," 3 March 24

[jewishvitya]

You can see how much the Israeli government is committed to preserving "the only democracy in the Middle East."

This is the article from Haaretz.

The Shin Bet is saying this is pointless, will make their work harder, and teachers aren't a threat to anything.

Stood out to me:

In addition to the Shin Bet vetting, the bill includes a provision allowing the withholding of state funds to schools "in which there are or may be expressions of solidarity with acts of terrorism." It also proposes giving the director general of the Education Ministry expanded powers to fire, in an accelerated process, a teacher who "committed an act of solidarity with a terrorist organization" or "published praise, support or encouragement" of an act of terrorism.

For me the context is the way the definition of terrorism is vecoming broader (we saw protests against the government referred to that way).

Oshrat Elmaliah, Education for a Shared Society project coordinator at the Jewish-Arab civil-society organization Sikkuy-Aufoq, said that the purpose of the bill is to "intimidate and silence."

The rest, in case the article is paywalled:

The coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is advancing a bill that would require the Shin Bet security service to vet Israel's teachers, even though the provision was originally removed from the draft legislation. The contentious provision in the bill was removed in the Knesset's Education, Culture and Sports Committee, in part due to opposition from the Shin Bet itself, among others.

Last week, the MK who initiated the bill and one its co-sponsors, MK Amit Halevi of Likud, raised the provision again during the committee's discussion of objections to the bill, to pave the way to submitting the draft law for approval by the full Knesset, even though the provision does not appear in the version that was approved by the committee.

Labor lawmaker Gilad Kariv asked to postpone debate on the bill, arguing that Halevi's reservation concerns a provision that is no longer in the draft law and therefore could not be submitted to a vote.

The Knesset House Committee is expected to decide on the issue Thursday.

The provision Halevi seeks to restore would require the Education Ministry to send the ID numbers of all teachers to the Shin Bet every year, for background checks to determine "suspicion of support or sympathy for terrorism," and perform investigations as needed. Halevi is seeking in effect to restore Shin Bet oversight of teachers, which was abolished in 2005.

The Shin Bet opposes restoring general checks of all teachers. During last year's discussions, the Prime Minister's Office made it clear that the agency, which it oversees, "does not consider teachers a threat, and it therefore does not carry out any analysis of them."

The Shin Bet also argues that having to conduct background checks on so many teachers, without receiving additional funding for this purpose, would divert resources from the agency's core security missions.

A representative of the Finance Ministry who attended a meeting of the Knesset Education, Culture and Sports Committee that discussed the bill last week told the lawmakers that if the background checks were only performed on a few dozen teachers and not to all of them – there are 200,000 teachers in Israel – there would be no budgetary implications.

The ministry also said this in response to a question from Haaretz, ignoring the wording of Halevi's attempt, in which he was proposing to first submit the ID numbers of all teachers in Israel to the Shin Bet. Only after this would an examination be held in cases of hints indicating support or sympathy for terror groups.

During the debate on the law by the previous Knesset, Israel Teachers Union Secretary General Yaffa Ben David strongly objected to the Shin Bet vetting provision. She argued that the law persecutes teachers and labels them as having a greater tendency toward terrorism than people in other professions. "Because of a few bad apples, we'll make a law for all teachers?" she asked rhetorically.

The bill sponsored by Halevi and MK Tzvika Foghel (Otzma Yehudit) bill deals with teachers and school that are suspected of expressing solidarity or support for acts of terrorism.

In addition to the Shin Bet vetting, the bill includes a provision allowing the withholding of state funds to schools "in which there are or may be expressions of solidarity with acts of terrorism." It also proposes giving the director general of the Education Ministry expanded powers to fire, in an accelerated process, a teacher who "committed an act of solidarity with a terrorist organization" or "published praise, support or encouragement" of an act of terrorism.

These provisions, which remain in the bill, also caused strong disagreement in the discussions. Opposition lawmakers noted the problem of giving the director general sole power to decide on a dismissal or revoke budgets. Civil society organizations pointed out that current law already permits dismissing teachers convicted or suspected of supporting terrorism, and that the bill proposes expanding this option without the required system of balances. Oshrat Elmaliah, Education for a Shared Society project coordinator at the Jewish-Arab civil-society organization Sikkuy-Aufoq, said that the purpose of the bill is to "intimidate and silence."

"From now on, every female Arab educator in the country will know that if she chooses to express a political opinion or hold a challenging dialogue in the school environment, she will be under the sole judgment of the Education Ministry director general and the minister, and could be accused of supporting terrorism and could lose her job, in the absence of the current protocol," Elmaliah said.

During the discussions on the bill, some of its wording was slightly softened, and many sections were canceled in the version that is now being submitted for discussion by the committee ahead of submitting it to the full Knesset. At last week's meeting, committee legal adviser Nira Lamay Rachlevsky said, "The Israel Bar Association still insists that the wording of the bill that is on the agenda be legally balanced." She said that it was necessary to balance the wording prescribing that budgets may be revoked from schools by establishing an expert consultation mechanism that will consider the seriousness of the acts."

At the discussions on the objections to the bill, Kariv said that it lacked various important components, such as prescribing the maximum allocation that could be revoked and the duration of the withholding. "When the education minister cuts 20 percent of the budget, can a school teach 20 percent less mathematics?" he asked. He slammed the bill's sponsors for "legislating laws so that we will take them to the High Court of Justice."

In March, Halevi objected to the state budget, but during the vote – despite objections by experts – the Education Committee distributed a new version of the bill that included her original sections but then withdraw her implied threat to oppose the budget and voted in favor of it. At the time, the Likud denied that there was deal linking the two things.

At the Education Committee meeting, Foghel insisted that the bill was necessary, adding: "The legal wrangling and the ability of the legal team to defend the bill before the High Court of Justice does not interest me. As far as I'm concerned, proportionality and balance carry no weight when it comes to protecting the State of Israel. It's unacceptable that a teacher or state-supported education institution would act against the state."

Halevi added, "This bill will prevent the continued fostering of an infrastructure that encourages terrorism and fans evil."

In a response to Haaretz, the Shin Bet said that "the security service's position is that this proposed arrangement is not required for security reasons and is disproportionate. Along with addressing the essential issue, a budgetary evaluation was performed and the results were transferred to professionals. Imposing the obligation to examine teachers on the Shin Bet without covering the expenses for doing so will divert resources allocated to the security service for the purpose of performing its core mission, and could harm its main operations, meant to foil terror attacks at this complex period, with the growing threats on all fronts."

[arcadeii]

KAMALA HARRIS 2024

as a queer 15 year old in one of america’s most progressive cities, I urge everyone who can to vote for kamala harris. If it’s somehow not harris, vote for whatever democrat is on the ballot.

I am dead terrified of what trump could do to this country, and many of you suggest voting for a more progressive independent candidate. In mine and most’s eyes, there is absolutely no way an independent candidate would win. project 2025 is such a disaster that my younger brother genuinely thought it a myth. I genuinely cannot read their ideas without wondering how such an evil thing could be thought up, much less widely known and supported as it is today. If I were feeling philosophical i might doubt the existence of an evil and good in the world, but here is one of the circumstances where I feel completely confident. Project 2025, and what it could do to america, is evil.

setting up the necessary campaign for an independent candidate to be even widely known about in years would be unprecedented. much less, 3 months. Regardless of a democratic candidate’s potential blunders, anything will be better than inadvertently contributing to the downfall of democracy in america (an exaggeration? I don’t know. you tell me. :) ). Maybe biden or harris have done something you could consider evil. All of us know that biden continues to support israel in the current conflict. That stance and the war itself is on my list of evils and I truly believe it is something that everyone should be able to see the evil in.

However we cannot forget that trump has said he would be harsher on palestine. this article highlights just some of that. In specific reference, trump had reportedly said in reference to the college protests that swept the nation:

“Well, if you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years.”

That is not someone we can elect. Those are the words of a man who will do nothing but worsen the problem. perhaps kamala harris will be more progressive on the issue than biden, even.

yes, this election will be a bit of a trolley problem. yes, it may not feel great to vote for someone who you don’t agree with. but much worse would be electing a president that will do absolutely nothing good and turn this country not greater, but into a ditch by the road, thereby taking the rest of the world with it.

on a lighter note, earlier today I was more scared than I am now. a lot of you online are hopeful and I will join you in that. My doomscrolling has turned to “hope”scrolling as the day progressed, as I saw someone else say. Once again, I can’t vote, but I’m going to be helping my mom and my grandma write postcards encouraging others to vote. I can’t vote but I will try my hardest to help out in any ways, i suppose starting in small part by this post. Alone I will have little impact but I believe that if we can raise 52,000,000$ in one day, 27,5000,000 in FIVE HOURS, we can win this election.

Keep the energy up,

KAMALA HARRIS 2024!!!!

ps. i found out biden dropped out 2 hours after leaving a vacation with my republican grandparent. bullet dodged. then had a wonderful hour long conversation with my awesome grandma at home ❤️

[texas-gothic]

I suppose the biggest hangup I have with the wider western reaction to the current upheaval in Israel/Palestine is all this whining about the violence against Israeli “civilians” by Palestinian resistors.

I would, if possible, like to direct your attention back to the wars between Indigenous Americans and the USAmerican colonizers between the 17th and 19th centuries, but the latter especially. These wars did consist of (often very one sided) engagements between combatting armies of the colonists and either singular tribes or alliances of tribes. But the vast majority of this violence was directed at frontier communities. The warriors would raid homesteads, where they would take grain and livestock and kill the house’s occupants. These settlers would often face fates far more gruesome than those faced by their current Israeli counterparts. Many were even scalped. And this was a legitimate strategy on the part of the indigenous warriors. Because these homesteaders, these settlers and colonists, were every bit as much a part of the existential threat against their peoples as the US army was. They may have even been a greater threat, as truly, they made up the vast majority of the colonizing force, and were, in fact, the entire point of the thing.

The situation in Palestine is precisely the same. For Palestinian resistors, militants, and commandos to enact this violence against Israeli settlers is not only acceptable, it may be the most effective strategy they have. The Israeli settler is the core of Israeli violence, just as was the case in North America. Cut out the Israeli settler, and the project falls apart.

[satellitebroadcast]

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

Appointing an "Israeli" Military Governor in Gaza Is a Step Toward Perpetuating the Occupation The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement declaring that "israel's" appointment of a military governor in the Gaza Strip reveals the true intentions of the fascist state and its plans to perpetuate the occupation of Gaza. These plans include structurally re-engineering the area through the largest campaign of population displacement and geographically dividing it into military zones, similar to the military divisions in the West Bank. The Front added that our people in Gaza thwarted "israel's" project to establish family and tribal links aimed at controlling the Strip in preparation for what is now called the "Day After." The popular committees also defeated the project to form a civil administration loyal to the occupation as a replacement for the Palestinian Authority. The Front asserted that the appointment of the "israeli" military governor in the Strip, under false and transparent pretenses like discussions of humanitarian civil affairs and providing relief to citizens, is nothing but blatant lies. These lies are exposed by the statements of the fascist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his partners Ben Gvir, Smotrich, and Katz, as well as by the declared project to establish "Greater Israel" and turn Gaza into a security belt filled with settlements, military barracks, and security checkpoints. The Front emphasized that such field policies of the occupation state require the Palestinian official bodies in Ramallah to respond in a manner that meets the gravity of the situation. This response must ensure the prevention of the project to separate Gaza from the West Bank and fragment the land of the State of Palestine. This necessitates the rapid convening of the unified and temporary leadership framework and the initiation of forming a national unity government that legitimizes the national presence in both the West Bank and Gaza, stripping away all the occupation state's claims and its measures. The Front also affirmed its confidence that the steadfastness and valiant resistance of our people will be the swift and direct response, on the ground, to the occupation's actions in Gaza and its criminal operations.

[queersatanic]

is that post about you wanting to discriminate against immigrants a meme? or????

It sounds like you're referring to this post, which you're right, is pretty jarring without the context of the bitter but serious joke being made there.

In the wake of the psychic trauma of the 2016 election and Hillary Clinton's electoral loss to Donald Trump, a librarian named Kristin Garvey came up with the following sign:

In this house, we believe: Black Lives Matter. Women’s rights are human rights. No human is illegal. Science is real. Love is love. Kindness is everything.

Basically saying, "Unlike those people who supported and support Trump, we are reasonable people who have basic human decency and right opinions," and presumably these people vote for the most progressive Democrat they can in every election.

But pretty quickly the sign was mocked and satirized by others, especially on the political Right. On the Left, though, this was often done by noticing how such people tended to also be wealthy white liberals who would suddenly grow very reactionary when an issue moved away from platitudes to something material like greater housing density near them, sending their own children to public schools, or non-carceral government responses to immigrants or visibly homeless people. Even the opening phrase "in this house" tells you that you're talking about a certain kind of person with a certain kind of wealth because to be able to plant a yard sign you both need a yard and have the authority to put something on it, which renters rarely have.

So let's go back to @papasmoke's post, riffing on that:

In this house we believe in Housing de-regulation A strong border wall Discriminatory immigration policies Infinite funding for the police Rhodesia 2's right to rape, murder, and conquer A maximally lethal military Loving who you love ❤️

This is a reference to the current state of the Democratic Party under presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and specifically her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024 (the day before papasmoke's post was made).

Now, we may be differing with @/papasmoke here in that "housing de-regulation" in the sense of ending shit like single-family zoning probably is actually a good thing. But the point we'd agree on is that Democrats aren't talking about using the federal government to step up dense, public housing projects like they did in the mid-20th century. It's just, "We're going to solve the problem!" as an applause line.

On the border, Harris is criticizing Trump for not being as strong on "border security" as she will be.

On police, since 2020, the Biden regime, and surely Harris as well, will continue to push for more federal resources for cops around the country. The spigot will be turned on for the publicly-funded thugs doing the attacks on unhoused people but not so much for the unhoused people.

In regards to "Rhodesia 2", of course we have Harris saying this about Israel:

And let me be clear. I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself — (applause) — and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7 — (applause) — including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.

Not only is there continued material support to proceed continuously bombing Gaza for what will soon be a year, there is not even the rhetorical condemnation of Israel raping, murdering, and starving two million people, all in the name of greater living space and manifest destiny of a brutal apartheid state.

For the USA's own military, Harris says:

As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world. 

However, Harris does say that at stake is "the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride," which is one of the main clubs Democrats use to tell queer people in particular that if you aren't OK supporting genocide, cops, and imperialism, then you are not a serious or practical person and you deserve whatever the next Trump regime does to you.

All of this was wildly popular to that room full of people, who also chanted "U-S-A" in response to people trying to just get a Palestinian speaker on stage to have their suffering recognized.

There's an old joke about how if you ask a socialist to describe their problems with capitalism, the socialist tells you a long list of problems with capitalism. But if you ask a capitalist the problems with socialism, they just describe the status quo under capitalism.

U.S. politics is like that with progressive voters in particular. If you were to accurately describe the Biden regime's current immigration/border policy or the enabling of Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing to a liberal in 2017-2020, they would tell you, "That's why the next election is so important to get a Democrat in office."

Then when you look at what Democrats do while in office, yeah, you can argue that it could be worse. But it could be a hell of a lot better, too, and the fundamental problem is there are tens of millions of liberals and partisan Democrats who only seem capable of imagining and working toward a better world when the opposing party is in power. Meanwhile these same people call life under their own rule the best of all possible worlds and see anyone conceiving and working toward something better than that to be actively sabotaging them.

So, that's a much longer explanation than you presumably were asking for, but that's what that post is criticizing specifically and why it's in that format, and it's also why people left of Ronald Reagan are so antagonistic toward partisan Democrats and their political class when we recognize that, yes, Donald Trump and the GOP are horrible and want horrible things for everyone they can put under their power.

[probablyasocialecologist]

In Palestine, displacing and erasing the Indigenous Arab presence has been an inevitable part of the forming of Israel as a “Jewish State”. In 1940, Joseph Weitz, head of the Jewish Colonization Department, stated that there was no room for both peoples together in the country; that the only solution was Palestine without Arabs; and that there was no other way but to transfer all of them: not one village, not one tribe should be left. Practices leading to the mass ethnic cleansing of the non-Jewish population of Palestine occurred from 1947 to 1949, and again in 1967, when Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, with mass displacement of hundreds of thousands, killings, the destruction of villages and towns, looting and the denial of the right to return of expelled Palestinians. Since 1967, Israel has advanced its settler-colonial project through military occupation, stripping the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination. This has resulted in the segregation and control of Palestinians, including through land confiscation, house demolitions, revoked residencies and deportation. Punishing their indigeneity and rejection of colonization, Israel has designated Palestinians as a “security threat” to justify its oppression and “de-civilianization”, namely the denial of their status as protected civilians. Israel has progressively turned Gaza into a highly controlled enclave. Since the 2005 evacuation of Israeli settlers (which the current Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, strongly opposed), the Israeli settler movement and its leaders have framed Gaza as a territory to be “recolonized” and its population as invaders to be expelled. Those unlawful claims are integral to the project of consolidating the “exclusive and unassailable right” of the Jewish people on the land of “Greater Israel”, as reaffirmed by Prime Minister Netanyahu in December 2022.

A/HRC/55/73 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967

[800lbhammer]

they bombed beirut, next theyre going to bomb the sinai, syria, parts of jordan, and iran. all for the greater israel project and to create the third temple.