#from the river to the sea is hate speech

[mylight-png]

In light of "from the river to the sea" (finally) being classified as antisemitic hate speech in the US, I have a potentially hot take to offer.

"Free Palestine" means the exact same thing and is exactly just as hateful, and should be treated as such.

[moonyluv-s]

“b-b-but From the River to the Sea is hate speech 😭😭🥺🥺” give me a break.

[everyolivetree]

nasty comments on a pro-israeli post i came across. advocating people to be used as “meat shields” is not only barbaric but completely disgusting. using a slur as an insult is fucking awful, and saying that 90%+ of jews are zionists is just factually incorrect. a huge amount of jews, including holocaust survivors and their relatives, are protesting for a free palestine.

some of the stuff i covered up said that the students were preventing jewish students from entering (in these cases everyone was barred from entering). like 5 people said actually antisemitic shit and they were called out for it by the other protestors

[emanblr]

The resilience and the beauty of these people is incredible ♥️

Been through SO much and still no hate no cursing, which by the way would be totally ok if they do.

[gillianthecat]

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[bioethicists]

i'm sure it will hit the news soon but today brandeis university had several students arrested at a peaceful protest based solely on the insistence that shouting "from the river to the sea, palestine will be free" + mentioning the word intifada is hate speech. our president is prioritizing short-term funding from wealthy israelis + wealthy supporters of israel by condoning a genocide + suppressing free speech on campus, even as IDF soldiers give talks to our student body. our chapter of sjp was suspended due to unsubstantiated accusations that it "supports hamas" after a palestinian student who has lost her entire family in this atrocity tried to organize a vigil for the lost. there is a huge contingent of the student body, including the entire anthropology grad department, who supports a liberated palestine + we have been threatened, condescended to, + censored in order to give off the impression that the university "stands with israel".

tikkun olam means palestinian liberation. never again means never again.

[odinsblog]

House Resolution 883 formally condemns the phrase, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” as antisemitic hate speech—but in reality it is the preface for governmental censorship (sponsored by a foreign government via AIPAC) that unconstitutionally bans freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

As israel has already murdered more than 33,000 noncombatant civilians in Palestine and is currently committing war crimes like bombing hospitals, mosques, churches, schools and even children’s playgrounds, something tells me that there won’t be a similar condemnation of rampant Islamophobia.

[eretzyisrael]

Israel’s Enemies Tell Five Big Lies

Following the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, antisemites mount a series of vicious attacks, threats and malicious lies against Jews and Israel

With no shame or sign of humanity, the enemies of Israel have doubled down on their insistence that Israel is an illegitimate state that must be destroyed and that the savage slaughter of 1,200 innocent Jews was justified—all based on five “Big Lies” about the Jewish state.

What are the facts?

The world for Jews and Israel will never be the same. Wellesley College students receive official messages saying Zionists (i.e. most Jewish students) are not welcome in the school’s dorms. Hamas official Ghazi Hamad in a TV rant swears Hamas will repeat October 7 over and over until Israel is annihilated. West Bank Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi says “What Hitler did to you was a joke—we will drink your blood and eat your skull.”

While Hamas’s October 7 atrocity shattered the hope of many Palestinian supporters, causing them to rethink their positions, the event only ignited an explosion of hate from other of Israel’s enemies. Tens of thousands of demonstrators made clear they no longer support two states living side by side in peace. Rather they demand “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free . . . by any means necessary”—meaning, clearly, slaughter of civilians.

Power of Big Lies: Though Israel was the victim of a mass murder of innocent Jews, its enemies blame the Jewish state—not only for the Hamas massacre, but also for responding in defense. The reasons many blame Israel for the atrocity are based on five Big Lies. Big Lies were used by Nazi leader Goebbels, who noted that if he told an outrageous lie often enough, people would begin to believe it. Alternatively, if you use truth as a basis for your judgments, you may these facts useful:

Lie #1: Israel is a colonial state that stole Palestinian land. A colonizer is a foreign nation that conquers and exploits another nation. First, the Palestinians have never controlled any land in Palestine: They were also never a nation. Nothing was stolen. Second, Jews are the indigenous people of the land of Israel. They have lived there continuously for 3,000 years and had two commonwealths for over 1,000 years: They are not foreigners. No colonial state.

Lie #2: Israel commits genocide. Genocide is the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group by killing its members. Israel does not, nor has ever, targeted innocent Palestinian civilians for killing—no mass murders, no pogroms. All Palestinian civilian deaths have occurred as collateral damage while fighting terrorists who hide in residential or other public areas. Tellingly, the population in in and around Israel has mushroomed since Israel’s founding in 1948—from about 700,000 to seven million today: Zero genocide.

Lie #3: Israel practices apartheid. Apartheid is a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Israel has no laws or policies separating or limiting the rights of any of its citizens—including two million Arab-Israeli citizens—nor any Palestinians outside Israel. Political and civil rights of all Palestinians outside Israel are controlled by their respective dictatorships, who allow virtually no freedoms, such as speech or the vote. No apartheid.

Lie #4: Israel is committing war crimes. War crimes include torture, hostage taking, acts of terrorism, rape and intentional targeting of civilians. While Hamas committed all these acts on October 7, Israel commits none. Though some media bristle at what they consider excessive civilian deaths during Israeli military efforts, in fact, Israel attacks only military structures and personnel—never civilian-only targets. Unfortunately, Hamas places its fighters in dense residential areas or in tunnels beneath them, endangering civilians. No Israeli war crimes.

Lie #5: Israel brutally oppresses the Palestinians daily. Oppression is the malicious exercise of power to discriminate against some groups. Because Israel completely exited Gaza in 2005, it has no power over of the daily lives of Gazans. However, because of Hamas’s continuous terror, especially efforts to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish state, Israel and Egypt have placed Gaza under a strict blockade to prevent terror attacks. Likewise, because of the Oslo Accords, Israel and the Palestinian Authority share governance of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Thus, Israel plays virtually no role governing Palestinians daily lives and only enters Palestinian-controlled areas when terrorists flee to and hide in them. No oppression.

Above all, Israel and the U.N. have made numerous offers of land for an independent Palestinian state. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have turned down five offers of land for peace since 1948, three of them over the last 23 years. Apparently, their dream of conquering Israel “from the land to the sea” is more important.

The bestiality of the October 7 massacre shocked us—beheadings, incineration, rape, torture, heartless executions, brutal kidnappings. Even worse, the gates have opened to unlimited Jew hatred on American streets and campuses—to condoning savagery with the excuse of Palestinian liberation . . . based on utter lies about the Jewish state. But Hamas and the haters should know that “Never Again,” means fighting and defeating evil forever.

[jewish-vents]

I am a Jewish high schooler and my school has a relatively high Jewish and Israeli population. However, I still found "From the river to the sea Palestine will be free #SaveGaza" on one side and "Free Palestine" on the other side of a bathroom stall, both in large writing with the former taking up all of my line of sight. It's scary and I don't think that high schoolers know the implications of their statements. I do agree that Palestinian people deserve freedom and rights. Of course I do. But the use of that statement is terrifying. I'm scared to tell anyone about it because a lot of my friends are very liberal and they kind of fell silent when me and an Israeli friend were talking about Israel. Nothing political, just about the markets in Tel Aviv and how my rabbi went to Israel recently (for political reasons I did not bring up because that wasn't what the conversation was about). I'm scared to tell my mom about the graffiti because she'll freak out. I don't know what to do. Should I report it through the school's anonymous page? Will it even get flagged as hate speech at all? Would the school be more concerned about the fact that it's graffiti than anything else? I do plan on writing "עם ישראל חי you are not alone" on the wall next to it but will that just be counterproductive and make me get in trouble if I report the other graffiti as well?

I'm so sorry you're going through that. I would agree that highschoolers do not know nearly enough to be commenting on such a complex situation with that much certainty. I'm also not sure what the best course of action is. I can say I'm not going to encourage what is technically vandalism, but I'm also not going to discourage it. I just hope you stay safe.

I do think talking about it with your parents might be the best course of action here, if you feel like your parents are trustworthy. I would usually say to talk to the teachers or the administration, but we've also seen that in many schools and colleges won't actually do anything to protect their Jewish students.

Best of luck and stay safe. Also stay together, there is safety (and comfort) in numbers.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The anti-antisemitic objection to this slogan is essentially this: calls for a free Palestine in the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea necessarily entail an end to the Israeli state; this entails the elimination of Jews from Palestine; thus, to call for killing Jews or expelling them from Israel is to call for genocide; it is therefore an instance of anti-Jewish hate speech. 

It is true that a state of Palestine would entail the end of Israel as a Jewish ethnic-national state. But as many Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals (and others) have noted: replacing Israel with a Palestinian state need not result in genocide or the ethnic cleansing of Jews. Proponents of the one-state solution, for instance, have thought a lot about such a future and have developed various scenarios for securing a vibrant Jewish presence alongside a vibrant Palestinian one in various versions of a future Palestine, from a bi-national, secular polity to a federation. 

These debates over the one-state solution are clearly at the heart of the contemporary furor over the slogan. 

[itsabouttimex2]

LSO AU sounds really interesting! Are we allowed to ask questions about AUs or does it count as a request?

Hi, thank you for asking! Questions are always allowed, even when requests are closed! I’ll elaborate on Let’s Start Over a little bit!

After his own journey ends and MK has his own story penned and published, peace settles across Megapolis and the world in general.

He’s even got himself a new title- “Monkie Knight”, after years of working for the king.

MK still steps in to ward off greater threats and more serious demons, but mostly steps back and attends to the noodle shop with Pigsy, who’s just about ready to pass the keys to his son and maybe take up a more casual lifestyle of teaching instead of serving. Maybe a YouTube channel where he teaches basic skills and recipes to viewers. Tang comes in to both expand on the history of what Pigsy is cooking and to taste test the end result. As expected, he adores the food each time.

Things are okay.

There’s trauma and bitterness that MK needs to work through, but… things are alright. With time, they’ll get better.

And then you come around to the shop one day to visit, right as the Ruyi Jingu Bang comes toppling down from where it’s been set- and you catch it.

So starts your journey.

Our golden-hearted hero is a little soured now, having been thrust into dangerous fights again and again. He’s somewhat resentful to certain individuals-

Mei, for not fighting beside him more often, in spite of her combat prowess and draconic powers. He gets a little twitchy when she’s around, thinking of all the fun she had off on her motorcycle, all the live-streams she giggled and joked her way through. MK doesn’t hate her. Not in a million years. Never. But damn if there’s not some bitterness. He’ll still ask her to ‘babysit’ you when he needs to go off and fight.

Though he still cares about Sandy as a friend, MK has shifted his perspective to disliking the river demon’s pacifistic outlook, viewing it as naive and somewhat selfish. He still goes over to paint and have tea, but things are somewhat strained between the two. It’s easy for someone like Sandy, a side-liner, to say “I’m not fighting anymore!” but MK never had that chance. Given that he was in his mid-teens during the start of his journey in this AU, the hero finds it messed up that he had to fight, but an honest to goodness ex-soldier chose not to. Again, no hatred. Things are just a little tense.

Macaque is pretty far down on his shitlist, actually. MK has taken some time to think on the simian’s actions and kinda wishes he had just let Wukong pummel him to death. Most of these feelings relate to their first meeting, but him assaulting Tang and attacking Mei certainly haven’t helped. Or his unnecessary destruction of the Dragon Palace of the East Sea. Or his refusal to apologize. Yeah, this guy doesn’t get to come anywhere near you. MK will act civil because he does believe in redemption and second chances, but dear lord is it hard.

(And he massively regrets the “you aren’t a bad guy” speech he gave to Macaque. Looking back on it, MK thinks he was naively seeing goodness where it didn’t exist.)

And of course, Sun Wukong, for… a lot of things. He talks rather bitterly of his mentor, viewing the Great Sage as irresponsible and rather immature. He wishes there had been more effort and care in the monkey’s teaching, and less “you can handle this”. There’s still some genuine respect and gratitude for the simian, but MK majorly fixates on being ‘different’ in his own mentorship. Problem is…

He’s choosing to be different instead of better.

Wukong had genuine and honest belief in MK, enough to let him handle trouble on his own. The Great Sage didn’t step in not out of laziness, but because he knew that the kid could handle things on his own. Sure, he was way too secretive and hands-off, but his intentions were only ever to help MK grow.

So when he decides to be entirely opposite to Wukong, our newly titled ‘Knight’ becomes a massive roadblock for you. Instead of cutting you loose with confidence, MK is stifling and protective. He’ll fight for you, cook for you, tend to your wounds, etc. Wukong tried to let MK grow without any form of safety net, but MK refuses to allow any growth without complete safety, which is rare.

Instead of being a mentor who’s trying to build you into the best you that you can be, he’s trying to be a father.

And honestly? Sometimes, he’s so good at the act that you wish it were real.

[mysticfoxdesigns]

Texas Antisemitism Executive Order

PLEASE SHARE THIS AROUND!!

As many of y'all know by now, I am a Texan. Specifically a Texan in higher education, at a public university. Gov. Abbott's new executive order to have public universities crack down on Anti-Semitic speech directly impacts the students advocating for Palestine.

Phrases such as "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" can now be considered HATE SPEECH!

“Some radical organizations on our campuses engaged in acts that have no place in Texas,” Abbott said in a press release. “Now, we must work to ensure that our college campuses are safe spaces for members of the Jewish community.”

This was never about protecting Jewish people, but protecting Zionists. The order was issued after universities across Texas had issues after Oct. 7th's events. Pro-Palestine and Pro-Israel students were butting heads, and some broke out into fights according to some sources. As a uni student myself, I have seen these conflicting sides in person. Abbott's statement also makes no mention of the Anti-Islamic rhetoric that has also been spreading due to Israel's persecution of Palestinians.

This order calls for all public universities and colleges review their free speech policies, and to lay out in their policies the definition of antisemitism, and punishments for Anti-Semitic rhetoric. All within 90 days of the order's publishment.

Most of this appears to be banking on HB 3257, the bill that introduced Texas' Holocaust, Genocide, And Antisemitism Advisory Commission

Now, there has been some actual pushback on this, from the The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas) as well as students and administration from the universities and colleges effected.

“This order not only undermines the principles of free speech and academic freedom but also perpetuates a harmful narrative that equates criticism of Israeli policies with antisemitism,” CAIR-DFW Executive Director Mustafa Carroll said in a statement.

Taken from the Dallas Morning News article posted earlier in this post.

The wordage used by Abbott worries many people, due to the fact that it is so vague. To the point where criticizing Israel and it's government can be considered hate speech.

Please share this around. If it is happening here, it can happen to any state.

Don't stop speaking about Palestine. Don't stop supporting the Palestinian citizens who are displaced right now. Educate your peers, donate if you are able, and don't give up hope.

[sethshead]

To free Palestine from Israel, first we must free Palestine from Hamas. Hamas is a force that abuses and oppresses Palestinians. It murders, tortures, and disappears dissenters, opponents, LGBTQ, civil rights and peace activists, and anyone who resists its power, including respected Islamic clerics. It allows women few rights save to be the brood mares for more shuhada. It steals food donations and resells them at inflated prices to the rich, provokes Israel only to then hide behind civilians, and denies civilians anyplace to hide. Hamas is a death cult. A Palestine under its rule, whether within the pre-‘67 borders or from the river to the sea, would be a violent, criminal, gangster failed state.

Yes, Israeli leadership must also change. Likud has never been willing to part with “Judea and Samaria”, no matter how much grief that causes Israelis within the pre-‘67 borders. Netanyahu has been a consummate bad-faith actor, and even the country’s more dovish leaders have still wanted to manipulate the “facts on the ground” to make final negotiations more advantageous to Israel. It is certainly past time for Israel to stop playing games with the futures of two peoples. But Likud can be and has been voted out. The same is not true of Hamas.

I accept that Hamza Howidy is not necessarily representative of the Palestinian electorate. I do not tokenize him; I simply agree with is observations and conclusions. Though most Palestinians do still demand a river-to-sea state or “right of return” (which in practical terms amount to the same thing), Howidy recognizes the obvious. Israel is going nowhere, nor are the Palestinians. Jews and Palestinian Arabs have connections to the land. Each possesses a kind of indigeneity and a right to self-determination in the land of their national origin, whenever that was. Neither wishes to live under the rule of the other.

Any one-state solution is foolhardy, an invitation to further conflict and bloodshed. None who desire that can legitimately be called a friend to Palestinians or Israelis. Recognizing the legitimacy of both of our national aspirations and finding a way to bring us together as neighboring states in respectful peace is the only thing that could remotely be called a victory for either side. If you and all your chants, slogans, rhetoric, and demands do not amount to that, you are doing more harm than good to both peoples.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Hamza Howidy, Palestinian from Gaza City

Published: Apr 25, 2024

Protests are spreading across the United States at college campuses, where university students are gathering in the name of Palestinian rights and occupying campus spaces with tents. Sadly, not everyone who purports to support Palestinians is truly interested in safeguarding our rights.

It pains me to say this as a Palestinian from Gaza. As my home is destroyed and too many killed, I never thought I would find myself criticizing those speaking up. And yet, I cannot be silent about what I am seeing. The truth is that the manner in which many gather to voice their support for Palestinians does more to hurt our cause than help it.

You know what would help the Palestinians in Gaza? Condemning Hamas' atrocities. Instead, the protesters routinely chant their desire to "Globalize the Intifada." Apparently they do not realize that the Intifadas were disastrous for both Palestinians and Israelis, just as October 7 has been devastating for the people of Gaza.

They should be speaking up for the innocent victims of Hamas—both Palestinian and Israeli. Instead, they endorse Hamas's ideology with posters announcing resistance "by any means necessary" and chants of "from the river to the sea," effectively glorifying the Al-Qassam brigades, Hamas' military wing, whose ideology is entirely based on the elimination of more than 6 million Israelis from the land.

I assumed individuals who initiated these slogans were uninformed about what they were advocating for. I saw the LGBTQ flag frequently flown among people chanting lines from Hamas's charter, and I initially wanted to educate them, to warn them that the group they are honoring would most likely toss them from the top of a building or murder them like they did to Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a Hamas commander accused of homosexuality. Hamas harasses women who don't cover their heads. Hamas tortures those who demonstrate against their authoritarian rule, as they did me when I protested.

All of this seems to be lost on the people who have named themselves our allies, to our misfortune.

Hate speech on college campuses starting with the one at Columbia has recently reached a frightening pitch. I've seen people yelling antisemitic things at Jewish students, including "Jews go back to Poland" and other horrible phrases. It has deteriorated to the point that Jews are no longer attending university classes due to the current hostile environment, and they are attending their classes online to avoid the demonstrators.

It's unconscionable. But it's not just the antisemitism that has me despairing. It's the hypocrisy. Where were these caring young people when Hamas took over Gaza and slaughtered hundreds of Gazans, or when Hamas held 2 million Gazans captive for more than 17 years? Why didn't they speak out about the fact that Hamas led Gazans into this conflict, which resulted in more than 30,000 dead and 80,000 injured, according to Gazan municipal authorities? Where were they when Hamas's failed missiles claimed the lives of hundreds of Gazans on October 17, or when Hamas murdered young people in order to steal aid and resell it to Gazans at massively inflated prices?

The only conclusion that can be drawn from these demonstrators' silence concerning Hamas' atrocities and their antisemitic chanting is that they are not concerned with protecting Palestinians. They are out in their tents because of a hatred of Jews and Israelis.

As a Gazan and as a Palestinian, I want the protesters and the organizers of these protests to know that their hateful speech harms us. The Jewish person or Israeli you are intimidating during your rally may be the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor or a family member of an Israeli slain or abducted by Hamas on October 7. These folks would be your partners if the protests were about achieving lasting peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis.

I do not accept hateful speech or terrorist chants, and all of these foolish dreams about eradicating Israel are disgusting—and will never be achieved. Both of us—Palestinians and Israelis—are here to stay.

But the protesters aren't interested in peace. Some of the groups have been blocking Palestinian peace activists like me—and I am from Gaza, the very place they claim to care about! Instead of blocking peace activists, they should be inviting us to join these protests and guide them in the right direction—a place without hatred with a focus on calling for the release of the hostages who have been held captive by Hamas for more than 210 days.

If the protesters cared about Palestinians, they would have one central demand: Hamas must surrender, because we have all suffered from Hamas and can no longer live under the rule of a terrorist group. Only then can a ceasefire be achieved.

Hamza Howidy is a Palestinian from Gaza City. He is an accountant and a peace advocate.

==

Told you so.

I've been calling these protestors "pro-Hamas" not "pro-Palestine" for months. I've invited dozens to condemn Hamas and none of them will. The "ceasefire" they want is for Israel to surrender so Hamas can murder them all, as they've consistently promised to.

Imagine people who pretend to want a "ceasefire" not just chanting for "intifada" (violence) and celebrating barbarous Islamic terrorism but blocking actual Palestinian peace activists. This was never about peace. It still isn't. They're useful idiots whose antisemitism is being used by Islamic supremacists to undermine western society.

[mayasaura]

I may have seen one long ago and just forgotten, but do you happen to know of any particular writings unpacking the whole situation with Teacher in HTN?? It seems like he is portrayed so differently in Harrow’s brain, and I have always wondered how it is that Harrow’s brain Teacher knows all of this more detail history about Canaan House when Harrow herself doesn’t know all that yet.

I don't know of any off the top on my head, but for my part I'm pretty sure that's really Teacher, just like Abigail, Marta, and the others are really themselves.

Like you point out, there's no way Harrow could have just imagined all the insider knowledge he has of Canaan House, and Judith killed him, so he is dead and therefore available.

He doesn't start off all that different from the way he was in Gideon the Ninth. He's always been a bit. Uh. Kooky. And intense. With his little sermons about "the sum of all necromantic transgression" and "murder is done by the living", and the way he tells Gideon that he's always hated water and then laughs hysterically with her when she points out he's surrounded by the sea. His speech about the Sleeper is more exposition than he ever gave in life, but Harrow needed someone to feed lines explaining the scenario.

It's after they start realizing that they're in the River, and someone is dreaming the scenario, that Teacher really goes off the rails. And who can blame him? The man is fifty souls smashed together in a necromantic hadron collider and left to marinate for ten thousand years.

As he puts it,

Now here he is, finally dead and in the River, and he's been drawn back into a facsimile of his old box. It might be enough to make anyone wander the haunted halls caterwauling in hopes of attracting the second death of oblivion.

I don't know why his lips are so much looser with secrets in the River. Maybe he was necromantically prevented from telling the secrets of Canaan House in life, with a ritual like the Sewn Tongue. Maybe he's just decided "fuck it!" and gone whole ham doling out forbidden knowledge.

Teacher is fascinating, because he's a construct. He's the blueprint for what Kiriona will be, and may be the blueprint for what Harrow is. A manufactured composite soul, tethered to a perfectly preserved body. I don't even know if he was technically alive or dead or a secret third thing, in Canaan House, and that's just wild to me.