#i do not support the illegal settlements in the west bank

[boasamishipper]

this may sound harsh but if you refer to the posters with pictures of the israelis kidnapped by hamas on 10/7 as ~zionist propaganda~ and/or deface or tear them down, i think you are a despicable human being and i hope you drop dead

[jewishvitya]

Smotrich claiming that the West Bank settlements are being expanded legally is really funny, for a couple of reasons.

First of all. In 2017, Haaretz published an article talking about the legality of Smotrich's house. It was built on land that was illegal for Israelis to build on. Either belonging to the state, or privately owned by Palestinians.

He was pushing for changes that would make houses like his retroactively legal. It was a law that we called "the expropriation law" or whoever wanted to sound neutral about it, regularization (if I'm translating right). The law would allow to retroactively take away a Palestinian's right to their land if there are Israeli settlements on it. That Palestinian person would be compensated either monetarily, or with different land that would be theirs.

He knows that the West Bank settlements are built illegally. He was trying to legalize around that. This law could have affected around 16 settlements, 2000-4000 residences.

The law passed the Knesset, but our High Court stopped it because it was recognized to be illegal according to international law. It's not the law currently.

This doesn't mean things like this don't happen. In July 8th 2024, 66 dunams around the area of the Evyatar settlement were declared as belonging to the state. The land owners had 45 days to appeal and prove the land is theirs. This is not the first such declaration, even for this specific settlement. Ever since October 2023, these things have been happening at an accelerated rate. The West Bank is seeing more violence from both settlers and the military, and more land is stolen from Palestinians, both through announcements like these and through just... actively, physically, kicking them out.

The second reason it was absurd to hear Smotrich claiming that, is that I know how the expansion works there. At least in the West Bank, where I grew up. I knew people involved. I knew people who were arrested over these activities, repeatedly.

There are different types of settlements. In terms of international law, there equally illegal. But the Israeli government creates a distinction.

The first kind of settlements is those recognized by the Israeli government. They'll be well established. Treated basically as Israeli cities with extra security.

The second kind is what we call ma'ahazim. It translates to strongholds, outposts, or footholds. Those even the Israeli government considers illegal.

This doesn't mean they have no cooperation or resources from the government. Some of them do have that. They'll have military protection to remove Palestinians from the land and keep them away. They'll have government support for building and infrastructure.

Some of them don't have government support. Because these people will never have enough as long as there are Palestinian villages and cities. Their stated goal, explicitly discussed, is to never give up on a single square centimeter of land.

How do they start without government support?

They pick the spot. A hill, a field, whatever. They'll start creating presence there. It can be groups going as if to hang out. If there are Palestinians just... existing on their land, the settlers can get violent. They're forcing the military to both protect them and remove them. Often when the military removes them, they won't even resist, they'll go along with it, planning to come back. It'll create a back and forth. They go, they get removed, they go again, they get removed again. The point is to establish that this is a spot they see as theirs. And it also creates an increased presence of the Israeli military in the area, because it becomes likely that violence will break out there.

They'll start bringing out caravans and just... living there. Again, getting removed, and going back. Trying to wear down the system until they can get any infrastructure or building something. There's usually no solid plan for a town or a city, because these things are rushed.

And once the outpost is established, sometimes it gets approved after the fact - successfully stealing that land - and sometimes it gets demolished, which means the struggle to take over it continues.

This conflict then happens between the government and the settlers. The Palestinians that land belongs to? They already don't have access to it.

Given where Smotrich lives, I think it's easy to assume that he supports these efforts.

If you saw settlers trying to push into Gaza, going against military orders, this is why. They'll go there as a group saying "we just want to pray there" or they'll try to build some weak makeshift structure. They're following that same tactic, because it's been working. They want the aftermath of this war and genocide to be the return of Israeli settlements into Gaza. A Member of the Knesset, Limor Son Har Hamelech, a member of Ben Gvir's party, fully and outspokenly supports this.

Anyway. This was a rant because I hate Smotrich and his people, and sometimes this is how I vent.

[chanaleah]

Hi, I appreciate that you emphasize you support a 2 state solution. What do you think of the Netanyahu gov't consistently opposing a Palestinian state? Also polls of Israelis indicating the majority wants a single state solution? Do you see a way to change these people's minds?

I think there needs to be a slow process to peace. Neither Israelis nor Palestinians trust the other side, and I think both are justified in that.

Since even before 1948, Israel has offered peace again and again and the Arab nations have rejected it. Israelis see how after the second intifada, Israel pulled out of Gaza, bulldozed the settlements, and handed it all over to Palestine. In return, they got rockets and terrorist attacks.

Palestinians in the west bank/judea & samaria see how extremist settlers continually encroach upon their land and act violently, and how the Israeli govt does almost nothing to mitigate it, sometimes even encouraging it. Gazans see how the most basic of items - fabric, medical supplies, toys - are restricted from entering Gaza. They see airstrikes destroying their homes and neighborhoods.

I personally don't support the Netanyahu/Likud govt - the same as a lot of Israelis, however not being Israeli myself I can't really do anything about that.

Honestly, I think people's mind cannot be changed with words. After this war is over (which I pray it will be soon) I think both Israel and Palestine (the Palestinian authority) need to show the other "side" that they are dedicated to peace. Israel can do that by cracking down on settler violence and illegal outposts and by perhaps turning more of Area B over the the PA. Palestine can do that by not committing acts of terrorism and violence. With less violence committed by settlers and Palestinians, I think the restrictions on the West Bank could be eased, and there could become a positive cycle of less violence leading to less restrictions.

I think if the people of each nation see the other government actually making steps toward peace then people might be more in support of a 2SS.

[cowboymaterials]

The U.S. military’s recent $35 million contract to do construction at its secret base in Israel went to a joint venture that includes an American firm and an Israeli one. The Israeli company, Y.D. Ashush Infrastructure, has been involved in many large-scale infrastructure and public works projects — including building an illegal settlement in occupied Palestinian territory.

In a section on its website touting its projects, Ashush mentions construction work in the settlement of Leshem. Originally planned to include nearly 700 homes, Leshem was constructed in the 2010s as a satellite of Alei Zahav, a settlement established in 1982. 

“I estimate that Leshem has tripled the number of settlers in Alei Zahav.”

“Leshem is an Israeli settlement that was established in 2010, officially as a ‘neighborhood’ of an older settlement called Alei Zahav,” Dror Etkes — founder of Kerem Navot, an Israeli organization that monitors Israeli land policy in the West Bank — told The Intercept. Etkes said describing new communities as “neighborhoods” was a “trick” used by settlers to make it look like no new settlement was being constructed, since such moves have often drawn international condemnation. [...]

Leshem has been in the news in recent years for hostility to its neighboring Palestinian villages. In 2020, the settlement was accused of deliberately dumping its sewage into the farmlands of nearby Deir Ballut, preventing its olive harvest and destroying trees, some of which date back to Roman times. [...]

Considered illegal under international law and by nearly every country in the world apart from the U.S. and Israel, settlements have continued to grow even as international opinion tilts strongly against them. An occupying military force like Israel transferring civilian populations into occupied territory such as the West Bank is a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention. [...]

The company was referenced in the Pentagon’s August 2 contract announcement for the construction of a “life-support area” in Israel. Other documents revealed this to be a euphemism for the construction of barracks-like facilities to house U.S. military personnel on its unacknowledged base deep in the Negev desert, code-named “Site 512,” as The Intercept reported. Four other bids were considered, according to the Defense Department’s contract announcement.

It is not clear how much of the $35 million joint venture contract, shared with the Colorado construction company Bryan Construction, went to Ashush. Bryan Construction did not respond to requests for comment. Ashush does not appear in public databases that track U.S. government contracts, meaning there is no transparency around how much public money is flowing to the company. [...]

In 2015, when U.S. diplomats investigated allegations of vandalism, including the uprooting of thousands of Palestinian-owned olive trees in the West Bank by settlers from an Israeli “outpost,” the settlers assaulted them with stones. Though the State Department confirmed the incident and provided a video to Israeli authorities, the controversial head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan, an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called for the diplomats’ expulsion, accusing them of being spies.

“The land which the settlement is sitting on was looted by the Israeli government from two Palestinian communities.”

A report from January 2022 described settlers from Alei Zahav destroying a Palestinian farmer’s olive trees with assistance from the Israeli military. The military, at the behest of the settlers, ordered the farmer off the land and seized a tractor, claiming that the land was owned by the Israeli state. 

“The land which the settlement is sitting on was looted by the Israeli government from two Palestinian communities … in the 1980s by declaring it as ‘state land,’ which was allocated to Alei Zahav later,” said Etkes, the Israeli expert on settlements.

Months later, in July, another report described settlers destroying another nearby farm.

November 3, 2023

[dartxo]

"Resistance"

2023

It has been a maddening, miserable three months.

When last I posted about Palestine, the death toll in Gaza had just about leveled with the dead count in Israel. Some people may have called that justice; an eye for an eye, and all. Yet as I knew would happen, as any person with sense knew would happen, the state of Israel has dropped any pretense of seeking justice and gone full force on a savage, genocidal campaign. I can't put into words how demoralizing it has been to watch a tragedy of this scope unfold in real time on our screens; how infuriating to witness people and institutions that profess loving diversity and human rights back openly and shamelessly a fascist ethnostate. The world, and more concretely the western world, has utterly set aside the lessons of the War on Terror and slid back into a miasma of Islamophobic hysteria and lust for blood.

I've lost count of all the times that the state of Israel and their enablers have lied. Zionist discourse around this topic is rife with misinformation, unconfirmed rumors, and just plain, willful dishonesty. I take hope in knowing that more and more people, all over the world but especially so in the Global South, are less and less willing to believe the propaganda. Zionists wouldn't be as hysterical as they are if they didn't feel their wall of lies was crumbling. Nevertheless, here are some of the facts:

- Israel is an ethnocratic, settler-colonial state. This is not me saying it; the ideologues and pioneers of Zionism themselves described their project as colonial. From the very beginning, their stated aims have been control and subjugation, not coexistence. Only in later decades, with colonialism taking a bad connotation, did Israel rebrand itself as some sort of indigenous rights movement (an idea that is too absurd for words). But early Zionists were remarkably honest about who they were and what they wanted. The facts on the ground now, with the actions and rhetoric surrounding Gaza and with the encroachment of illegal settlements on the West Bank, all but confirm Israel's colonial aspirations.

If you're unconvinced, consider this: people in the Global South, people who know all too well what colonialism looks like, are far more likely to sympathize with Palestine than with Israel. And who supports Israel, then? Former and current colonial powers. Does it seem at all likely that countries like the United States and Britain would ever back indigenous national aspirations? I think not.

- Israel enforces a system of apartheid against Palestinians under their control. Again, this isn't me saying it; Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and even Israeli human rights organizations like B'tselem have confirmed this and published reports about it. Google and read them for yourselves, by all means.

And if you're still unconvinced, consider this: black people in South Africa, including Nelson Mandela himself, have always sympathized with Palestine, and have also drawn parallels between the apartheid they lived through and what Israel does. Do you really think you have any moral or intellectual authority to tell those people that they don't know what they're talking about? Because you don't.

- Under international law, an occupied people has the right to resist their occupiers. An occupying entity however does not have the right of self defense against the people it occupies. You can say that killing civilians is not legitimate resistance. That's fine. But then I expect you to apply that same principle to Israel and their indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. I also expect you to ponder wether Hamas targeting only military personnel would have made any difference in how you feel about the attacks. I know for a fact that even when only their soldiers are attacked, Israeli reprisals have always been savage, disproportionate, and deadly.

And if you're one of those (deluded) people who insists there's no occupation, I will say only this: when this started, Israeli officials stated loud and clear their intent to cut all electricity, fuel, food and water to the Gaza Strip, and then did just so. What kind of country has that amount of power over another? An occupier, that's who.

- Hamas was founded in 1987, and came to power in 2006 with 44.45% of voter support. That makes 36 years since its founding, and 17 years governing Gaza (note: Gaza. They do not govern the West Bank). Given these facts, you cannot possibly claim that the problems in the region start and end with Hamas, and you also cannot claim that Gazans collectively are to blame for their own destruction, what with half the population on the Strip being underage and all. If you insist on this, then I expect you to apply that same reasoning to Israelis. Netanyahu is the longest serving prime minister in his country's history, and has repeatedly been voted into power despite mounting evidence of corruption and war-mongering. Israelis are also required to serve in the military, and there isn't really a big movement to end it (those few that do refuse the draft are hella brave, by the way, and heroes in my book). Still, the majority of Israelis are, have been, or will be a part of their country's war machine at some point in their lives. I'd say that makes their society complicit, at least much more so than Palestinians are. Would you say that a people who consistently vote for the same war-mongers and that stand unconditionally with their military deserve to be blown to smithereens? I mean...that's your argument, dears, not mine.

I would also note that Netanyahu himself was caught on mic admitting to have propped up Hamas to thwart any possibility of establishing a Palestinian state. So...make of that what you will. It isn't the first time a colonial power props up radical militants to undermine secular, more moderate groups.

- And while we're on the subject of reasonability and compromise: in their 2017 charter, Hamas states its willingness to compromise on a temporary two-state solution. In the past, they have suggested long-term truces in exchange of assurances. Hell, last month's temporary ceasefire shows that they are a party that can be reasoned and negotiated with. But compromise and negotiation are not in the interest of the Israeli State. Since the earliest beginnings of the Zionist movement, total control over the land of Palestine has been their ultimate goal. And that goal has often come at the expense not only of Palestinians, but of their own people as well, as recent events showcase perfectly.

I know many of you are only too willing to believe that Muslim militants have no motives other than hatred, and no tools other than wanton violence. But whatever they may be, whatever we may think of them, the truth is that Hamas has been the more flexible party. They have concrete political aims, some of which are not that unreasonable. If Israel and the West refuse outright to even consider any of their terms, then perhaps the world ought to reconsider who the rash, irrational party is in this scenario.

- On the subject of violence: that story of the forty beheaded babies was a ruse; as in, there's no evidence for it. None. But again, don't take my word for it! The IDF, the White House, mainstream media outlets and the Israeli press, all of which amplified and spread this rumor and none of which are particularly sympathetic to Palestinians, they all walked back on their claims. You might want to consider what made you so willing to believe this lie, and maybe why you continue to believe it even after the people who first told you about it have said it's not true. It isn't the first time the state of Israel has made wild claims with either insufficient or non-existent evidence to support them.

That's not all. Mounting evidence, published by the Israeli press no less, shows that at least some Israeli civilians were killed in the crossfire between the IDF and Hamas. Hell, there is also evidence, provided by survivors, that the IDF may have killed its own citizens deliberately in an effort to wipe out the Hamas militants that held them hostage. The Israeli government have also revised their casualty numbers from 1400 to less than 1200, and it wouldn't surprise me if that number were to get lower still.

Regardless of wether Hamas killed all those people or not, the truth is this: there are at least 21,822 people killed in Gaza. That's over eighteen times the total Israeli death count. 8,800 of those killed are children. That's more than two hundred times the number of fake beheaded babies. The death toll and displacement have reached historic proportions, surpassing even the Nakba of 1948. Yet by all accounts, no more Israeli civilians have been killed by Palestinian militants since the first days of the escalation, that is, unless any hostages in Gaza have been executed (though they have more likely been killed by the Israeli military itself, as has indeed been proven to be the case). It is Palestinians who are dying now, and who have been dying over these months, over this year, and over these decades. I don't want to see you shed crocodile tears over civilian deaths if the only time you bother to turn your attention to this conflict is when Israelis die. You have no business pointing fingers at me if you support Israel's colonial, genocidal enterprise. As for me, I know where I stand. I regret all civilian loss of life, but if I am made to choose between colonizer and colonized, between oppressor and oppressed, between the people who are busy making TikToks and the people who are busy dying, my choice will always be clear.  

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

[yxlenas]

Hi I'm here to talk about Ukraine vs. Palestine because I hate myself and having a peaceful blog

I've seen more than one weird bad faith take comparing the Russo-Ukrainian War to what's happening in the Gaza Strip, so let's look at the wartime numbers. As of 2024, Ukraine has 2.2 million military personnel and the 31st strongest passport, granting access to 148 countries. They're currently engaged in an accession deal with the European Union and the US sent them 77.8 million dollars in military financing ALONE, outside of the financial aid sent under USAI. Ukraine has been recognized outside of Soviet satellite status by the UN since 1991. 10,500 civilian casualties have been estimated, according to OXFAM, including about 600 children since February 2022. Also, Ukraine is very much under Genocide Emergency currently (updated link thanks to @kyitsya). I made a post with sources about Russia's attempts to destroy Ukrainian culture here that everyone reblogging this one should also reblog.

The POPULATION of Gaza before the beginning of the Israeli bombardment in October 2023 was .1 million people more than the Ukrainian military. They have no sovereign status at the UN. Their passport is 99th in the world and there are only 41 countries that are visa free. There has not been a free election in Gaza since 2007. There is no functional standing army, just the NSF (That has US support, btw)which is also essentially a police force of less than 11,000 people. Even accepting the IDF claim that 15,000 militants have been killed since the October 7th attack, that's approximately 20,000 non-combatants killed, taking into account the UN's altered data. Even after the UN revised data, 14,500 children have been killed. in EIGHT MONTHS. Gaza is experiencing a Genocide Emergency as well (as is Israel, because of the attacks on October 7th).

Militarily, Ukraine is being well supplied and supported. They have a still-functioning government and a standing military as well as international support. Gaza...has none of that. There needs to be a ceasefire, an international consensus going forward, and a sustainable, long term solution that allows for a sovereign Palestine (Including the end of illegal settlements in the West Bank), free and fair elections, and free movement in and out of Palestinian territories for Palestinians. I do not have a solution, I am simply a historian who teaches World History after 1500. But this is not sustainable, and bad faith comparisons and whataboutisms are NOT the move here.

Some FAQ RE collective punishment and US sanctions on Ukrainian use of US armaments below the cut!

But yxlenas, October 7th was a terrorist attack!

Yeah. It was. 1200 people were murdered because of their Jewishness, including a pretty prominent left wing peace activist. (Notice Israel is also currently experiencing a genocide emergency) and Hamas is a designated terrorist organization who definitely does not treat the civilians it is supposed to be governing in any sort of humane or safe way. The ICC issued warrants for those it believes to be responsible for the orchestration of the October 7th terrorist attacks alongside their warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. But literally nothing excuses collective punishment (this is a WAR CRIME) which is what expert opinion has declared Israel's actions in the Gaza strip.

But yxlenas, we don't let Ukraine use US weapons on Russian targets inside Russia!

You're right, we don't. Allow me to direct you to Encyclopedia Britannica's article on the Cold War for an explanation as to why we don't do that.

But yxlenas, the bombing of Dresden killed between 25,000-250,000 civilians and helped us defeat the Nazis!

You're right! And it's literally referred to as a campaign of TERROR BOMBING and is considered one of the most controversial Allied decisions of the entire war. Israel also has an AI algorithm to target Hamas militants that is 90% accurate. With tech like that there's very little excuse to be bombing the way they're bombing that ISN'T collective punishment with the goal of eliminating the Palestinian presence in Gaza. Itamar Ben Gvir, the minister of National Security (who is threatening to resign, by the way, good fucking riddance), is actively advocating for the resettlement of Gaza.

[readingsquotes]

"Individual members of Israel’s security forces are tipping off far-right activists and settlers to the location of aid trucks delivering vital supplies to Gaza, enabling the groups to block and vandalise the convoys, according to multiple sources.

Settlers intercepting the vital humanitarian supplies to the strip are receiving information about the location of the aid trucks from members of the Israeli police and military, a spokesperson from the main Israeli activist group behind the blockades told the Guardian.

The claim of collusion by members of the security forces is supported by messages from internal internet chat groups reviewed by the Guardian as well as accounts from a number of witnesses and human rights activists.

Those blocking the vehicles say the aid they carry is being diverted by Hamas instead of being delivered to civilians in need, a claim relief agencies reject. US officials have also said that Israel has offered no evidence to support allegations that Hamas is diverting aid.

...Palestinian lorry drivers delivering aid to Gaza have described to the Guardian “barbaric” scenes” after their vehicles came under attack, claiming that Israeli soldiers escorting the convoy did nothing to intervene.

Yazid al-Zoubi, 26, a Palestinian lorry driver who was attacked by the protesters last week at Tarqumiya checkpoint, said: “There is full cooperation between the settlers and the army. We are shocked and surprised that the army did not provide us with any kind of protection. Even though they were present and watching what was happening. The army was at the service of the settlers.”

..Footage of the incident obtained by the Guardian appears to show Israeli soldiers escorting the convoy, taking no action against the settlers.

..

Sapir Sluzker Amran, an Israeli human rights lawyer who last week visited the Tarqumiya checkpoint to document the settlers’ actions and to prevent the aid from being looted, said she was beaten and slapped by a settler and that Israeli security forces did nothing to stop the assault.

“The settlers had guns and knives,” Sapir said. “I asked the IDF soldiers to stop them as what they were doing was illegal, but they asked me to leave. At some point, as I was trying to prevent an aid truck from being vandalised, a settler slapped me very hard and went away. I filmed him and took photos of him. I went to the police and asked them that I needed their help as I wanted to press charge against the man. Again, they asked me to leave. The Israeli forces let the man who attacked me free to vandalise the trucks.”

...

Alleged collaboration between the army and the settlers has been denounced for years by Palestinians and human rights organisations. In 2016, the IDF corporal Elad Sela, a resident of the Bat Ayin settlement who served in the Etzion regional brigade, was sentenced to 45 months in jail for passing on classified information to extreme activists, allowing them to evade arrest and continue their activities.

In October 2022, Maj Gen Herzi Halevi, who lived in the West Bank settlement of Kfar HaOranim, was appointed as Israel’s military chief of staff, in a move that highlighted the army’s relationship with settlers.

[bimdraws]

Some of the points that are the most annoying to address in the Palestine-Israel "debate" are anything that I've seen being done by both sides. Including but not limited to:

Conspiracy theories

Blatant racism (islamophobia/antisemitism)

Use of AI images

Disregard for the loss of civilian life

I don't need to engage in any of these to support Palestine. Genocide, colonization and apartheid against Palestinians are genuine talking points supported by historians and survivors alike, even by some Israelis. I don't have to rely on cheap bullshit that makes the discussion more difficult to disentangle.

I am sorry for any person who has lost family and friends in this, who is scared thanks to the behaviour of their government or is going through an identity crisis. I'm sorry for those who have been displaced, who were born in Palestine but can't go there anymore, to those with no nationality, to those living in segregation, to those that have been left disabled, to those who have been SA. It's unimaginable to me to experience any of this and to have it be part of online discourse. I understand why there is so much anger and I hope you reach a state of peace and get justice.

I strongly believe it's the end of the occupation that will free everyone. Ending the apartheid, allowing Palestinians to return to their homes, jailing the military and government agents that have done this to all of you, ending the illegal settlements in the West Bank. This is the way to go. South Africa did it, Germany did it, the US did it (with varying degrees of success and many things to address in the process, obviously).

There were periods of peace between muslims and jews before this and it can happen again. The idea of an ethnostate is a lie that can only hold itself together through violence, which only gets violence in response. It only gets innocent people killed.

Mind you that there is no part of this that means jews getting exiled in return. The only people who need to leave their current living place are those who are literally living in Palestinians' homes, Palestinians who still have the keys and documents of said houses.

This, so far, is my best attempt at speaking to people that disagree with me. So hopefully if you do you speak to me in your best attempt to get where I'm coming from.

[darkmaga-retard]

By Yoana Tchoukleva / Mondoweiss

As Israel launches its largest military assault in the West Bank in twenty years, I cannot stop thinking about the people I met in the occupied territory. I think of the mother in Jenin who was on the phone with her two sons seconds before their house was burned in an Israeli raid. I think of the wife of a man who was being held in an Israeli prison without charge or trial asking me, “Is there anything you can do? My husband is dying.” I think of the farmer who gifted me a melon even though he could barely put food on his own table and I was there only for a short period of time, traveling and volunteering with Faz3a, an international protective presence organization. 

While all eyes have been on Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank are undergoing what many call a “slow genocide”. Every day, Israeli settlers attack Palestinian families to push them off their private land. They destroy water wells, burn houses, and assault families. Palestinians who remain on their land risk arrest. In the last 10 months, 9,000 Palestinians from the West Bank have been arrested and detained without charge or trial, many experiencing torture. 

In July, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest global court, ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza was illegal. The Court held that the regime of segregation that the Palestinian people live under—complete with separate roads, rationed access to water, and a separate legal system based on military law—amounts to apartheid. The Court ordered Israel to withdraw its settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory, pay reparations, and respect the Palestinian right to self-determination. 

A day later, American friends of mine were violently attacked by settlers in the West Bank. They were accompanying Palestinian farmers to their olive groves when settlers from the nearby Esh Kodesh settlement descended and beat them with metal pipes. This month, another unarmed American volunteer with the international protective presence organization Faz3a was shot in the leg by the Israeli army. The U.S. State Department has remained largely silent.

As the Democratic Party vies for votes, many have demanded the U.S. impose an arms embargo on Israel as a way to signal to Prime Minister Netanyahu that he cannot continue to violate international law with impunity. What few people know is that an arms embargo is not only what 60% of Americans and nearly 80% of Democratic voters want — it is, in fact, already required by law. 

U.S. federal law is clear—countries that receive U.S. military funding must meet human rights standards or risk losing their funding. 

[agentoffangirling]

All sources are biased; everyone has a bias and there’s no such thing as an unbiased opinion. That being said, if you have any sources that aren’t Al Jazeera, I’d be happy to read them /gen.

JVP may be a majority Jewish organization but it has been denounced by the larger Jewish community. Does that mean Anti-Zionist Jews don’t exist? Of course not. But to claim that Jews SHOULD be antizionist when it goes against our beliefs and values is antisemitism and promotes the idea of ‘a Good Jew’ ie one that you agree with.

The Levant isn’t in the Arabian Peninsula. The reason the people there identify as Arabs is because of Arabic colonialism of the levant (this extends to other places like North Africa which clearly isn’t geographically Arab but part of the Arab world because of conquest and colonization. Middle eastern ≠ Arab. Jews are indigenous to the Middle East. We are not Arab.

Do you have a source stating that Israel is an apartheid state? I’d be happy to elaborate on why it isn’t one.

Zionists and Zionism do not want an end to Palestinians. There is literally no evidence to suggest that. Zionism is the belief that Jews need a homeland. That’s literally it. The actions of certain Zionists (such as Netanyahu) do not define Zionism or Israelis, just as Hamas does not define Palestinians.

What does an independent Palestinian state look like to you? What separates or differentiates it from the current Israeli state or a two-state solution. Because if the illegal Israeli settlements (which are wrong btw) ended and was enforced by international law, would there be a problem. Because morally, Israel, the Jewish homeland, shouldn’t have to end. It’s not fair or just.

Yes, everything and everyone does have a bias, but the point I am trying to make is that you chose sources that are very clearly pro-Zionist and conservative; one of those sources even used Canary Mission and poised them in a positive light when they have been doing irreparable damage to pro-Palestinians

I never said that all Jewish people should be anti-Zionist nor did I say that I agree with all of JVP's views. I believe they have faults and have some way to go, but I do believe in their overall mission of stopping Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians and calling out the Zionist regime

Middle Eastern doesn't equate to Arab, but many of the countries within the Middle East are Arab. The Palestinians who live in Palestine now are descendants of the people who stayed there throughout Arab colonization, so they are both Palestinian and Arab, and they seem to have no qualms about calling themselves so

Israel is apartheid. There is a reason why there are several cases investigating them right this moment; both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called them out on it. Israel has also supported apartheid in South Africa prior to it being dismantled. It is not hard to find multiple sources on this just by searching it up

Then why have Israeli leaders made statements that the international community has deemed genocidal? Calling and comparing them to animals, saying that they want to burn Gaza to the ground? Zionism is a political movement that was designed to get the Jewish people out of Europe by claiming they should return to their "ancestral homeland". It is not the helping hand Zionists call it is

Simply, an end to the illegal settlements, pulling out of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and all other areas entirely. That's the first step, which would then follow removing all restrictions on Palestinians, genuinely allowing them to have their own government without any sort of meddling. In the end, it would be them giving all land and authority back to the Palestinians, removing Israel as a state. This would later allow for people of different backgrounds to live together, to how it was prior to 1947

[p0ison-moon]

I have what’s going to be a really unpopular take but please just hear me out. Lately a lot of fellow Jewish bloggers on this website have (rightfully!!) been getting annoyed by random people going into their inboxes and asking if they’re Zionist, how they feel about Israel, etc. And I totally empathize with that because I’m an anti-Zionist Jew so I spend a lot of time correcting people’s assumptions that I must support Israel because I’m Jewish. Furthermore, I want Zionism to stop being seen as a central, undeniable part of being Jewish because that makes Jews like me feel pretty unwelcome. And I am aware that those asks often accuse us of dual loyalty, an antisemitic stereotype. So I’m not saying bloggers should have to answer those asks, or that they can’t get mad about them.

However, I think bloggers are wrong when they say that they can’t affect or change what happens in Israel because they’re American Jews (or otherwise diasporic, but it is almost always Americans who say this), not Israeli Jews.

Look. It’s one thing if you just don’t want to get involved (although I am totally judging you). But I can name a billion different ways American Jews have changed things in Israel, and stuff we can do right now! For example:

- protesting our tax dollars paying for weapons and bombs Israel uses to kill Palestinians, by pressuring our elected representatives, senators, and president into taking a stand against Israel

- supporting the Not on Our Dime Act, which is aiming to prohibit tax-deductible donations from being used to fund illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank

- working to change Jewish studies curriculum and summer camp + youth group programming to provide kids and students with more options than just Zionism, and a more complete + less biased education about Israel

- no tech for apartheid: Jewish Google workers protesting against Project Nimbus, which helps the Israeli government with surveillance of Palestinians

- using our position to educate people and make our opinions heard, so we don’t let Jewish Zionist organizations speak for us all and influence what gentiles think about Israel and current-day antisemitism

- I have my own opinions about the recent protests over Netanyahu’s judicial reform, but lots of American Jews supported them and they were definitely effective

- and that’s just a few of the many ways I’ve seen American Jews work towards creating real change in Israel. are we the only ones who can do this? no. but gentiles can’t shape the future of the American Jewish community, which altogether has quite a lot of influence in Israel. only we can do those things.

Saying that as American Jews our voices and actions don’t matter when it comes to Israel is actually such a weak, lame-ass excuse for refusing to take a stance for or against Israel. This isn’t something we get to be neutral about; silence equals support for Zionism.

That being said, I can’t control what individual people do. If you seriously want to refuse to support Palestine, fine. Whatever. Just please stop using “American Jews can’t help anyways!” as your excuse when that’s such a blatantly false claim.

[solrovivrus]

The White House managed to get off its ass and do the bare fucking minimum for once. Now I need to reiterate something that the settlements in the West Bank are completely illegal. They are illegal under international law and nothing the US says or does will change that. Having said that this article states that the Biden Administration has “recognized” the settlements as “inconsistent with international law”(aka illegal). Now this is not necessarily new, the US has stated that the settlements in the West Bank are illegal since 1976, which has fallen under both democratic and republican presidents like Carter/Regan etc. However, the Trump administration changed this to say they no longer viewed the settlements as illegal in fact,

“Under an unrealized Trump peace plan, Israel would have been allowed sovereignty over all existing settlements and permitted to annex up to 30 percent of the West Bank.”

So it’s not so much that the Biden Administration is making a progressive step but rather returning to an established status quo. In fact he states he is going further ahead with his support for a two state “solution”, the merits of which are dubious at best and flat out ignoring the actual help Palestinians need at worst, but has not committed to reversing Trumps plan. This does not necessarily mean he is in favor or supports Trumps plan but it does lead to my main problem with all of this. It’s just lazy, bare minimum horseshit.

There is a lot to discuss about Bidens handling of the war but this whole thing really takes the cake of showing how while Biden does do things that on the surface seem like they could be helpful once you look into them, even a little bit, it just proves how lackluster his whole strategy is.

He claims that the bombings are “indiscriminate” and Israel must protect civilians at all cost, but then bypasses congress to send them more bombs. He claims he wants more aid and humanitarian assistance into Gaza, but vetoes a ceasefire for a third time and brings in another proposal that says a ceasefire will happen when it’s “practical”. It’s the same with this.

Everyday I look at the news, especially with what’s happening in Rafah, hoping that something will happen. Something, anything, to make this any better. To bring an end to the violence and death that has destroyed countless lives and scarred many others. And I read shit like this because it appears to be a silver lining, something good for Palestinians, something that gives them any autonomy and agency during this time. But all I get are basic table crumbs of shit we should’ve been doing from the very start, why is it that only now Biden has called out this very obvious illegal practice? Why didn’t he do that shit before all this carnage? Hell why didn’t he do this shit during his four fucking years as president?

The only thing keeping me from sinking further into rage is the fact that it is a shift. Biden is only doing this because he sees the pushback from protesters and knows that public opinion is turning. Israel’s response has been so overblown that it’s impossible to ignore the amount of injustice, and people are now more than ever seeing its true colors. So this push is small, and it sucks. I am not going to sit thanking them for basic table scraps. The Overton window on Palestine is shifting and we would be fools not to take advantage of it. We must do every single thing within our power to make more progress than ever.

It does not escape me that while Biden has nothing to be thanked for and has blood on his hands, Trumps plan fucking terrifies me. Its one thing to be frustrated by hollow promises, for Biden to expect a thank you for recognizing that the illegal thing is still very much illegal and punishing four people with economic sanctions even though 399 Palestinians have died on the West Bank with over a thousand more injured due to violence. Meaning that those who committed these crimes will most likely never answer for what they did. I hate that these are supposed to placate us, that this somehow makes up for everything. But the idea of Trumps plan, that not only would the recognition that the settlements are illegal not happen but they in fact would be actively supported by our country creates a pit in my stomach. It makes you realize that one small misstep and we could lose more than we have already lost. But I refuse to settle.

I don’t just want to have the settlements recognized as illegal, I want the West Bank and Gaza to have full autonomy over their personhood and over their land. I want justice for those who lost their lives and the lives of their loved ones. We have a duty to these people and to ourselves to never give an inch, to demand better, to demand more. Never settling for complacency. And we must also be strategic. We cannot assume that because things are bad that they cannot get worse. We cannot stoop to petty infighting when people are counting on us for our help and solidarity, doing whatever it takes to make things better for them. We must stand for Palestine liberation, we must never settle for complacency. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

[gay-jewish-bucky]

post here

Ahmed Fouhad Alkhatib (@/afalkhatib)

What being pro-Palestine means to me / my platform: I'm passionately, unequivocally, and without hesitation, a proponent of the Palestinian people's just and urgent aspirations for self-determination, liberation, sovereignty, and safety. I grew up in Gaza, where I experienced Israeli violence and bombardment, including one incident that almost killed me and caused me permanent hearing impairment; my family is still in Gaza and has suffered dozens of deaths during this latest war; my grandparents were expelled from their ancestral homelands in 1948 and fled to the Gaza Strip; and my parents were raised in a refugee camp in Rafah during the 1950s. This background informs and influences me and speaks to why I care about the Palestinian issue and consider myself pro-Palestine. I am motivated by a sincere desire to see my people obtain their legitimate and undeniable rights, which they have not had for decades.

Yet I, and many others, especially those who are silent or are forced to be quiet, struggle with finding a political home in today's pro-Palestine movement. Increasingly, it feels as if pro-Palestine activism is dominated by maximalists (wanting all of historic Palestine and other zero-sum positions and approaches), slogan-driven voices, and narratives. There is a lack of pragmatic and humanistic ability to hold multiple truths at once and to advocate nuanced and color-rich positions and views that are not black-and-white depictions and understandings of the Israel and Palestine conflict.

Here's what, to me, an effective and meaningful pro-Palestine platform entails:

Supporting the right of Palestinians to a sovereign and independent state living in peace side by side with Israel.

Condemning Israeli government actions, policies, priorities, and decisions that kill, harm, undermine, or oppress the Palestinian people.

Criticizing and decrying the conduct of the war in Gaza, the military occupation in the West Bank, and the Israeli government's disregard for Palestinian civilian lives, and the destruction of property and cities.

Rejecting, denouncing, and exposing the theft of Palestinian lands in the West Bank and the sprawling settlement enterprise and settler violence.

Supporting highly targeted, specific, and effective sanctions against individuals, groups, and entities that are enabling the unjust and illegal occupation of the West Bank and harming Palestinian civilians.

Denouncing and combating the dehumanization of the Palestinian people or the denial of their existence as people with the right to live on the land they called home for generations.

Acknowledging the tragedy experienced by hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians from 1948 and giving them/their descendants the right to return to the lands of a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

Understanding past and contemporary mistakes that have set the Palestinian people back by decades and made them pawns in ideologies and geopolitical programs, agendas, and designs.

Developing a pragmatic and realistic framework for recognizing Israel's existence, right to exist, and the inevitability of its continued existence, all of which should inform how a solution is approached.

Dispensing with delusional and destructive elements of the Palestinian narrative and acknowledging that there will not be a full liberation of all of Palestine, there will not be a right of return to what is now mainland Israel, and that Israel cannot and should not be confronted militarily or through any form of violence.

Promoting a cultural shift away from revolutionary rhetoric, martyrdom, and armed resistance, and instead, rebranding coexistence and peace as a courageous and necessary evolution to preserve Palestinian lives, lands, and heritage and foster a new generation of nation-builders who are focused on doing the most with what the Palestinians currently have and can have in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Denouncing and rejecting antisemitism while also acknowledging that Zionists and Israelis are a diverse group/people and that the Palestinians have to work with all of these segments to have sustainable coexistence and peace.

Understanding how violent/hateful rhetoric, actions, and mistakes are detrimental because they empower right-wing and extremist forces in Israel who are opposed to Palestinian rights and that persistent mistakes and incendiary rhetoric and proclamations erode support for the Palestinian people and cause.

Recognizing Palestinian agency, responsibility, and accountability when taking actions that have negative consequences and outcomes and acknowledging that, while there's an asymmetry of power dynamics, Palestinian leaders, political groups, and prominent figures should make rational and responsible choices to optimize for better prospects.

Accepting that even with East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, access to holy sites must always be shared and open to all.

Realizing how nefarious regional players like the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies are not sincere or helpful allies to the Palestinian people and have done so much damage to the entire region and the Palestinian cause.

Developing the capacity to hear Jewish perspectives and grievances, historical and contemporary, to understand why pro-Israel supporters believe what they do and why Israel means so much to so many, even if one disagrees with those opinions and views.

Understanding that Hamas recklessly endangered Palestinian lives and placed the people of Gaza in significant harm and that the group relies on Palestinian suffering as part of its strategy to delegitimize Israel globally while perpetuating the conflict without any meaningful resolution.

Registering the dangers of Islamist rhetoric and ideology that seeks to Islamize Palestinian society and to turn the Palestinian national project into a religious one in pursuit of an Islamic state that, by default, will be exclusionary and incapable of accommodating diverse residents in a future Palestinian country.

I am compelled to share the aforementioned because, for far too many people, pro-Palestine activism has been reduced to incendiary language that fails to capture the multiple moving parts of what is needed to advance the just and urgent Palestinian aspirations for freedom and independence. While many students, activists, advocates, academics, and analysts have their hearts in the right place, many cannot present viable and pragmatic ideas that are not mere rhetorical statements and empty slogans.

I know that many strongly disagree with my views and opinions, and that's entirely fine. Still, many more are eager to see a recalibration of pro-Palestine activism to actually help the Palestinians achieve statehood instead of inflaming division and fostering hostility towards supporters of Israel and the Jewish community. Many in Palestine are aware of the need to be pragmatic and don't think that angry protests, BDS, antisemitism, endless academic lectures, social media activism, or "feel good" slogans will actually make a difference.

It's time for a rejuvenated pro-Palestine movement that serves as a big tent to encompass multiple views and opinions and to invite and promote broad alliances, especially with mainstream Jewish and Israeli communities, to work towards a just and sustainable resolution of the conflict once and for all. This is entirely attainable and achievable with humility, civility, patience, compassion and kindness, perseverance and determination, a willingness to accept reasonable compromises and accommodations, and, most importantly, the recognition of both sides' undeniable and mutual humanity.

[mesetacadre]

hope this isn't too late into the boycotts, but do you have any tips on dealing with friends who claim to support Palestine but won't participate in boycotts/the wrong ones? The situation is that near our usual meeting place there's both a Carrefour (😬) and a Deli (slightly more expensive than the Carrefour) and while two others and me always go to the Deli for snacks/bring our own, three others have claimed that the prices are too high for them so they continue to visit the Carrefour. I feel guilty telling them to spend more money but it's been so long into the Genocide now that I can't really excuse it either

Hello! First of all, it is never too late to get involved or more involved, pro-palestinian activism is not a train that departed in early October of last year, it is a continuous effort.

The main and best boycott organization ran by Palestinians is BDS, who maintain a short but targeted list, of which Carrefour is not a part of, though they maintain stores in illegal settlements in the west bank. This is what BDS has to say about boycotting more companies/products:

The global nature of today’s economy means that there are thousands of companies that have links to Israel and are complicit to various degrees in Israel’s violations of international law. However, for our movement to have real impact we need our consumer boycotts to be easy to explain, have wide appeal and the potential for success. That’s why globally, while we call for divestment from all companies implicated in Israel's human rights violations, we focus our boycott campaigns on a select few strategic targets. We also encourage the principle of context sensitivity, whereby activists in any given context decide what best to target and how, in line with BDS guidelines. There is a lot of information online claiming that some large companies give money to Israel, some of which turns out to be false. BDS has built a reputation for strictly adhering to established facts and producing the most accurate information.

I think that you should first focus on getting your friends to follow the main BDS list, and then consider adding on other companies at your discretion. Boycotts are also supposed to be a mass movement, a targeted effort by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. If your friends genuinely can't afford to always shop at the deli, the boycott (of this company that's not on the main list) does not make sense. The BDS list is also short for this reason, so people don't strain themselves financially for the sake of boycotting thousands of entities. Apart from this, at an individual level, it is far more important to get involved with the pro-palestinian movement where you are. The BDS website even has a list of related orgs by country, although at least in Spain, I don't think it's very compleye

[canichangemyblogname]

Sometimes I’m doing something like eating and then my brain reminds me of a post on here that was circulating in zionist & pro-imperialist circles shitting on a post made by a user on here encouraging people to donate to and purchase from Palestinian farmers in the West Bank as they were facing the organized (and state sanctioned) destruction of their land, livelihood, and livestock. There was a specific focus on the fact that colonizers in the region were setting olive oil trees on fire. And there’s a reason why settlers attack olive oil trees: they’re part of the indigenous people’s livelihood in Palestine.

But every reply was, “Well actually” ☝️😠 “olive oil trees are a cash crop.” Oh—okay? Yes. They *are* planted for the purpose of profit. What part of “livelihood” do you dorks not understand? That’s why these trees are attacked.

“If they cared about what’s native to the region, they’d be supporting [insert colonial tree fund] to plant real native trees instead of supporting their clearance by farmers.” Umm… family farmers are the problem for native trees? Not the sprawling suburban illegal settlements in the West Bank? Not urban centers? Not the colonial replacement of native pines with foreign ones that require lots more water? Not even bombs? It’s family farmers…

This would be like if I were to say, “Well, actually, the Wampanoag used maize for bartering and trading; it’s not a native grass because it came from modern day Southern Mexico,” in response to someone saying, “Hey, it’s real bad that the English burned down all the Wampanoag people’s crops” and then proceeded to send them a link to— like— Harvard’s prairie restoration program for Plymouth, MA (for those confused, this would be colonial greenwashing b/c Plymouth is not part of a prairie) and tell them, “If you really cared about native grasses, you’d support planting real native grasses in Plymouth instead of supporting their clearance by the Wampanoag people for a cash crop.” Meanwhile, I leave unaddressed the miles and miles and miles of inefficient highway built by the colonial power that destroyed acres of ecosystems.

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

What is recommended if we really want to support BDS and haven’t pardoned certain companies in months, but the new list is too strict because of dietary and financial reasons? Am I a bad person if I have to keep buying from one or two of the companies but I’m doing my best to protest the other companies and at least avoid the rest of the list?

I'm not the arbiter of any of this. Here's advice I've heard from people who are better informed than I am though.

If you genuinely cannot manage to boycott every company that financially supports the Israeli apartheid state, illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank, or the ongoing genocide:

Prioritize the boycotts on the official BDS list. It's short on purpose and there's nothing on there you can't boycott. This is the most urgent stuff to boycott. Official BDS boycott list: https://bdsmovement.net/get-involved/what-to-boycott

Do not fucking talk about breaking boycott, especially online. Don't try to get absolution for not boycotting, don't share your reasons for not boycotting, if you genuinely have no choice just keep your head down and do everything you can do to support the boycott and the Palestinian people in other ways. Telling people you aren't boycotting, especially in a public forum like social media, encourages others to break the boycott. Instead, share resources encouraging others to boycott.

And this advice is from me:

Really give serious thought to whether any specific item on a boycott list is a genuine necessity.

Maybe it is, but maybe it's something you could technically do without or substitute if not financially supporting apartheid and genocide is important enough to you.

Make a determined effort to be completely honest with yourself as you make this decision.