#stammering

[csuitebitches]

On Being Well Spoken

I recently received a request about posting something regarding being well spoken.

Something you need to realise is that you’re not going to become well-spoken overnight. You need to practice on people. You need to SPEAK.

I used to stutter so badly that I could barely speak a whole sentence.

Flash forward a few years. I pitched my start up in front of a crowd, I joined Model United Nations in high school and college, I’ve been invited to speak on my entrepreneurial experience by some top universities in my country. It’s taken a lot to get here. And I’m still not where I want to be.

1. Apps to track progress and help you get better at public speaking

An app that you can use: “Speeko.”

I used to use this, it is beginner friendly and you can improve your public speaking skills as well.

2. Use topic generators

Go online and look up a topic generator. Generate a random topic, video yourself speaking on that topic. Don’t give yourself time to prepare anything - read the topic and start speaking. Set a time limit - you’ll realise that speaking for even 2 minutes can be quite difficult at times.

Not only does this make you realise that you may have limited language skills, but it will also make you realise exactly where you’re falling behind. Note down things in a journal.

- is grammar the issue?

- Lack of vocabulary?

- Too many filler sounds?

- Knowledge gap?

This is also a great idea if you’re at an intermediate level of learning a language/ polishing a language. Do this everyday and maintain a diary on your improvement.

3. Reading out loud

Select a news article or any article. Read out loud, slowly and steadily. Pronounce every syllable calmly.

A two minute read should take 5 minutes to read out loud. That’s how slow you should go. Not more than 4-5 words per breath.

Your tongue needs to get used to different syllables and sounds. Practice will help.

4. Talk in real life

Talk to anyone and everyone whenever you can.

Ask your barista how their day is going.

Ask your work or university security if they’ve had a good day and if they ate today.

Chat with your taxi driver about their life. I always start with asking them if they are from the city we’re travelling in. Even if you’re from that city, act like a tourist. Where are the best eateries? The conversation eventually goes to personal questions. How many children do they have, and what do they do? What do they like about the city?

You’ll learn the art of small talk only through practice. No book or guide can actually prepare you. You have to practice, practice and practice.

5. Diaphragm breathing

Diaphragm breathing is very important. Look up some YouTube videos for reference. You essentially breathe from your tummy (stomach goes in and out; not chest going up and down). This is a great calming exercise too.

6. Stuttering tongue/ jaw exercise videos

These are great because they really do prep your jaw and tongue well. The videos could include tongue stretches, placing your tongue on your palette correctly, etc. Search on YouTube.

7. Body posture

You really need to work on your posture too. Sit up straight. Back, STRAIGHT. Chin up, shoulders relaxed. Something as simple as posture can change your level of confidence.

8. Pranayama

A yoga exercise for breathing. You can find a guided video on YouTube for sure.

9. Vocabulary

Invest your time in expanding your vocabulary. There’s enough apps and games that can help you with that, if you aren’t fond of reading. A sign of being well spoken is having great vocabulary.

Start by looking up the synonyms of everyday words.

“I’m upset”

- how many different words can you find for upset?

“I had a crazy day today”

- one can easily use “hectic”, “chaotic” “lively” instead

10. Idioms

Idioms, phrases, sayings - look up common idioms in your language of choice. Aim to use at least 3 new idioms on 3 separate occasions in a week while you speak. You need to understand when and where you can use the idioms in your vocabulary.

11. Knowing when to switch

You can’t talk like a 50 year old heiress to a 10 year old child; you need to get down to their level.

If someone is clearly not a native speaker and is struggling to put words together, don’t use difficult words around them.

If you’re meeting with someone high profile, refrain from using slang.

The best speakers know when to switch their level of language.

You can’t use one singular type of speaking with everyone. You need to understand that there is a time and place for everything - and you’ll be able to switch like a pro only when you actually speak and start gaining experience.

[atticollateral]

going in for an autism assessment on the 23rd of April (go me!) so in honour of my potential autism, my short term memory issues and my diagnosed ADHD & Tourette's I would like to present to you:

my favorite phrases, which I say so much that they are now knee-jerk comments & tics but I always end up forgetting what I'm going to say (if I'm going to say anything at all), a master list.

fun fact,

did you know-?

I need everyone to understand,

can we talk about-?

and another thing!

have you ever

has anyone here

do you know where...?

have you seen...?

what if

yes and also

it's...

no, but...

well, about that...

did i ever tell you / have i ever told you

what if i told you

jesus

General Stammering. ex: i- but? wait. no. i uh. shit, wait. what?

[themogaidragon]

Stuttering/Stutterer Symbol

[IMAGE ID: A symbol of a speech bubble with square eyes and a twisted mouth inside, forming a face. END ID.]

Symbol found on this website.

[ashthenerdtheythem]

When you're asked for writing elements that you hate, why do you always say that you hate it when the character has a stammer?

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Stuttering Sucks

I have stuttered as long as I can remember. But I think it got worse in college...or I became more self-conscious. Maybe both.

My loved ones have never looked down on me for my stuttering and they always reassure me that they don't care. My boss told me the same a few months back when I expressed a desire to skip team standups. I really appreciate it but it is so hard not to feel bad about myself sometimes.

I don't think stuttering is a disability but it definitely makes life uncomfortable. I don't think some people understand why stuttering can be so annoying and frustrating. Here are some examples:

People ignoring you. My English teacher in grade 9 switched her attention from me one time when I struggled to ask a question in class. That hurt a lot. That kind of behaviour does not happen often though. But I have had experiences where I try to ask something or talk to someone and they disregard me (probably because they don't realize I am trying to speak to them).

Difficulty saying my name when I meet new people. I literally spent the fall semester of my sophomore year avoiding meeting new freshmen in my Christian group because of this. I remember trying to say my name to this freshman guy after fellowship one night and I struggled for at least a minute. I was laughing it off but I almost wanted to cry. Circle introductions sometimes fill me with dread as well. There was another time in sophomore year when I tried introducing myself to this senior girl and I had to eventually give up and use my student id. She was cool about it though (still embarrassing).

Sounding stupid. Having broken speech does not make you sound professional at all :(. You have the sentence well articulated in your head but then you have to switch words or use filler when it comes time to speak. Ugh. It's hard to fully express my ideas and sometimes the people listening to me have to fill in the gaps T-T. It's especially frustrating when I do team meetings or presentations. I feel like I am not explaining myself well.

Talking can be painful. Like almost physically painful. Being tense does not help for sure. But even when I feel relaxed, it's like trying to force a rock out of my mouth sometimes. It's almost like I am fighting against my own tongue. I could be speaking fine and then I stumble over one word that refuses to leave my mouth.

Joking can be awkward. It's a small thing but casual jokes are a part of normal friendly talk. But jokes depend on timing and delivery. I think it's obvious why stuttering would ruin a joke.

I did speech therapy for about a year in college and I am considering doing it again. The final lesson my therapist told me was accepting my stutter. I definitely think about it more than others do so I should not worry about it but it is really impacting my confidence - especially at work. Make no mistake - I am a very opinionated and expressive person so this difficulty does not make me hide at home but you know it just makes me feel bad at times.

There was literally a week in a few months ago (May I think) where people kept bringing up my stutter. Family, friends...even 2 drivers! The two driver guys told me they stuttered too and that it went away with age. It filled me with hope not gonna lie but I am unsure if that will be my case.

Small acts help. Sometimes I ask my friends to introduce me if I meet a friend of theirs to take the pressure off me. Or I use my work id to help introduce myself sometimes. Someone at church found it a bit funny when I did it this week (I had a church event after work so I had my work id on me) but who cares? If it helps.

Thanks for reading my stuttering TED talk. I had an awful week with a bunch of frustrating presentations and I had to get this off my chest and stop my mind from torturing me and spiralling in shame about how I sounded.

[beanwood]

as someone with a speech impedimemt, "did i stutter" is a phrase I have never used out loud, because i most likely did

[mad-pride]

Disfluency flag

Source

[kage-no-sonzai]

Stammering Awareness Day Post

I missed Stammering Awareness Day this year because I was at a Sales Conference for work so here's my belated post.

"Therapy. It's not right for everyone"

I made a very similar decision to Paul Gaskin when I turned 18 and moved away to university. I was in a different city, far away from my parents, with nobody I knew. Away from every comfortable thing possible to hide behind. So I thought fuck it. I will not do this anymore.

Speech therapy is often not a choice for children like me.

I have stammered since the day I started talking, late, at age three. And even then my first word was 'no'. A testament perhaps to the personality that was hidden for years and years beneath the appearance of someone who was 'shy' or 'withdrawn'.

I did not speak between the ages of 3 and 14 in school. And if I did, they were one word answers. I am surrounded by memories of school reports my mum's kept with the teacher's feedback, 'she's quiet in the classroom, she should put her hand up more' or 'she'd be a clever girl if she wasn't so quiet'.

In those formative years, I had few, if any friends. And at the age I am now I realise just how damaging that is to someone. In uni, I didn't go to fresher's week, I rarely came out my room and I found myself emotionally and socially exhausted just because I walked through the kitchen to wash my pots and one of my flatmates was there trying to chat.

What has speech therapy ever done for me, if it hasn't helped me socialise and become the kind of person who just speaks without thought?

Speech therapy, in my case, was not to try and make my life better. It was to try and hammer the stammer out of me by any means necessary. I even kept the folder, which I found recently.

I missed out on classes and break times in Primary School, because I had Speech Therapy, organised by my school. And I remember feeling confused, when at the age of 8, one such speech therapist decided that my stammer was so bad, she sent me back to class, with an A4 sheet of paper. 'A-Z, Sign Language'.

I've never seen my mum so livid.

The ones who came after weren't as bad. But they never felt less patronising. They would put cards in front of me and say 'this is how you say this word correctly'. I know how to say the word, and correctly as well. Just not in the manner they wanted. Not in the way that proved to my parents, that all this therapy, all this money, was working.

Every day, I'd still come home with a stammer.

At age 13, I was gifted a device, called a VoiceAmp. A company now who doesn't operate. It was a small MP3-like device that fed my voice back into one ear, half a second later, at a higher pitch. And it worked mostly.

The teacher's knew about it. Let me use it. And I thought that maybe, maybe, it would be alright. I loathed having to carry it around with me everywhere, but it was something.

Until one day, class hadn't even begun yet, when a teacher berated me in the hallway for 'listening to music'.

And whatever confidence was built. Was shattered.

Around the same age, I found my passion, languages. I did German before, yes, but this was Japanese. This was different. Difficult. 3 alphabets, thousands of characters, fast-paced speaking?

I don't know why I really kept on at it.

It is the only GCSE I ever got an A* in.

It is the only time, I ever really truly felt supported by a teacher, and she didn't even teach at my school. She paid for my GCSE, out of her own pocket, because she saw how much I loved it.

Of course. My parents saw this and thought 'oh all that speech therapy worked, she loves languages'. When that's not entirely true.

I struggled, mentally I now know, throughout the entirety of my school life, extending into Sixth Form. Wondering, 'where am I going to fit in the real world? Who in their right mind is going to hire someone who, yes, speaks, reads, writes Japanese, but can't even say their own name without tripping over the syllables?'.

Having completed my first year at uni, something loomed in second year. My Year Abroad to Japan.

I was fucking terrified.

But I'm alive, I made it! But that, I believe was the turning point. That I was forced into situations that were uncomfortable, forced into speaking a different language to people who realistically had never seen anyone who wasn't Japanese before. And fuck yes it was awkward sometimes but when I came back to the UK, I felt totally different.

I felt that I could do this, without having my parent's hanging over me, waiting to detect the tiniest block, the smallest of repetitions, just so they could be all smug and say 'well that speech therapy was useless, you're not even using it'.

I felt like I could be a person, make my own decisions and do what I want. And with that freedom, it became less and less about my stammer and more about me.

That is why this TedTalk by Paul Gaskin, resonates with me.

I've had speech therapy, breathing exercises, coping mechanisms. I've had devices, sign language, even a band tied around my chest to control my breathing (which bloody hurt btw cos I had tits coming in).

Nothing works better, than just, letting go.

I am not cured. I never will be. I still stammer. And it's worse on some days, some weeks, more than others.

But that is not my problem.

It is the way I speak.

Stammering cannot be hammered out of a child, an adult. My parents could have flung all the speech therapy at me and it would not have changed a thing. But why does it need to be hammered out? Sure it might hurt my parents to watch me struggle, but how do they thing I feel?

Years in silence, tripping over words, verbally and physically abused, out of breath, facial ticks. It hurts me more than it hurts them.

I don't know if my stammer is neurological but does it matter? It's here now, and it's not going anywhere, contrary to popular belief. I'm still allowed to be frustrated, saddened and put down sometimes by it, because it's something that's been with me from day one.

That doesn't mean I've taken a step back.

My pictures above, refer to a moment, a pivotal one, where I was first aware I was different. It was a new school, and we were all introducing ourselves. And when I stammered, everyone laughed at me. And too anxious to cry outwardly, I stuffed my head into my jumper and cried as quietly as I could, until the class was over.

They're important pictures to keep, I think. To remind me of the little girl I was. I like to think I've made her proud.

But I'm proud of her.

Not only because of all she went through.

But because, when asked by the speech therapist how we could realistically ease the bullying (something she probably shouldn't have been asking me anyway 🙄), she responded with this.

Sorry for the long post. I need to get this off my chest every few years (and it's my blog I do what I like, jokes on you for reading this far lol).

Next year I hope to attend my first Stamma Fest. If this topic is something you've never thought about or something that interests you, I highly suggest you check out the Stamma website.

Thank you for coming to my (not) TedTalk.

[andersunmenschlich]

A Vanishing Post

There was a Tumblr post containing a video of two interviews done by the same interviewer, one with someone from Hamas, the other with someone from Israel.

I reblogged this post and saved it as a draft because I intended to add a transcript (and summary).

The post disappeared from my drafts. I went to the blog where I'd seen it, and it wasn't there either. I couldn't remember any other usernames. I couldn't remember the interviewer's name or the names of the people they were interviewing.

I'm a stubborn cuss, however, and I pummeled Google until it turned up the video I remembered.

The interviewer was a man named Marc Lamont Hill, the host of Al Jazeera English's current affairs program Up Front. The person from Hamas was Osama Hamdan, the senior spokesperson for Hamas, and the person from Israel was Danny Ayalon, Israel's former deputy foreign minister and former foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu. The date was October 13, 2023.

A Brief Summary

Hamas shot rockets from Gaza into Israel, then attacked multiple places on foot, killing people and taking hostages. Israel cut off Gaza's food, water, electricity, etc., and started bombing it.

Interviewer: Hamas, why did you attack civilians?

Hamas: Civilians, non-civilians, potayto, potahto. They're invaders who have been stealing our land and lives, killing our men and women and children, for 75 years.

Interviewer: How can you attack Israel when you know the retaliation will kill innocent Palestinians?

Hamas: Israel is always killing innocent Palestinians no matter what we do. They kill us if we're violent. They kill us if we're peaceful. And no one in the world cares. We might as well at least try to resist.

Interviewer: Israel, why are you hurting and killing everyone in Gaza, civilians included?

Israel: It's Hamas's fault—they won't surrender and they won't let the civilians leave. So we're going to keep hurting and killing those civilians until Hamas either surrenders or lets the civilians leave. This is all Hamas's fault. Look what they're making us do!

Interviewer: Hurting and killing civilians is bad.

Israel: Yes, but it's not our fault! We're not bad! The whole world is on our side because we're in the right here! Hamas is bad! They're making us kill innocent Palestinians! .

full transcript below readmore

Hill On October 7th, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets from Gaza, followed by a coordinated incursion into Israel by Hamas fighters. Scores of unarmed civilians were killed and many taken hostage. In response to the attack, Israeli prime minister Netanyahu swore, quote, "a mighty vengeance" against the group.

Israel has since retaliated with a complete siege of Gaza, launching air strikes that razed entire districts, killing hundreds and injuring thousands in the Palestinian enclave.

On today's show we'll delve deep into the conflict. Coming up in the second half of the show, we'll speak to the former deputy foreign minister for Israel and former foreign policy advisor to Netanyahu, Danny Ayalon. With us first is senior spokesperson for Hamas, Osama Hamdan.

[cut, show title]

Hill Osama Hamdan, senior spokesperson for Hamas, thank you so much for joining me on Up Front.

Hamdan Thank you.

Hill On October 7th, Hamas launched an attack when they launched thousands of rockets into Israel. Militants entered the country and took scores of civilians hostage, including women, children, and the elderly.

While the right of resistance is absolutely secured for all occupied people under international law, the use of force is not unlimited, and targeting civilians and taking hostages are war crimes.

How can you justify attacking civilian targets?

Hamdan Well, thank you for having me. First of all, I have to say that this is the story from the Israeli side, which is not really true. I have to turn you to Oren Ziv, who is an Israeli journalist. He was today in Kfar Aza settlement, and he said there is no evidence that Hamas slaughtered children.

I'm sorry that the Israeli government is using that to commit its crimes in Gaza.

So this is the first part of the answer: we have also some Israelis who are telling this has not happened, and it's used—it's a story, a fake story, used to kill more Palestinians. But this is the, the other part—

Hill But the question was "how do you justify attacking civilian targets?" That was the actual question. One second, nono, the question was "how can you justify attacking civilian targets."

Hamdan You are asking the wrong question.

Hill No, no, no; the question was "how can you justify attacking civilian targets."

Hamdan You are asking—you are asking the wrong question.

Hill We may disagree on what the right question is, but I do want—I would like you to answer this question. How do you justify attacking civilian targets?

Hamdan But this is a wrong question. This is a wrong question, and I'm not going to the same game of the Israelis.

Hill I'm asking a very clear question about civilians. Let—let me ask a very direct question: have any civilians been killed?

Hamdan Well, I don't know exactly, because this is what is told by the Israelis. What I'm telling you is that for this Israeli government—

Hill You—you just cited Oren Ziv: he says civilians were killed.

Hamdan No, he didn't say—he said, "no evidence that children were slaughtered."

Hill [incoherent sound]

Hamdan I don't—I don't—

Hill He said—he said, "dozens of bodies of Israelis murdered in their homes."

Hamdan Excuse me!

Hill Those were his words.

Hamdan You are—you are wasting the time. It's your time. It's not my time. You are wasting the time.

Hill All right, let's pause for a moment, sir. My question is, if you find out that civilians have been killed, would you consider that justified or would you consider that unjustified?

Hamdan There is—three hundred children have been killed today in Gaza by the Israelis. Two hundred women have been killed today, by the Israelis, in Gaza. One thousand two hundred children were injured. One thousand women were injured today, just today and yesterday, in Gaza.

You are asking me the wrong question. You have to ask about what is happening in Gaza, which is under the siege for the last seventeen years, which is under the offensive Israeli attack for the last four days.

You keep asking about the Israelis: why don't you ask about the Palestinians?

Hill So, so that's a—that's a fair—

Hamdan Can I understand that you don't care about the Palestinians?

Hill Sir, sir, sir, that's a, that is a fair question, that—

Hamdan Excuse me! I have to continue. You are asking about the Israelis. You don't ask about the Palestinians. No one cares about the Palestinians. This is the story: the story is the occupation. 75 years of occupation for the Palestinians. We have to talk about the occupation and how the Palestinians are looking to—for this occupation, and how can we make an end for this occupation.

This is the story! It's not the story about what you are asking about.

Hill Okay, I—I, I understand your perspective. To be clear, after this interview I will be interviewing a representative of the Israeli military, and I will be asking him about Israel's war crimes.

I absolutely acknowledge that Israel has committed war crimes. In fact, I have written a book with a whole chapter about Gaza and the war crimes that have been committed against Gaza there, so please do not suggest to me that I do not take this issue seriously. However—

Hamdan Thank—thank you—

Hill However, let me finish, I—I allowed you to finish—

Hamdan —thank you for clarifying that—

Hill —yeah, so, so now—

Hamdan —thank you for clarifying that, but I also—

Hill —now that—sir, sir—

Hamdan —you can't compare—

Hill —sir, I—I'm not comparing anything, but—

Hamdan Okay.

Hill —please allow me to finish. My question for you is, "Is everyone living inside a settlement a legitimate military target for Hamas?"

Hamdan According to the international law, the settlers are not civilians.

Hill So, sir, again, human rights organizations have said the legal status of settlements under international humanitarian law does not negate the rights of the civilians living there.

The fact that a person lives in a settlement, whether legal or not, does not make him or her a legitimate military target.

So, in light of the fact that human rights organizations would argue that even if settlements are illegal the people living inside of them are still considered civilians, how do you see, moving forward, Hamas's vision of whether or not settlements are legitimate military targets?

Hamdan Well, uh, the "legitimate" thing which I believe in is that Palestine is our land.

Our people are living on our land, challenging the occupation for the last 75 years. On those 75 years, the women, the children were killed by the Israeli soldiers, the Israeli settlers. Their homeland was taken. They were replaced by Israelis who came from everywhere in the world. They talk different languages and they claim that this land is for them.

If you ask any one of them about the grave of his father, he will take you to Poland, or to Argentina.

But if you ask any Palestinian about the grave of his seventeenth grandfather, he will take you to some place in Palestine, showing you the graves, telling you, "This is where my seventeenth grandfather was buried"—or maybe before that.

We are in this land from the days of Jesus Christ! Don't ask me about those settlers and those soldiers who are killing my people every day, every time—and this is the fact which creates the resistance of the Palestinians. The Palestinians did not start the war.

Hill Let's talk about the Israeli response to the Hamas attack, which has been horrific.

Israel is bombing Gaza and has declared a complete siege. It's cut off food, fuel, and water from being admitted to over two million people. Thousands of Palestinians are going to die. One resident from Khan Yunis said, "This is a bloody war that is different from previous wars. What is going on right now is total annihilation."

We see this horrific response by the Israeli government—my question for you is, "Have the actions of Hamas over the past week made things worse for Palestinians on the ground?"

Hamdan The Israelis have done this before. They did that in 2014. They cut the electricity from Gaza, in 2014, for seventeen days. They cut the aid for the hospitals. In 2014, two thousand five hundred Palestinians were killed. In 2021, more than one thousand Palestinians were killed. No one remembers the numbers, because they are only Palestinians.

But I want to tell you, they were shocked by what had happened to their army. Eleven military points were attacked by the militants of Hamas. The soldiers were killed, or taken as war prisoners, and the Israelis were shocked. This is the main troops attacking Gaza for the last ten years: they fall down in a few hours. This is a shock! They want to get back the image of Israel army. They want to show everyone that Israel can destroy everyone—

Hill That's an interesting point, sir—

Hamdan —by the supervision of the American and the support of the—

Hill —that's, that's an important point you're making. You're saying that Israel sort of commits to a certain kind of response when it looks bad; that Israel responds disproportionately, and that Israel already wants to use this as a pretext for destroying the Palestinian people.

I'm saying, if you know that's going to happen, then how do you calculate the decision to launch an attack, knowing that a university is going to be bombed, knowing that power is going to be cut off, knowing that fuel's going to be cut off, knowing that people are going to die because of the Israeli response—if you know that, why do you still make the attack?

Particularly when the Palestinian people don't have a say in whether or not that's going to happen?

Hamdan This is a good question. You know, the fact that the Israelis are killing the Palestinians on all the ways, all the times.... For example, in West Bank, in the last ten months, more than five hundred Palestinians were killed.

Most of them were civilians. They were shot in the streets, just demonstrating peacefully against the Israeli troops!

The fact that everyone has to understand is that this occupation is killing the Palestinians all the time. He's not giving them any chance to have normal lives. He's not giving them the chance to be independent and to have their independent sovereign state—even after thirty years of signature of Oslo agreement, he's not implementing any international resolutions. He doesn't care about the international law.

So we are facing this fact: the Israelis are killing you if you are treating them peacefully or if you are resisting them.

At the end of the day, the occupation is still there. So it's better to resist than be slaughtered daily without even resisting the occupation.

Hill What was the goal of last week's actions? What was the immediate goal of last week's actions—what would you say the target or goal was?

Hamdan The goal is to make an end for the Israeli attacks against the Palestinians. To make an end for the Israeli attacks on Jerusalem, [place name I couldn't catch], in West Bank; taking over the lands and to lift the siege on Gaza.

The Israelis are planning for a long, long occupation on Palestine, and I think if they don't get the lesson from what has happened the last four days: this army will not protect them. Their violence will not protect them. Even if they were supported by the United States. If they want to be protected, they have to acknowledge the Palestinian rights and to implement the international resolutions which gave the Palestinian people their rights—without negotiations.

Those are rights. No one can negotiate our rights.

Hill Osama Hamdan, thank you so much for joining me on Up Front.

Hamdan Thank you.

[cut]

Hill We tried repeatedly to get an Israeli Army spokesperson on the show to respond to Hamas, but they canceled the scheduled interviews. For more on the developments in Gaza, we are joined by Israel's former deputy foreign minister and a former foreign policy advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Danny Ayalon.

[cut, show title]

Hill Danny Ayalon, thank you so much for joining me on Up Front.

Ayalon My pleasure.

Hill Danny, last Saturday, the 7th, Hamas launched a devastating attack. Thousands of rockets were fired towards Israel, and hundreds of Hamas fighters crossed into the country. There are reports of horrific killings of Israeli civilians: a clear, clear violation of international law.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to turn the Gaza Strip into, quote, "rubble," and the government announced a, quote, "complete siege of the enclave."

Since then, we've seen mass bombing in Gaza, with reports that hundreds of civilians have been killed—and while the actions of Hamas are a clear, and I want to emphasize that, a clear violation of international law, isn't the collective punishment of all Gazans also, by definition, a war crime?

Ayalon Not really, because the situation is very clear.

You know, as you mentioned—rightly so—Hamas perpetrated an attack (which was a surprise attack, the IDF was caught unprepared), and they got a major victory for the first 24 hours: but who was this victory against? Babies and children and all families that were massacred in bed. The IDF was nowhere to be seen. When the IDF came back, now, they pushed them back into Gaza.

Now, the problem with Hamas is that they're committing a double war crime, because they are targeting only civilians, and they're using their own civilians, the poor Palestinians of Gaza, as human shields.

What Israel did gave them a fair warning, and I think this is the only way to do with them, is we told the Gazan people to clear the area temporarily so we can go and take Hamas out—and then, of course, they can come back.

So this, by definition, is not a war crime.

We understand the plight of the Palestinians. They deserve their dignity and everything else. But nothing justifies butchering families.

You know, this day, as you mentioned, the 7th of October, was the day that more Jews were killed in 24 hours than any other day since the Holocaust. So you see, I mean—

Hill Without—without question, respectfully, this is a devastating moment. An extraordinary act of violence that, again, is a violation of international law. But you said a couple of things that I want to push you on.

The idea of collective punishment is one of the things that we're talking about here.

Electricity has been cut. Power has been cut. Fuel has been cut. The Gazan people right now are being punished for the actions of Hamas. How is that not, by definition, collective punishment?

Ayalon Two things. First of all, Hamas has turned Gaza into an enemy state. So there is no law, nothing in international law, that compels a country you are in a war with, to supply them the electricity. Now, what do they use the electricity for?

Hill As, as—as an occupying power, international law does say that you have certain responsibilities by law... but before we get there, even if we—we'll hold it for a moment, the power thing—there are residential buildings being hit. There are hospitals being hit. This is a densely populated area. The idea of being able to run away or to escape or go to a safe area seems impossible.

Also, according to your own military representatives, you've abandoned the idea of knocking on roofs: that is to say, giving a warning, of dropping a non-explosive munition on buildings before people go.

So people aren't getting a warning, they have nowhere to go, residential buildings, schools, and hospitals are being hit.

How is this not, again, an act of collective punishment, and how is this not a target of civilians—unless, of course, you're regarding everybody in Gaza as an enemy combatant?

Ayalon Okay, well, I hear you, I hear you. But again, what we gave the population is a fair warning.

What would you do, you know, what would you do if—

Hill What—what, what was the fair warning? This—I just want to make sure we're on the same page here. Benjamin Netanyahu told everyone to leave the area. Where were they to go?

Ayalon Okay. Very, very—I mean, this was thought out. It's not something that we tell them, "Go to the beaches, go drown yourselves," God forbid, not at all. There is a huge expanse, almost endless space in the Sinai Desert just on the other side of Gaza.

The idea is—and this is not the first time it will be done—the idea is for them to leave over to the open areas where we and the international community will prepare the infrastructure. You know, ten cities with food and with water. You know what, just like for the refugees of Syria that fled the butchering of Assad a few years ago to Turkey. Turkey received two million of them. This is the idea.

Now, Egypt will have to play ball here, because once the population is out of sight, then we can go. You know what the Palast—what the, what Hamas did. You know, we—

Hill When the—you said, "the population out of sight," is that practically possible in such a densely populated area?

And, and forty—you have two million people in a densely populated enclave. Forty-seven percent of the inhabitants are children. Is it reasonable or plausible to think that all those people are going to relocate to this excluded area and be safe from a bombing attack? And again, the warn—we're saying there's warnings, but there are numerous reports on the ground that there are no warnings, that people are getting hit, that families have been killed from these attacks!

Ayalon I'll tell you in a practical manner what we should do and what we can do. Create, like in the past, in history, a humanitarian corridor. When there is a humanitarian corridor—and we have been discussing this with the United States—then we can guarantee, in this corridor, that nobody will get hurt.

Now, again I say there is a way to receive them all on the other side for temporary time in Sinai. Because, what did Hamas turn out on Gaza, Gaza—

Hill On the other side? Are we talking about—are you, are you saying, "the other side," they go to Egypt?

Ayalon Yes. Absolutely, absolutely, and Egypt will have to play ball because this is—human life is at stake, and if you are—

Hill [disbelieving laugh] But, but sir, human life is at stake because you're cutting off power, you're, you're shutting down hospitals, you're bombing residential buildings—

Right now, there is a hospital that does not have sufficient power. There is a hospital where people are literally going to die. And Israel's energy minister Israel Katz said, "No electrical switch will be turned on, no hydrant will be open, no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home."

Now, the ICRC spokesperson Hisham Mhanna said that by cutting that power "hospitals are going to turn into graveyards."

This is not an ideologue. This is the International Committee of the Red Cross. They're saying that because of your country's actions—not the actions of Hamas, not the actions of Egypt, but because of Israel's actions—the hospitals are going to turn into graveyards.

How is that not a war crime? How is that defensible by any standard?

Ayalon First of all, the war crime, if anything, is Hamas. They are the ones. And I know exactly what you're talking about. Hamas does not allow—sometimes, when they can, they keep those civilians captive. They don't allow them to run away, because this is what they want.

Now, I know the area. And I suppose you're talking about the main hospital, which is the Shifa Hospital.

Hill Yep.

Ayalon The Shifa Hospital has been turned into a Hamas bunker. If Hamas wants to save them, they should just leave their arms, come out, and nothing will happen. But as long as they keep the Shifa Hospital, just like schools and kindergartens, as bunkers and they fight out from there, there is no law—there is no law in this universe that protects them. And this is what we're doing, and this is why the world is—

Hill Sir, sir! Sir, is there any independent reports—are there any intelligence reports that show that the Shifa Hospital is primarily a Hamas bunker and not an actual medical site?

Ayalon Yes, and you know—and you know what—

Hill W-where? Who? Where?

Ayalon A-and you know what, mark my words, and, and you can show it again, because I know it's recorded. When this war is over and we bring in the international press to Shifa and to all the bunkers, the underground tunnels that Hamas has created in Gaza—ask intelligence services of every country in the world, they know it—but anyway, what I'm saying is—

Hill No, no, no—just to be clear, for the audience's benefit, no intelligence service has claimed that. Not one government has claimed that the Shifa Hospital is a Hamas bunker. That is your claim, and I want to be very clear that that is your claim.

And you're saying that you don't have any reports, but that I should just trust you.

Ayalon No!

Hill Mark your words, trust you, and later on it'll be proven true.

Ayalon I'm telling you, everybody will see.

Hill Okay.

Ayalon After the war is over.

Hill Fair enough.

Ayalon Even—

Hill I have—I have to move on just in the interests of time, but I want to continue on the same vein, because the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, said that he was deeply distressed by Israel's announcement of a siege on the Gaza Strip. He said that the humanitarian situation, quote, "will only deteriorate exponentially," and that crucial life-saving supplies, including fuel, food, and water must be allowed into Gaza.

So the UN is saying, "You must do this." You are saying you're not going to do this. How do you—

Ayalon No. We're not, we're not saying that.

Hill He's saying "do it immediately." What I'm saying is, what you're—he's saying, "do it immediately."

Ayalon I got you. I'll tell you exactly what we're saying. I'm saying, we will do everything for the Gazan people, once—and now we demand immediate surrender, unconditional surrender of Hamas. If Hamas people come out with their hands up and clear their weapons, believe me, everything will be restored to Gaza. It is Hamas, in Hamas hands. If they care—

Hill Okay, now I understand. Thank you for clarifying that, sir. I think we're actually on the same page here. You're saying that once Hamas leaves, you'll grant the Gazan people food, shelter, fuel, electricity, hospitals, schooling. And if Hamas doesn't leave, then they'll continue to starve and die in hospitals.

You are defining for the international community, right now, collective punishment.

You're saying, "Until Hamas acts differently, the two million people in Gaza are going to be treated this way. And once Hamas acts differently, these two million people in Gaza will be treated better."

That is exactly what collective punishment is: you're holding them accountable for the actions of others; that is the definition, the textbook definition, of collective punishment, sir. Now, you—you may accept that that's what you want to do, but this is absolutely a contravention of international law.

Ayalon Well, I'll tell you exactly—no! Had we had no—if we had pushed them into the wall—we're not pushing them to the wall! We want to open a humanitarian corridor so they can leave. But if Hamas—

Hill So that who can leave? Citizens? You're saying civilians can leave, but only through the Rafah Border, correct?

Ayalon At this point, yes.

Hill So they can't—

Ayalon Because, where else—

Hill Your country! They can come into Israel!

Ayalon [big fake smile, long pause] I'm telling you one more thing I want to say—

Hill I-I want you to address that point—

Ayalon [another big smile]

Hill —don't just smile, sir, respectfully. You're saying—

Ayalon [smile vanishes] I'm not smiling!

Hill —they, you're making a corridor, they can go to Egypt—you're bombing them! You say you want to save them, but you—they can't come in.

Ayalon I—first of all, I'm not smiling. I'm crying in my heart. I'm crying in my heart for all the butchery of thousands of Israelis. Why do you think the world is with us? Why do you think the world is wise? All the international media was there.

So don't talk to me about collective punishment, don't talk to me about humanitarian—these are new rules of the game.

There is no coexistence with Hamas, which is worse than Isis, and we will not stop. We are allowing the population to leave. But if Hamas will surrender, there won't be any problem whatsoever.

Hill Danny Ayalon, thank you so much for joining me on Up Front.

Ayalon Pleasure.

Hill All right, that is our show. Up Front will be back next week.

[end cut, show title]

[mylovewithyourlove]

In my late 20s… finally able to let in the mental relaxation.

Not struggling as much with what I look like/how I’m perceived.

Still wanting a partner, but not killing my self to “be desirable” to potential lovers.

Not spiraling as much about being broke as before. Open to new doors opening and getting the help I need when I need it.

Realizing I can finally start letting go of carrying my mothers “cross”. Her problems don’t have to be my problems. I don’t have to a “suffer” in order to show her that I care or I’m a responsible adult.

[froggypurse2003]

[shapingtherapies]

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[themogaidragon]

Demisexual Elasexual Stutterer Combo Pride Flag

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[ashthenerdtheythem]

Make up your mind!!!

***Vent***

Adults talking to six year old me: Shut up!!! Nobody wants to hear you speak. You only talk about annoying irrelevant things and it is an actual fucking punishment to have to listen to you and you're fucking stammer, do you have any clue how infuriating it is to try to understand you, you pathetic inconsiderate piece of shit

Adults talking to eight year old me: Why don't you talk??? It's so rude, make a fucking effort to contribute to the conversation

Adults talking to fifteen year old me, who finally feels confident enough to talk about topics that I know about: Would you shut the fuck up? Nobody cares, I know that we're in the middle of a conversation about this and that you know more about this topic but nobody wants to hear from you so shut the fuck up!!!

MAKE A FUCKING DECISION!!!

[fanfic-lover-girl]

The saying goes that God does not give you more than you can bear.

I am thankful that God has placed such wonderful people in my life. Really grateful that people are so gracious to me when I struggle to say my name in intros. Went to a social event with someone I recently met at church and she introduced me whenever she introduced herself. You don't understand how much this simple act meant to me. It took so much pressure off me and it made it so much easier for me to socialize. When I got home, I thanked her over text. Hope I can become closer friends with her :).