#the government of Israel does not represent the Jewish people as a whole

[ghostincorrectinternetedition]

Some Internet Idiot: Being heterosexual during Pride Month is like being a Jew in Nazi Germany.

Secondo: It’s true. A sympathetic gay couple has sheltered me in their attic for the last five days. The Gaystapo came yesterday and interrogated my benefactors, but thankfully didn’t search the house; at least, not this time. I’m putting them in terrible danger, but I don’t know what else to do. I know what happens to those who protect breeders, and so do they. How long will they be willing to risk their lives for me? I trust them; I have to. What happens when the Closet Police come back though? What will happen when they’re forced to choose between their safety and mine? I can only pray it never comes to that. A crowd is marching in the street today. I can hear them chanting “YAS QUEEN! YAS QUEEN!” outside the walls of my hiding place. I can’t tell if it’s the stomping of their thigh-high boots or my own trembling, but it feels like an earthquake inside my own head. There’s so many of them. I need to stay positive, but I can feel the spidery thread of hope slipping through my fingers like handfuls of ultra-fine glitter slip through theirs. Why didn’t I listen after Homonacht?! I could have left! There was still time! But, I didn’t listen… There’s no escape now; only hiding. Hiding, and waiting for Pride Month to be over…

[reasonsforhope]

"Palestinian plaintiffs and their legal representatives on Friday [January 26, 2024] presented a powerful case in federal court accusing President Joe Biden and other top US officials of complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza.

People around the world tuned in for the long-awaited hearing in Oakland, with plaintiffs appearing in person and over Zoom in an unprecedented effort to hold the Biden administration accountable for its actions in Gaza.

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the lawsuit in November 2023 on behalf of Defense for Children International–Palestine, Al-Haq, and eight Palestinians in the US and Palestine. The complaint accuses President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin of failing to live up to their legal responsibilities under the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1988 Genocide Convention Implementation Act.

The United Nations convention classifies complicity in genocide, or the intentional destruction of a people in whole or in part, as a crime under international law and requires that states take measures to prevent such atrocities.

[Note: This is a big reason why politicians almost never call it a genocide, btw. Because if a country recognizes that it's a genocide, then they actually are legally required to do a bunch of things to stop it, under international law.]

The historic lawsuit contends that the Biden administration has failed to uphold its obligations by continuing to provide diplomatic and military support for Israel's brutal campaign in Gaza. Plaintiffs are asking the court to stop Biden from sending more weapons and munitions to Israel that are being used to kill Palestinians en masse.

The hearing before the US District Court for the Northern District of California took place just hours after the International Court of Justice issued provisional measures against Israel in a landmark case brought by South Africa.

-via TAG24, January 26, 2024. Article continues below.

Court contends with questions of jurisdiction and responsibility

In evaluating the allegations, questioning in Friday's hearing revolved around the so-called political question doctrine, by which federal courts regularly refrain from ruling on political matters seen as best resolved by the president and Congress.

The Department of Justice argued that according to the doctrine, the court has no jurisdiction to rule in the case.

"If the court condemns United States foreign policy toward Israel, it could cause international embarrassment and undermine foreign policy decisions in the sensitive context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," defense counsel Jean Lin told Senior District Judge Jeffrey S. White.

Katherine Gallagher of the CCR countered that the court does, indeed, have a responsibility to step in: "Here, the question is a legal one, whether the actions undertaken by the United States failed to uphold the obligation to prevent genocide, and that is an active obligation that requires that the United States not provide the means by which a genocide is being furthered."

"There is no discretion for any state to evade its obligations, its legal obligations. These are not policy decisions," she said.

Palestinian plaintiffs share powerful testimonies before the court

After legal arguments in the case, Judge White heard two hours of gut-wrenching testimony from Palestinian plaintiffs and a renowned Holocaust and genocide expert.

Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest University Dr. Barry Trachtenberg shared his remarks before the court in spite of vehement US government opposition.

"To have an event fall under the 1948 Convention on Genocide requires both action and intent, and here we see that very, very clearly in a way that seems really quite unique in history," he stated, noting that there is now an opportunity to stop Israel's unfolding genocide in real time to prevent further loss of lives...

Judge White said he would take the testimonies to heart as he evaluates his constitutional responsibilities, describing the case as "the most difficult judicial decision" he has ever had to make."

-via TAG24, January 26, 2024

-

Note: I know a lot of people are really not gonna appreciate that last line. I'm not thrilled with it either. But it is worth noting that having a federal court overrule the US president's huge foreign policy and military decisions would be an absolutely massive deal/precedent

This is a case that deserves to be ruled on with an incredible amount of seriousness, if only because if you're a federal judge who's going to make that call, your written decision/legal justification needs to be unimpeachable

That said, if the judge uses jurisdiction to pass the buck here and avoid his legal and human responsibility to do what he can to stop a genocide, I'm gonna be pissed

[boldlygoingtohell]

In a weird way, as a Jew, I can kinda take Normal Antisemitism™️.

I mean, I understand where right-wing racists are coming from when it comes to their antisemitism. At the end of the day, theirs just comes from fear, replacement theory, etc… It’s easily identifiable. 2+2=4. Yea its shitty, but I see how they got from A to B and it’s a straight line.

But left-wing antisemitism?? Like, how does that happen? I thought the left was about supporting minority groups, encouraging them to speak and be heard. But all I’m seeing from leftists these days (I myself being super fucking liberal, left, etc…) is just waves and waves of antisemitism. And yes it has to do with Israel, but these people are incapable of criticizing the Israeli government without going “all Jews are responsible!” in the process. It's infuriating.

Are all the the world’s Jews, millions of which live OUTSIDE of Israel, now responsible for Israel’s actions? I'M a stupid American! I’ve never even BEEN to Israel, much less know the intricate details of a geo-political conflict whose complexities go willfully unlearned by armchair activists in favor of yelling in all caps for 140 characters.

But what really gets me, and I mean REALLY get me about the whole situation, is the hypocrisy.

Remember how awful it was when we saw waves of Islamophobic hate crimes after 9/11, American Muslims with no ties to al-Qaeda being targeted for the faith those terrorists claimed to represent?

Or do you remember standing against the wave of anti-Asian hate crimes that was spurned on by COVID falsehoods? The “China virus” as Trump so eloquently put it? You remember being pissed about that, not blaming Asian Americans but standing with them against hate?

And hell, I’ve heard there has been a rash of Islamophobic attacks again because of the Israeli-Gaza conflict. That’s fucking awful, and I will stand against that bull shit because it does not belong here, end of story.

But now there are also antisemitic attacks, hate crimes, being perpetrated around the world. And who are the perpetrators now? The left that stood against everything else. There's no widespread ally-ship for Jews like me. There's no sweeping social media campaign, no catchy hashtag, no ice bucket challenge.

Why am I allowed to be condemned for what a country on the other side of the world is doing, when I have nothing to do with it? Why can I have the finger pointed at me when I don’t want the fighting in the first place? Why must Jews be allowed to be the target of this ire when it's already been decided that other ethnicities/religions don't deserve it either?

Now, I am PROUD to be Jewish; it is my culture, in my heritage, in my literal blood. It is in my genetics, my bones, my spoken language, it is in the holidays I celebrate, the philosophies I live by.

But it is also in the generational trauma of my mother insisting I have a passport as a young child, not because we were traveling, but in case we had to flee. It is in her inherent distrust of the government; a card-carrying Democrat all her life, she would always remind me, "if you don't think the government can't turn on you, you're kidding yourself." It is her constant reminders that as a Jew, our assimilation is conditional, our acceptance is political. I felt these, but never as strongly as she did. Not until now.

I am third generation American, and yet I feel like an outsider in the only country I have ever known. People who I thought understood, who were my friends, who marched with me against the injustices of the world, are now calling after Jews to answer for Israel's actions.

I say I don't want the violence to persist and I'm told that I'm, "one of the good ones". I'm told hurt Israelis don't deserve sympathy because, "all Jews are rich anyway, right? Who cares." I tell them my fears about the rising antisemitism and wearing my star of david necklace out. I'm told, "it doesn't matter, you're white anyway."

For the first time in my life, the racists aren't just some crazy KKK members. They're not just Nazis marching around with beer bellies and ill fitting helmets. It's not just some screeching street preacher who claims I'm going to hell after he caught the glint off my star of david necklace. If needs be, I can kick and punch my way out of those. They're just idiots. Isolated, concentrated incidents. It'd be a good story to tell at a bar the next day though a gap-toothed smile and a sling on my shoulder.

But now, both sides are coming after me and my people. Now, it's not just idiots who have all of their views backwards; it's people I thought I could trust to have my back, to go down swinging with me against those Nazis. Right. Left. It's everywhere. There's no escape.

It's coming from all sides. It's coming from social media platforms, from dinners with friends, from posters on street lamps.

I live in one of the safest, most Jewish neighborhoods in America, and for the first time in my life I am truly scared.

[a-very-tired-jew]

Jew face in activist spaces

If you have followed the I/P War at all then you are well aware of organizations like JVP handing out kippahs and other Jewish garments to members of their protests. Other people, and myself, on this site have documented JVP's activities as New Age Messianics, and their repeated actions of dressing up their goy members as Jews hardly helps their image. With that in mind, there are certain slogans that we attribute to Jews within this time period. One of them is "Not In Our Name" or "Not In My Name". We often see this phrase used by actual antizionist Jews or those nonZionist/Zionist Jews that see Netanyahu's government as going too far. These Jews seek to distance themselves from the association with Israel, hence the phrase(s). It appears on banners, t-shirts, and other items. Well... Ally Beardsley of Dropout TV was recently arrested at a protest wearing a Not In Our Name shirt. Beardsley grew up as an Evangelical Christian. They're not Jewish, nor have they ever presented themself as being Jewish. So why are they wearing a shirt with a phrase used by Jews who are in opposition to Israel's actions? I do understand allyship, but this particular phrase says "Our", and Beardsley does not belong to the "Our" group in any capacity. Personally, I have the same feeling as when I see someone using slang, slurs, or language of a particular group in public because their immediate circle is made of those persons and thus they have an in-group while they themselves are an outgroup member. It's outside of the boundaries of that in-group, and it doesn't matter how many seders, BBQs, or whathaveyou that you're invited to, you don't use that language outside of your circle. I already had red flags and klaxon bells going off in my head about Beardsley before this (that's a whole separate post about my issues with Fantasy High and other Dropout media), and at present I've not seen anything that would be contrary to those warnings.

But why is this problematic? What is one person doing this actually impact? Beardsley has a relatively big following, and thus has a big impact. And it’s not just them doing it, there’s many accounts of goys doing this same behavior. Furthermore, due to their celebrity others will copy this behavior. They’re trying to represent a position within our community while not actually being a member of it. They’re speaking for Jews when they’re not Jews themselves. It’s another example of Jewish voices and phrases being coopted by goyim, regardless of the intention, and that’s not okay.

[fairuzfan]

The Jewish people are also indigenous to that land. The word Jew came from “the kingdom of Judah.”

Both groups have indigenous claim to the land. Connection to land does not expire over time.

Israel’s current government and leader should not be in power but that shouldn’t erase anyone’s claim to the history of the land.

Ok but you really don't understand what western colonialism (especially settler colonialism) to send me this. It's not *just* about connection to the land. It's about your relationship with colonialism and where you lie within the hierarchy of colonialism. Indigeniety is not some abstract concept in the way of emotional or religious connection solely. Colonialism relies on specific standards of suppression and control which Israel fulfills. I never said anywhere on here that Jewish people don't have a connection to Palestine. I'm saying the settler colonial project of Israel has no right to exist and settlers do not have a right to a land they live on as a result of violent dispossession.

This message equates judiasm and Jewish people with the idea of Israel which is an inherently violent thing to do. It's too narrow minded to say "well these people have a right to this land also" without addressing how Israel came to be and how it maintains its current power. You cannot erase the context of British and usamerican imperialism especially when discussing Israel and you must examine it through that lens to make any meaningful analysis of the plight of Palestinians.

Land is political. It represents many things such as culture, farming, economics, so on. All of these things are taken and used by the state of Israel and western colonialism as a whole to further its goal of complete subjugation. There is no just or moral or even sustainable way to maintain the state of Israel without completely erasing (or attempting to) the population in which it wishes to disposses. It just doesn't make sense to attribute it to governmental factors alone when the very essense of colonization is that it is the complete takeover of a land AND its people.

[edenfenixblogs]

I think that I’ve realized one of the big reasons that antisemites are so anti-Israel—I mean, aside from it being a state where a lot of Jews are.

Israel is a state that protects Jews. It also does a lot of bad things under the Likud government. And it also harms Jews that get in the way of the Likud government. But none of that matters to antisemites.

Because a state is an institution. And the left has been very clear that it’s all about criticizing institutions.

And in the absence of a governing religious body to criticize, the Israeli state is all the leftist antisemites have to criticize.

They can’t seem to fathom that the leadership of Israel is not in anyway synonymous with a religious institution. They cannot seem to fathom that the Likud government isn’t in any way representative of Jewish people as a whole—and not even of Israelis as a whole! (Once again, Israel is a parliamentary system. It’s about who has the largest proportion of votes, not a majority) and that Jews in Israel as well as non-Jews in Israel have a say in who to vote for and often strongly oppose Likud and Netanyahu.

It’s like a whole chunk of otherwise progressive people have been waiting for a way to criticize all Jews by attacking some institution they think speaks for us.

They cannot fathom that we are literally just a small ethnic group with half of our number in one location and would very much like for us and for them to not be victims of violence. That’s the uniting principle.

They’ve continually demonstrated how little they know and understand about Judaism, Jewish culture, and Jewish history.

I genuinely do not know if they’re aware that there’s no supreme Jewish council or whatever. There’s no Jewish version of the Grand Imam, Grand Ayatollah, Dalai Lama, Celestial Master, or Head/President of the Church.

We don’t even have a main synagogue from which edicts or traditions flow. We did have one. The Wall in Israel was our main institution. But colonizers and invaders destroyed it. And other religions built their institutions on top of it. And the religious governing body of Jews fell apart thousands of years ago.

…so the only thing that holds us together is each other. Rabbis don’t answer to some central authority. We hold traditions together through culture and traditions and connection to our land of origin, like many our even most other indigenous cultures.

But, because there is one (1) place on the entire planet where Jews are a majority of the population and not a minority, suddenly vicious attacks on the character of Jews everywhere are fair game as long as antisemites pretend they are talking about “Israel.” But they aren’t talking about the State of Israel. Because they get mad whenever we tell them to please specify the current government and the Likud party, because they are the ones responsible for carrying out the needless violence.

But they won’t do that. They seem to believe that there is some uniting religious force that exists in the Israeli government. And they seem to think that we are all united by this religious directive of “Zionism.”

That’s the only way any of their criticisms make sense logically. They don’t see themselves as attacking actual humans. They see themselves as attacking institutions. And any Jew who disagrees with them? Well they are just bastards supporting the institution.

But…there is no supreme Jewish institution. It doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist because they destroyed those institutions.

They’re making themselves feel good by thinking attacking Jews is somehow helping free Palestine. But it’s just attacking Jews.

It’s like a weird continuation of supercessionism. They’re projecting their religious structure onto a religion that is fundamentally incompatible with that structure.

[myguidingmoon-light]

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

No room. That’s something I’ve heard too much lately. Palestinians have been hearing that for 75 years. Since they were driven out of their homes—more than 700 000 of them—in 1948 to make room for the colony of Israel, there has been less and less room every day. Less land, literally, as even though lines and walls have been drawn over the years, Israel continues to illegally settle in Palestinian land. Less room to breathe, as the population of Gaza grew within the illegal blockade walling them into a tiny strip of land. Less room to live now, as Gaza has been under constant attack by Israeli bombs and guns and while the civilians of Gaza are pushed by this violence into even smaller and smaller “safe zones” (though there is nowhere safe in Gaza right now).

But also no room our conversations. No room in our imagination. No room in our understanding of our world of “human rights” and “developed nations.” You’d think “Palestinian” is a slur for how quickly it shuts up (or heats up) dialogue. These are our neighbours, and it feels like pulling teeth to get people to engage with their humanity—let alone ask their MP to ask our government to ask Israel’s government to please stop bombing civilians for the third month straight.

Today we recognize when a Jewish Palestinian family was forced by the state to leave their home, shelter in unfit terrain, give birth without proper medical care, survive a massacre, and become refugees. We Christians call the baby born in that family Emmanuel, which means God with us. God was born in Bethlehem, behind the border wall, in an occupation. What does that tell us about who God is?

Our Christian siblings in Palestine have asked us not to let this Christmas pass as usual. To that, I ask, what is Christmas as usual? If we don’t see our neighbours in the story of Jesus, what is the point? If we need to put the real, genuine injustices of the world out of our mind so that we can be comforted by Christmas, we are frankly doing it wrong. The point—the whole point—is that love and justice are possible for the unloved and the oppressed, even when it doesn’t feel that way. It is our responsibility to make that happen, and we can’t do that with our eyes closed.

You should feel uncomfortable about celebrating Christmas while a genocide is going on. We need to have room for that. We also need to have room for the hope that Christmas represents. We need to have room in our hearts for justice, lasting peace, and a free Palestine, because we are all needed to make it a reality.

And for God’s sake, CEASEFIRE NOW!

“He has brought down the mighty from their thrones/ and exalted those of humble estate;/ he has filled the hungry with good things,/ and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53)

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I am indebted to Rev. Munther Isaac for his wisdom in helping so many of us walk through this time. Personally, I just finished his book “The Other Side of the Wall”—if you are a Christian, you have to read this book. I’ll buy you a copy if you want.

I also want to note that this post isn’t really supposed to be an explainer or an argument. I didn’t cite anything here, but if you’re curious about anything I referenced (e.g. why did I bring up medical care?), send me a message and I’d be happy to give you more details about what’s happening in Palestine. I’m no expert, but I know some people just genuinely don’t know the extent of the injustice and don’t know where to learn more; if you have questions I’m happy to help, but I’m not here to fight with you.

Same deal if you want to help but don’t know how. I’m happy to give you some ideas and even help you out with them (distance permitting). One important action you can always take is contacting your Member of Parliament. You don’t have to write anything fancy—just tell them honestly how you’re feeling and ask them to support an urgent ceasefire. This is literally your right as a Canadian, so you don’t have to worry about doing something wrong.

[stranger-rants]

You don’t think it’s possible for someone to support Israel because they are Jewish and have a strong ethnic and personal connection to that region (his bar mitzvah was literally in Israel) without actively being full of hatred towards Palestinians? There’s this narrative going around that Noah is somehow this deeply psychotic and racist person who wants Palestinian children to be exterminated, but isn’t it far more likely that he’s just deeply connected to his culture, fearful of the rise in antisemitism, and sad about 10/7? He condemned Hamas, a terrorist org. He never said anything about hating Palestinians.

Btw I personally support Palestine and agree that Israel has gone too far in its actions. I just don’t demonize everyone on the other side which is apparently a controversial position to take

I think that ongoing support of Israel as a settler colonial state hinges on the apartheid and genocide of the Palestinian people. Noah “Zionism is sexy” Schnapp is racist as is anyone who supports Zionism because it is a racist ideology. The establishment of any nation should not require the dispossession of land and resources of an entire group of people, but that’s what Zionism does.

Israel is no different than any other settler colonial state. Noah is not more or less ethnically tied to that land than I am to America. As a person raised within a setter colonial state, I could recognize the power and privilege I have to be able to live here or I could buy into a radical ideology based on the idea that I’m inherently superior to the indigenous people here and thus I deserve this land more.

Noah Schnapp has explicitly sided with Zionism. I don’t give a single flying fuck if he has been to Israel or he had his Bar Mitzvah in Israel. There are indigenous Palestinians who can’t return to their land because of Zionism. I’ve lived here in America my whole life. My immediate family is here. That doesn’t change the violent racist history of this place.

I didn’t call him psychotic. I didn’t demonize him. I am speaking in plain and simple English here - Noah is a Zionist. Zionism is a racist ideology. Israel as a settler colonial state that is younger than my grandparents has been displacing, imprisoning, torturing, and killing the indigenous people of that land for decades on the basis that they have a right to build an ethnostate on said land.

Stop conflating Jews and Judaism with Israel. Stop conflating Jews and Judaism with Zionism. Stop using the fear of antisemitism as a rhetorical device to excuse Zionist propaganda. There are many Jews sacrificing their safety to condemn Israel. There are many Jews who have suffered because of Israel.

Israel does not represent Jews or Judaism. It is a violent settler colonial state supported by other violent settler colonial states. Jewish safety and freedom shouldn’t hinge on apartheid and genocide. That’s not true safety or freedom. The only way forward is to free the Palestinian people. Stop the genocide. End the apartheid. Build a state based on equity for all, not just some.

This isn’t a religious conflict. This is a genocide and you can either support the oppressor or the oppressed. He chose the side of the oppressor. You’re not stating a controversial opinion by arguing in his favor, for him arguing in Israel’s favor. The U.S. government argues in Israel’s favor regularly, providing billions in weapons. We all see the consequences of that.

I will remain angry with him as is my right.

[cock-holliday]

People reimagining “anti-zionist” to exclusively mean “critical of Israel’s current government” and never meaning to be against the zionist project. And when they learn you are against the zionist project they jump to “oh, antisemitism” regardless of if you are Jewish or not.

People sharing guides for “how to be an anti-zionist without being antisemitic” and it is summed up as “do not actually be against zionism or Israel as a whole, just this current manifestation and present government of it.”

Absolutely not.

When I say “Israel does not represent me” I do not mean just Netanyahu, I mean the state of Israel. The whole project. The whole goal. The whole campaign. If they ceased the bombing and went back to all the other ways they are effecting genocide I would be just as against it. If they elected someone else interested in maintaining Israel in a more globally-flattering image without dismantling the apartheid state I would oppose them too.

I suppose it’s not shocking to see this sentiment in circles that loved “death to america” memes for as long as Trump was in office, then ceased their complaints at Biden’s election. You do not oppose America, you were embarrassed at the current presence at the helm. Your critiques are surface level—policy-based at deepest and image at shallowest—and not with the core of the colonial project.

It’s not surprising to see this from liberals and progressives (though it is disappointing) but it is deeply troubling to see it from folks who call themselves anarchists.

“You can critique the state’s policies but not the state itself” holy shit do you hear yourself?

[detectiveseapancake]

After finishing listening to the second day of the ICJ hearings against israel I feel a deep sense of disgust, but right now more than anything I feel puzzled.

Israel made use of the exact same rhetoric it has been using this whole time. There were endless repititions of them defending themselves against Hamas, saying their goal is to protect both israeli and Palestinian citizens, underlining that they are a lawful state. For 3 whole hours they were lying through their teeth and spouting false accusations.

Comparing how South Africa and israel each made their case, South Africa's side was laid out neatly and far easier to follow. The way they presented the facts and asked for provisions was competent, logical and well-reasoned. Contrary to this, israel's case felt incredibly disorganised. They are strategic about how they are killing Palestinians, controlling the media and manipulating people. They had their points laid out and explained each of them, but none of it made any real sense.

I'm saying this because we know of the falsification of evidence and their blatant lies, but even within the hearings they failed to provide any proper evidence. They started off by showing the faces of people and describing the deaths of very specifically chosen ones in gruesome detail, giving their names. Repeating the same allegations against Hamas which have been proven to be unfounded and a projection of their own deeds. Meanwhile South Africa chose not to show the bloodshed and murder in visual detail and descriptions, reasoning they are not here to turn the genocide of Palestinians into a spectacle.

israel repeatedly accused South Africa of giving a screwed image of israel, defaming them and being manipulative, making use of propaganda. But the most puzzling thing was how they continuously contradicted themselves. This happened across different representatives, but also within their own parts.

Hamas has invaded all Palestinian life. But their enemy aren't Palestinians, only Hamas. South Africa failed to give them an adequate amount of time to react to their messages, but they also responded to them. South Africa is in bed with Hamas, who they want to eradicate, but they do not have a dispute with South Africa.

They claim only certain parts of their government represent what israel is aiming to do, all the other parts act independently. But their government is not a danger to the Palestinian people. They say statements made by other parts of their government that could be interpreted as genocidal are not part of their agenda and that they will not tolerate them, but they also do not persecute these things.

They have their shitty pile of excuses sorted out, but the ever-growing amount of people they have brutally slaughtered has long since been impossible to hide behind it. The more the list of their atrocities grows, the harder it becomes for them to lean on the same bullshit propaganda. Their argumentation easily crumbles into itself because they have nothing to back it with. They talked about Hamas and nothing but Hamas, instead of addressing the issues South Africa raised. They speak of defamation, then call South Africa terrorists.

They claim that as israel is a Jewish state that has survived the Holocaust, it is impossible for them to commit genocide. But the entire way their rhetoric is built reeks of the rhetoric the nazis used in WWII.

At the end, their agent summarised what they think South Africa is "framing" them as. An unlawful state that is committing genocide, has no regard for humanity and believes itself above the law. During these 3 hours, they said multiple times that the ICJ does not have the power to judge israel in this "conflict." But then they deny the truth of this "image that South Africa is trying to paint" of them.

They know exactly what they're doing. But they not only believe themselves above the law, they believe themselves above human life and humanity itself.

[mask131]

I want to share with you something about the French reception of the attack on Israel. A little point which, I promise, will lead to a bigger and more general point.

And this little point is the reason why you will not see any French politician or public figure approve or applaud the actions of the Hamas, and why almost all of them are currently sharing opinions supporting Israel, and why the few that do not condemn the Hamas' actions are currently under big criticism.

Because in France there is a crime known as "apology of terrorism". It is quite simple: the law condemns and deems criminal any kind of public support or approval of terrorist organizations and terrorist attacks. This is the set of laws that, for example, prohibited French people from loudly screaming "Well done! This dirty criminal-government is getting its right justice and these deaths were perfectly justified!" when 9/11 happened. These are much needed law for France's current situation to fight back the rise of extreme Islam on the French territory, and to criminalize things such as people rejoicing at Samuel Paty's death. This is the same set of laws that currently prevent people from sharing any support of the Hamas.

Because, and this is something that NEEDS to be remembered and brought back in this whole talk: the Hamas is recognized by many countries as a terrorist organization. France recognizes it as terrorist, because France is part of the European Union which, as a whole, considers the Hamas terrorist ; and so does the United-States, and Canada, and Japan, and Paraguay... Even countries that do not recognize the entirety of the Hamas as terrorist (Great-Britain, Australia, New-Zeland, Egypt...) do recognize that it is semi-terrorist and that it has terrorist branches within it. And it isn't just countries and governments, oh no! People should also recall that many humanitarian organizations, AND many human rights organisms, have frequently and regularly denounced the crimes and the terrorist nature of the Hamas. Not against Israel, no - against the Palestinians themselves. Amnesty International, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch, have all spoken against the Hamas, its immoral methods, and its crimes. Note something when people speak of condemning these attacks: people condemn the HAMAS, say the HAMAS should be punished. Nobody condemns Palestine, nobody says Palestinians should be punished - and that's because the Hamas is not Palestine in the eyes of these goverments - the same governments that recognize the Hamas as a terrorist organization refuse to see it as any kind of legitimate representative of Palestine.

Let's remember how for example in the very texts that founded the Hamas and in the Hamas very public ideology, there is a clear refusal of any kind of peace attempt with Israel - the organization was born with the sole goal to declare war on Israel, and with the dream to see Israel completely destroyed and all its inhabitants gone in one way or another ; and as a result they are known to have intimidated, captured, tortured and killed anyone they deemed as "allies" or "favorites" of Israel. This included the Hamas opposing in many different ways all attempts at peace treaties or negociations with Israel, and the Hamas capturing and torturing any Palestinian they deemed too leanient or too friendly or not aggressive enough with Israel, to the point Palestinians who were actually working on trying to change for the better Israel-Palestinian relationships had to leave Palestine due to how threatened they were.

Let's remember how the Hamas is a very openly antisemitic group, whose goals are clearly spelled out as a "jihad against the Jews" ; that deems one of the main problems of Israel's existence is its Jewishness ; who for decades have shared texts explaining that Muslims are the natural ennemies of the Jews, or that the Jews controlled the world medias with all the "money" they had, or that the Jews were secretly behind the French and Soviet Revolutions, and that WWII was actually organized by the Jews to amass an enormous amount of money. And that it is only very recently, and because they clearly needed to "look clean", that they decided to adopt views such as "We don't have problems with Jews in Europe or America, just those in our region" and "Maybe the Holocaust did happen and was bad - but we want to do our own thing, so it's good, since we're not Nazis". Even in their sentences saying that a peaceful cohabitation between the three religions of the book was possible, they insist that such a peace is only possible as long as Islam is recognized as the most important and superior religion, under which the others could live in peace.

Let's recall all the testimonies of Palestinians who lived in fear of the Hamas, and dreaded receiving a bullet in the leg or in the head because they would accused of "collaborating" with Israel. Let's recall the accusations of the Hamas participating in the human-trafficking rings at work in north-east Africa. Ismaël Haniyeh has declared that Ben Laden was a "holy warrior of Islam" and that his death made him a Muslim martyr - confirming what everybody knew already, that the Hamas and Al-Qaïda had relationships with each other. In 2012 Sahar El-Mougy already denounced that the Hamas, which started as a resistance movement against the Israelian oppresor, had turned into the new oppresor of Palestine and into a fanatical religious group that erased Palestinian culture by censoring or destroying its arts, literature and cinema, to enforce exclusively religious works.

All in all: the Hamas is bad for Palestine, and the Hamas is bad, and that's it. This isn't the fact that "Israel was attacked" which is the true problem and core of the debate here - here the situation is "the HAMAS attacked Israel". No matter what Israel did in the past, or how far-right it might be, or how half of the Israelian population is against its current leader, or anything else - if we just take the present situation, in the eyes of the law and the government of many of those countries, it boils down to, "A terrorist group attacks a democratic government. We thus have to stand by the democracy's side, no matter if we actually like the democracy in question, out of principle, because we, as nations fighting against terrorism on our own grounds, cannot support a terrorist group".

So, maybe to many of you it seems "unfair" or "hypocrite" or "vile" to not be "Let's have Israel destroyed", but the situation is that these countries are not going to support an antisemitic, religiously-extremist, terrorist group that has been known to commit human rights crime against its own people.

[jewreallythinkthat]

So I tried to talk to someone I know, and have to see semi-regularly, about how they have talked about Israel and the I/P situation this weekend. It did not go well.

Quotes of how they responded under the cut

For context this person has shared JVP and various other not representative Jewish groups as examples of "good Jews" over the past 4 months. This is the first time I have called the out for it and I'm including two lines of their response below because I was honestly blown away but how rude they were. (It was a long reply and I don't have the energy to disect the whole thing but yikes)

1.

"It’s incredibly condescending especially since I have a Masters in Global Crime and Justice and therefore have done and am capable of doing my own research into this"

Now in their defence, I was unaware of their uni course, however having an MA in global crime and justice doesn't stop you posting utter shite online. Additionally, you may be capable of doing your own research but your repeated posting of JVP shows that clearly you aren't doing actual research and talking to either of the Jews you actually know in real life.

2.

"I understand this is an emotional topic for you but that doesn’t give you the right to jump down my throat and I am not going to engage with you on this any further."

I have several issues with this.

A) As I said before, this is the first time in 4 months I've messaged them. I send what I would describe (and have also confirmed with other people) as a very measured and reasonable message, not aggressive or throat jumpy in the slightest.

B) Israel isn't any more of an "emotional topic" for me than any other country I have family in. While I believe it is important for Israel to exist, safely and securely, I have no control over what the Israeli government does whether I agree with it or not and as such, Israel itself doesn't make me emotional. People spreading things online that lead to an increase in antisemitism and refusal to condemp a group who have declared their intent to commit genocide absolutely does. Being emotional does not mean I cannot be reasonable and infantislising me by implying that if I have emotions about a topic, I cannot discuss it is incredibly... Well... "Condescending" to be honest.

C) refusing to "engage" with a Jew you actually know when discussing Israel because you prefer the Jews online who you have decided are correct is unbelievably insane. I cannot even begin to explain how insulting that is that being called out on what you're saying once leads to refusal to talk about a specific topic at all with someone because you didn't like that they pointed out you were being nasty.

[irlvernon-moved]

Hello, I am someone who follows you and quite enjoys your creations so I just wanted to make you aware of some of the users on this site who you frequently interact with. One of them has posted a series of very problematic posts where they are anti Israel and therefore deny Jewish people of their right to a Jewish state and their rightful homeland. They have even accused Jewish people of faking stories of dead children and instead said that Palestine children should be focused on because our Jewish dead children are not real.

But I am specifically referencing this post [ https://www.tumblr.com/jjunhui/731654311814266880/eyad-hallaq-liked-to-watch-cartoons-he-loved?source=share ] which a lot of users you interact with and repost from have reposted on their accounts. In this post they try to turn the entire Israeli police force into monsters because of the actions of one who disobeyed orders. They also reposted it with language that is derogatory to Jews. “From the river to the sea” and when educated of the derogatory nature of this phrase [ I inboxed them to inform them ] they publicly called my hurt “dumb”

As a Jewish follower and on behalf of a vast community of Jews on Tumblr who have been silenced, I kindly ask you and anyone who is against anti semitism not to engage with such accounts and to call actions like this out. Hold them and those who promote their hateful beliefs accountable.

"anti israel and therefore deny jewish people of their right to a jewish state" is hilarious. zionism does not equate to judaism. the israeli government does not represent the views of all jews, even those who are israeli citizens. israel is an apartheid state and they have faced ZERO repercussions for their actions. if youre gonna spout zionist propaganda in my inbox, do it with the anon turned off. do NOT speak on my friend like that. say it with your whole chest

[brokenfoxproductions]

I haven't said much on this here, but as the partner of a Jewish man and the parent of a Jewish child, and also with myself having friends and family that are Muslims from Northern Africa and the middle east, I have an opinion on the whole Israel/Palestine conflict that I don't think most people want to hear.

I'm against the Israeli government. They use military power and propaganda to maintain strict control over their citizens. They have ties with apartheid regimes, and they generally don't care about human rights. They also actively try to rewrite history to ignore the fact that they were founded in the middle of the 20th century after WW2 by European leaders and the US as essentially a puppet government. They're shit, and just because they have a star of David on their flag doesn't make them representative of the Jewish faith or people, they're still a military powerhouse with their own motivations.

I'm against the actions of Hamas. I don't think they have any positive intentions for the Palestinian people, they're supported by radicalized terror cells, and they're also trying to kill people and take over rather than free anyone. They aren't the good guys. They aren't freeing Palestine.

Palestine deserves to be free and united, but that is not what we're witnessing. We're witnessing a conflict between a military stronghold that exists mainly to give that part of the world Western influence and "control" and a group of people with negative intentions who want to replace the vacuum that would be created by Israel's fall with their own level of bullshit.

I'm really hoping that someday someone can figure out a way to break Israel down while replacing it with a proper and well thought out power structure, even if it's not under the Palestinian name, it would still be better than the current situation.

However, my general thoughts and opinions on the situation are that it's probably going to get much worse and escalate into a bigger conflict before anyone really has much of an opportunity to steer the situation in a direction where Palestine is even really involved, because I think it should be said that Hamas does not represent Palestine or the Palestinian people who are trying to regain control of the area. I don't know if it's going to be possible in our lifetime to see Palestine reinvent itself, but if we do, I feel like it's going to come a lot later than what we're about to see happen. This conflict is not a means to freedom, it's a means for a different puppet government to take over, and that isn't something that you want.

Free Palestine.

But don't pretend that Hamas is doing that right now.

[juana-the-iguana]

I'd just like to thank you for showing how hamas is also horrible and not to be combined with the palastinian people. Yes, what Israel is doing is horrible, genocide is horrible. But we shouldn't let hamas continue raping the palastinian women and killing them as well. #freepalastine #israel's government doesn't represent the jewish people

If any of this is off base please let me know

I've been debating whether or not to respond to this comment. I think you mean well, and I hope you can see that I have good intentions too. I appreciate your comment and want you to know that most Jews and Israelis know the difference between Hamas and the Palestinian people as a whole. There is more support for Palestinians in Israel (specifically among Jewish Israelis) than I think most people realize.

Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. The Israeli government does not represent the Jewish people, or the Israeli people at this point in time (one-fifth of which are Palestinians).

But we should be honest: while we should not hold the actions of Hamas against the collective Palestinian people, there is mainstream support for Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank. Similarly, while the majority of Israelis want Netanyahu to retire, he was elected at one point in time (even though strong criticism predates Oct. 7).

You can't have peace without acknowledging these facts.

What is happening in Gaza and the West Bank is tragic and devastating, but it is not genocide. Palestinians have been, and continue to be oppressed in Israel, in the Palestinian Territories (including areas occupied by Israel, and Gaza and parts of the West Bank ruled by the Palestinian Authority), and outside of Israel and Palestine, but it is not genocide. Genocide is a specific crime with a specific definition and not all war is genocide.

Countries that commit genocide don't warn civilians where they will drop bombs in the future. They don't take any steps to preserving life or alleviating the impact of their actions in war, because their goal is to kill as many people as possible. And, I say this with the knowledge that this is of no comfort to the people in Gaza and their families, this has one of the "best" civilian to combatant fatality ratios in modern warfare ("best" in quotation marks because any civilian death is tragic).

I know the point of your message was to highlight that Hamas is mistreating the Palestinian people. I don't want to detract from that statement. Hamas has terrorized Israelis for decades, but no one has suffered more under them than Palestinians. A prime example is the Oct. 7 attack. Not only is it obvious that offensive would start a war that would devastate Palestinians, Hamas wants to have its own people to be killed, because martyrs further their cause (that's also why they have been torturing and murdering civilians in Gaza, preventing evacuations and positioned their weapons to cause as many casualties as possible).

The fact that Hamas still has a lot of support amongst the Palestinian people is itself an indication of both ideology, but also how bad conditions were for Palestinians lived under prior to this war (although support in Gaza is dropping).

The reason I feel the need to correct the "genocide" remark is that, presently, Israel is the only country on Earth fighting Hamas. Hamas took control over Gaza through force and will only be removed through force. And Israel is not disappearing, so if Hamas is to be defeated and eradicated, Israel is going to, inevitably, be involved.

The claims of genocide are not only factually inaccurate, but it is used as a justification to stop this war, which would only help Hamas and prolong this horrible conflict.

[sabottori]

This isn't a particularly active blog and I mostly just reblog cute pictures, but I don't want to be silent about what's going on around and in Gaza right now, so here you go. (CW: rape, murder)

If you can defend any of this as somehow justified under the rubric of anti-colonial struggle, or try to say it didn't happen despite all of the evidence, then you aren't a leftist, you aren't an anti-imperialist, you are an antisemite making apologia for rape as well as mass murder, including the killing of children and babies.

You would think it'd be easy to condemn atrocities. But for too many people I consider to be my peers, you have joined in a chorus of whitewashing and support for what happened. And whether you acknowledge it or not, it's because the victims are predominantly Jewish.

And I know some of you are going to say, 'what about Palestinian lives lost' or 'what about what Israel is doing'?

I condemn the actions of the Israeli government in the present as well as in the past leading up to this. I wholeheartedly condemn the Israeli military blocking food, water, and electricity. I condemn their use of white phosphorus. I condemn the far too many Palestinian civilians who have already died in this conflict and previous ones at the hands of the Israeli military. And I condemn the treatment of Palestinians within the region. I support the liberation of the Palestinian people from economic deprivation and oppression, I support them being integrated into a political and legal system that has for far too long discriminated against them, for them to have autonomy in their affairs and to be able to see the safe return home for their refugees abroad.

But I, too, condemn these terrorist attacks. Condemning these atrocities doesn't make you anti-Palestine or anti-Palestinians. Because unlike some, I'm capable of recognizing that a terrorist group does not represent Palestinians as a whole, especially when that group repeatedly use Palestinians as human shields. These were the actions of an evil fringe whose aims and actions can and should be recognized for what they are: genocidal.