#these terrorists lost their humanity long ago

[that-one-queer-poc]

11 PEOPLE KILLED ON A PLAYGROUND

[matan4il]

We've lost so many people since the last time I could make a news update post, that I find it hard to write about them all. I guess at the very least, I need to write about 38 years old Elad Fingerhut, father of 3, who was murdered by Hezbollah on our Independence Day. He was a civilian, who happened to be nearby when a terrorist rocket attack on Israel's north started, he realized soldiers were hurt, and ran in to help. That's when he was hit directly by a following anti-tank missile fired at the same spot. He was murdered for being a decent human being, willing to help others even under fire.

The IDF has recovered the bodies of 4 Israeli hostages, all of them were murdered on Oct 7 and it was their bodies that the terrorists had kidnapped. The corpses were found thanks to military intel in a tunnel in northern Gaza, next to explosive devices, so Hamas was actually using these bodies as a booby trap to kill Israeli soldiers. I will never understand people stanning an organization capable of murdering innocent civilians, and then using their bodies like that. The four hostages were Shani Louk, Ron Benjamin, Itzhak Gelerenter, and Amit Buskila. As far as I'm aware, only Shani was confirmed as murdered on Oct 7 before this operation, so bringing the bodies back allows, in addition to proper burial of the murdered, for the families to finally know what happened to their loved ones, get to mourn, and hopefully start processing, and eventually, healing. As for Shani herself? Just a small reminder that on Oct 7 itself a vid was published, showing her body stripped down, leg broken, tossed into the back of a truck, guarded by armed terrorists, with a random Gazan teenager was spitting on her violated corpse, and after that, a Gaza "journalist" called her family to lie to them and claim Shani's alive, just injured, and being treated in a hospital for her wound. If that's not enough, a Gaza "photojournalist" won an award for taking a picture showing the Hamas terrorists riding the truck on top of her. Now her family can finally find comfort in knowing their kid is at rest.

There are at this time 128 hostages in Gaza still, at least 39 are believed to be bodies. This includes two Thai men who were kidnapped from Israel, for whom there is now evidence that they were murdered on Oct 7, and their corpses are held hostage.

May the memory of all Palestinian terrorists' victims be a blessing.

I assume everyone knows already that the (undemocratically elected) president of Iran, Ibrahim Raisi, known as "the butcher of Tehran," has been killed in a helicopter crash. What people may not be aware of is that the UN has actually observed a moment of silence for the man who personally oversaw the murder of countless innocent Iranians, many of them as part of the Islamic regime's gender-targeted violence, and who, as part of the regime, was responsible for many more deaths of people around the world, including financing Hamas and so enabling the Oct 7 massacre. In fact, the UN secretary general has extended personal condolences to the people and government of Iran for Raisi's death, as per his official statement. Here's what the UN's one tweet about it looks like:

(I'm not surprised that the top comment is an angry one from a Ukrainian woman, since the Iranian regime does supply Russia with attack drones and missiles)

Meanwhile, do you know how long it took the UN to officially discuss for the first time the hostages abducted from Israel on Oct 7, as part of a massacre enabled by Iran? Seven and a half months (discussion held on May 16, five days ago). But sure, the UN isn't biased at all, and is totally reliable and a force for peace. Please keep this in mind as the UN's judicial arms, the ICJ and ICC, continue to make a mockery of justice and the idea of international humanitarian law. Hey, did you know that the ICC's chief prosecutor never asked for arrest warrants against Raisi?

Meanwhile, around the world, antisemitism has only been intensifying. Some recent incidents include an Israeli father living in Belgium being attack by an anti-Israel mob in front of his visiting daughter, in France they burned down a synagogue (great how I couldn't find a single headline where the synagogue attack was mentioned before the fate of the attacker following it), in Sweden there were shots fired near the Israeli embassy, and in NYC a man randomly stopped his bike by a group of religious Jewish kids playing on the street and physically attacked them...

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[mariacallous]

The far-right violence against foreigners in the United Kingdom these days strongly reminds me of a novel published in the 1980s: J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians.

Coetzee, a South African novelist who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2003, describes in this slim volume exactly why and how this kind of violence erupts: because communities have been drip-fed lies and racial prejudices for a long time, until they form an image of strangers—in this novel, the barbarian nomadic tribes—that has very little to do anymore with reality.

The central character in Waiting for the Barbarians, which Philip Glass turned into an opera in 2005, is a middle-aged magistrate who has been running a sleepy border settlement of an unnamed Empire for years. Nothing ever happens in the village or in neighboring towns and villages. Everyone knows everyone. The subjects of the Empire and the barbarians living on the other side of the border, which is totally porous, have bent the rules so that everyone can go about their business without bothering others. The barbarians come to the village for food and medicine and go home afterward.

The magistrate must implement the rules of the Empire but tries to do this in a human, benign-ish way. When there is an occasional cattle raid, for example, he has a serious talk with those who did it. He hardly ever takes prisoners, and when he does, they are fed, kept clean, and often released early: “All my life I have believed in civilized behaviour.” In his view, conflicts do not benefit anyone and should be avoided. All is certainly not perfect, but it keeps the peace. The communities live more or less quietly side by side.

Then, one day, a delegation from the Empire’s secret service (the “Third Bureau”), led by Colonel Joll, visits the village. Joll, an unbending bureaucrat, is convinced that the nomad tribes are secretly preparing an attack on the Empire. He leads an expedition in search of rebels and radicals and comes back to the settlement with many suspects in chains. They are terrified. Suddenly, the prison is full. The inmates are humiliated, starved, and tortured. The magistrate tries to stop this (“These are fishermen, not rebels!”), but Colonel Joll sidelines him and continues to torture the barbarians until all “confess.”

After the colonel’s departure, the magistrate feeds the prisoners and sends most of them home. One of them is a nomad girl. He tends to her wounds, washes her feet, and sleeps with her. Eventually, he brings her all the way back to her tribe. When he returns home after the long journey, Joll is back. He has the magistrate charged with treason—“consorting with the enemy”—and throws him in the same jail where the barbarians are kept.

No one comes to the magistrate’s rescue. Many villagers have become as hysterical as the colonel, and the rest are lying low. By now, every barbarian seems like a terrorist to them. Any behavior that was once normal has become suspect. Eventually, of course, the village just destroys itself—without a single barbarian going on the attack. The settlement is a ruin. Most people have left, including the colonel and his people. The magistrate stays: He has nowhere to go. As a bitter winter cold sets in, he feels stupid, “like a man who lost his way long ago but presses on along a road that may lead nowhere.”

Although the novel was published in 1980, it has stark relevance for our times. Coetzee, whose Empire of course depicted South Africa under apartheid, shows how easy it is for a few zealots to turn communities that have long managed to live in peace against one another. All they need to do is to plant false, scary rumors about a particular group; embed them in a larger narrative about sovereignty, nationhood, and security; and then start pumping that narrative around. If citizens are scared enough, they are willing to believe it all. As Hermann Göring, the architect of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi police state, said when he was asked how he got the German people to accept Nazism: “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.”

With this grim novel, Coetzee issued a strong, principled condemnation of South Africa’s apartheid regime, then still in full swing. (He immigrated to Australia later, in 2002.) Its relevance for today’s “far-right thuggery” in the U.K., as Prime Minister Keith Starmer put it last weekend, is no less clear. When far-right politicians fan the flames of racial and religious hatred for years, amplified by social media and newspapers calling migrants and asylum-seekers criminals, at some point Muslim communities and mosques will be targeted, asylum centers will be set ablaze, and Nazi salutes will be seen on the street.

In a democracy, words have consequences. A democracy is a political system that must ensure different communities in society do not get at one another’s throats. All communities have different interests. Therefore, there is always some friction between them. Because society is always changing, the balance between the communities is always changing, too. Democracy is meant to help them find a new balance, all the time. This applies to all levels of governance: local, provincial, national, European. Politics, journalism, and other institutions have a role to play in this system—a clear responsibility. Incitement, provocations, the spread of fake news, and the demonization of one community because of skin color or religion mean that they reject that responsibility. These are forms of democratic sabotage.

Coetzee’s message, voiced through the magistrate, is not a happy one. “To the last we will have learned nothing. In all of us, deep down, there seems to be something granite and unteachable.” Still, the magistrate plows on—what else can he do? He may be far from perfect, but he is a good man.

In the words of Coetzee, the real danger in society “always comes from within.” The U.K. is lucky to have a prime minister who seems to understand this.

[antisemitism-eu]

Hey there. I followed you some years ago as i found your posts helpful while i was writing about antisemitism in the media and academic spaces.

That is no longer the case. As a Jew, i am asking you to look more critically at what Israel is doing to the Palestinian people. To civilians. It is not antisemitic to say that Israel is wrong; that the military is committing genocide; any criticism.

It's painful to watch Jews defend the actions of Israel because of a feeling of obligation. I imagine that's what is driving you? It seems to be what drives my father's hatred of Palestinians and his belief that Israelis can do no wrong.

I am named after one of the founders of Israel. A terrorist by definition and action. He bombed facilities and killed civilians to make Israel what it is today; that was evil then and it is evil now.

I turned my back on my faith a long time ago; and it hurts to feel i need to turn my back on my culture as well, but it is becoming a culture of hatred and victimhood. We are a people like any other, we are not infallible, we are only chosen in that we received the torah; nothing more.

I'm sorry to hear that you care about antisemitism only when it fits your preconceived notions

I have always written about all types of antisemitism.  If you care about antisemitism only when it's from the opposite side of the  political aisle, then you don't really care about antisemitism.

You can be critical of Israeli policies and actions.  Almost all Israelis are.

But when you accuse Israel of genocide that is antisemitic.  It's not simply “criticism” but rather believing the claims of the antisemites who murdered and raped Jews.

In the US White supremacists claim that Jews are committing genocide.

Do you:

Demand that American Jews stop the genocide 

Call this antisemitic drivel for what it is

I suppose you'll go for B.

And yet, you believe Hamas.  Every word they say.

If White Supremacists in the US would declare war on Jews, invade a Jewish neighborhood and for hours murder, rape and torture.  Then pull back with hundreds of enslaved Jews in tow.

What would you demand from the US forces?  

Would you really protest against genocide?

Do you remember the genocide of Waco?  How could you stand by and watch it again?  28 children were murdered.

And here we're talking about hundreds of murderers, living in a white supremacist community of thousands of supporters.  Hospitals, churches, schools!

Do you know how many innocent lives will be lost if the US moves against them?  How many women and children will die?

Can you imagine the protests across US campuses if that happens?

I suppose that you would demand that the White Supremacists should continue living their lives as usual, though they threaten to do it again ( and probably will)

Surveys show that 40% of young Americans support Hamas.

Not Palestinians.  Not peace.  

They support the murder, rape and torture of Jews.

That's not “criticism of Israel”.  That's antisemitism.

If you wonder what's driving me, its numbers like these, and the fear that in a decade or two this would be the face of America 

You believe anything Hamas says unreservedly.

You blame Israelis when Gazan rockets hit Palestinians instead of Israelis, because you believe Hamas.  And you don't care when the rockets hit Israelis, because your criticism is aimed only at Israel.

You don't care when Hamas turns hospitals, mosques, schools, and refugee centers into military bases.   You don't even care when Hamas uses hospitals to torture Gazans (see Amnesty report on the topic)

You don't care when they use those places to fire rockets at Israelis

If Hamas says Israel killed innocent doctors or journalists - you trust them. You don't care about pictures of those same innocent Gazans armed in military uniform. 

You don't care when Hamas murders Gazans who try to leave when the Israeli army warns them to do so.

You don't care when Hamas take over human aid and kill Gazans who want food.

You didn't even care a few days ago when they attacked Gazan children who used an Israeli border crossing to leave Gaza and get medical help.

You might think that it's pro-Palestinian, but it's really antisemitism.  

I don't hate Palestinians.  I'm sad for them.  

Because of people like you that encouraged them to develop a toxic antisemitic society - at least two generations have been brainwashed with the aim of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Jews.

I am very pessimistic about this changing, because people like you prefer to blame Israel and give the Palestinians hope for Israel's future destruction, instead of encouraging real peace.

Palestinian society today:

Overwhelmingly supports the October 7th massacre and think it's the greatest day of Palestinian history

Overwhelmingly supports Hamas (In case you wondered why the Palestinian Authority hasn't held elections for the past 18 years)

Overwhelmingly supports the destruction of Israel and its Jews (In case you wondered why no Palestinian leader in his right mind would ever accept a peace agreement with Israel that would end hostilities)

Names almost every mosque, school, hospital and square after heroic Jew murderers 

Celebrates and honors the murder of Jews

Teaches children to murder Jews

Gives sermons every Friday about murdering Jews

Broadcasts shows encouraging people to murder Jews

Pays people to attack and murder jews 

This is toxic antisemitism.

You worry that Israel is commiting genocide, but you don't care about the plans to carry out another October 7th.

In the areas of Jenin and Tulkarm especially.  In the past few months - Palestinians shot at Israeli villages, Palestinians set off explosives next to Israeli villages, Palestinians flew a drone into Israel, Palestinians invaded Israel.  And Israeli residents along the border say they can hear digging of tunnels at night.

It's really just a matter of time.

People like you think that if you force Israel to stop attacking Hamas, and if you give Palestinians a state of their own - that in itself would ensure that the toxically antisemitic Palestinian society would magically become a peaceful neighbor of Israel

That is not “criticism”.  That is way past being naive.   

You are risking the lives of millions of Jews.

What would you say when the inevitable happens?  “Sorry”?  

Or that Jews should have  gone to Poland? (I really wish I was making this up.  Since you only care about the right kind of antisemitism, you might not realize or care how many people believe that)

Israel was quite happy to delude itself until now, but got its wake-up call on October 7th.

I hope you will at some point.  Maybe you will, most probably you won't.

In any case, Israel will not wait for you.  My life and that of the millions of other Jews (and non-Jews) in Israel is too important.

And if/when American Jews are attacked, you can be sure your brothers in Israel will defend you.  No matter what the antisemites say, or what “criticism of Israel” they come up with.

(That's actually already the case.) 

[nonrussian]

Have you heard of a woman named Kobra Hassani? Kobra is a hardworking and talented businesswoman, journalist and activist for the rights of women and the poor in Afghanistan. After the US withdrew its troops, the residents found themselves defenseless against the Taliban and Kobra fled the country. She went to get another education in Ukraine. But even there Kobra found itself under fire and had to urgently evacuate. The carriers promised her that they would send her to Poland, but in the end they deceived her and sent her to Russia. Russian politicians call the banned terrorist organization Taliban "normal guys." The Taliban goes on visiting delegations to Moscow. Kobra had already spent two years in a Russian prison, where she complained of violence. Today, a Russian court sentenced an Afghan journalist and women's rights activist: deportation to Afghanistan, where she will face the death penalty. Journalists and women at high risk in Afghanistan. Kobra Hassani - both. The Taliban tortures and executes unwanted women, including gang rape. Her story is hardly covered in Russian media; Russia loves censorship. The Afghan media won’t write about her either. The world community has lost interest in Afghanistan; it is no longer fashionable. I don’t know how long is left before she is forced to be sent to the Taliban - hours or a couple more days. I ask you to make her story public. It's about life and death I beg you • Share her story with the world. On all your social networks. Share this news with online communities and bloggers you know. Organizations like Amnesty International. • You can tag international organizations and even politicians in your posts. • I understand how terrible this sounds, but her life could have been saved by exchanging her for Russian prisoners in foreign prisons. Perhaps the international community should at least discuss this decision? There will not be a second Kobra - it is unlikely that any more refugees will want to flee to Ukraine, this was a long time ago. And Russia is also avoided. There will not be a permanent exchange of hostages, this is one unique case. Just one of these, but human life is important! • Remember that we have very little time. I know everyone is overwhelmed with big news and it may sound a little overwhelming, but all it really takes now is to copy and paste a piece of text. This can help. • You are not obliged to fulfill all the points, publish these proposals - maybe others will do something. Maybe they will even create a petition for non-Russian politicians who could influence this incident. • It is within our power to at least cover this story. Kobra is a hardworking, smart and talented person with a big heart. She had no obligation to become an activist for the rights of women and the poor, but while living in Afghanistan, she chose to be their voice. Perhaps now someone can become her voice? Let's not let her die in the shadows of obscurity. Sorry if I ruined your mood. But I promise you will feel better if you do even a small thing for her.

P.S. Its no my text, its copypasta. But I didn’t find any news in English.

[liskantope]

I think part of the reason I tend to get so argumentative nowadays about "what your side proposes kills people" -type political talking points is that it seems that this is being used more and more frequently as a rhetorical bludgeon, mainly (though not entirely) from the Left. There's a lot of shutting down of arguments based on "but HUMAN LIVES", and it's begun to feel to me like a disturbing trend. For instance, a good bit of the rhetoric in favor of shutting down schools in 2020-2021 seemed to center on "here, look at my computation that the expected value of children's lives lost if we don't shut down schools is greater than zero; anyone who disagrees with us doesn't VALUE HUMAN LIVES", with the effect that a lot of us (including to some extent me) were blinded for a long time to the absolutely devastating effect such extensive school shutdowns (in some geographic areas) had on children and their whole families, an effect that is still scarring them today. I'm not saying anything about whether or how far those school shutdown policies went wrong, just that they had very substantial harmful effects that don't vanish relative to the VALUE OF HUMAN LIVES.

Then there's the now-everyday claim that the anti-trans culture warriors "ARE KILLING US [TRANS PEOPLE]", which is true under a particular interpretation of "killing" and tragically true to an extent pretty well beyond some vanishingly rare extreme cases but is also transparently being used to drown out most other aspects of the debates around trans issues. Much more disturbing still is the accusation I now semi-regularly see casually flung that conservatives "actively want us [trans or LGBT+ people in general] dead" (I think I've occasionally seen left-wing variations on this that aren't even about LGBT+ people). A couple of months ago I called it "stomach-turning" ("it" being both the content of the accusation itself and the fact that so many people in our cultural discourse have seen fit to use it; this of course was semi-willfully misinterpreted by someone as my saying that trans people turn my stomach), and I reiterate now that it's still completely turning my stomach. This example is different from others in some fundamental ways, some of which make me more sympathetic with why people feel driven to use it (and it's not being used to drown out completely unrelated issues, for instance, like the guns thing is), and the general rhetorical weapon of "the other side wants to kill us" deserves its own effortpost which I intend to write later this summer.

So anyway, yeah, I'm also getting a kind of short fuse around insinuations of "what they show kids in school won't kill them, but guns could, so that's the only issue involving schoolchildren that anyone should care about" that I now see daily.

Of course, invocations of "my cause is the one whose stakes directly involve life or death so it outranks everything else" isn't exclusive to the Left at all. The Right has been doing it for decades with abortion to shut down both the abortion debate and whatever unrelated debate they didn't want to have ("millions of babies are being MURDERED each year, while liberals obsess over [women's bodies] [or] [just about any totally unrelated issue which appears frivolous next to MURDER]"). I also vaguely remember something that sounded like this in the post-9/11 years ("we're the ones looking out for Americans who might be KILLED in the next terrorist attack, that has to be the only priority right now"). And there was that bizarre "death panels" accusation around 2010-2011 when Obamacare was being debated which I guess might also count.

Only loosely related, but I'm reminded of a moment in the very first vice presidential debate, between Bob Dole and Walter Mondale in 1976, where Dole invoked a computation of the number of deaths in wars the US engaged in under Democratic versus Republican presidents, and apparently he got a lot of blowback from how underhanded this rhetorical move came across.

[theculturedmarxist]

As with the South African case, according to court procedure the Israeli case was introduced on Friday by their “agent”, permanently accredited to the court, Tal Becker of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He opened with the standard formula “it is an honour to appear before you again on behalf of the state of Israel”, managing to imply purely through phrasing and tone of voice that the honour lay in representing Israel, not in appearing before the judges.

Becker opened by going straight to the Holocaust, saying that nobody knew more than Israel why the Genocide Convention existed. Six million Jewish people had been killed. The Convention was not to be used to cover the normal brutality of war.

The South African case aimed at the delegitimisation of the state of Israel, he said. On Oct. 7 Hamas had committed massacre, mutilation, rape and abduction. 1,200 had been killed and 5,500 maimed. He related several hideous individual atrocity stories and played a recording he stated to be a Hamas fighter boasting on WhatsApp to his parents about committing mass murder, rape and mutilation.

The only genocide in this case was being committed against Israel. Hamas continued to attack Israel, and for the court to take provisional measures would be to deny Israel the right to self-defence.

Provisional measures should rather be taken against South Africa and its attempt by legal means to further genocide by its relationship with Hamas. Gaza was not under occupation: Israel had left it with great potential to be a political and economic success. Instead Hamas had chosen to make it a terrorist base.

Hamas was embedded in the civilian population and therefore responsible for the civilian deaths. Hamas had tunnels under schools, hospitals, mosques and U.N. facilities and tunnel entrances within them. It commandeered medical vehicles for military use.

South Africa had talked of civilian buildings destroyed, but did not tell you they had been destroyed by Hamas booby traps and Hamas missile misfires.

The casualty figures South Africa gave were from Hamas sources and not reliable. They did not say how many were fighters? How many of the children were child soldiers? The application by South Africa was ill-founded and ill-motivated. It was a libel.

This certainly was a hardline and uncompromising start. The judges appeared to be paying very close attention when he opened with the Oct. 7 self-defence argument, but very definitely some of them started to fidget and become uncomfortable when he talked of Hamas operating from ambulances and U.N. facilities. In short, he went too far and I believe he lost his audience at that point.

Next up was Professor Malcolm Shaw KC. Shaw is regarded as an authority on the procedure of international law and is editor of the standard tome on the subject. This is an interesting facet of the legal profession, where standard reference books on particular topics are regularly updated to include key extracts from recent judges, and passages added or amended to explain the impact of these judgments. Being an editor in this field provides a route to prominence for the plodding and pedantic.

I had come across Shaw in his capacity as a co-founder of the Centre for Human Rights at Essex University. I had given a couple of talks there some twenty years ago on the attacks on human rights of the “War on Terror” and my own whistleblower experience over torture and extraordinary rendition. For an alleged human rights expert, Shaw seemed extraordinarily prone to support the national security interests of the state over individual liberty.

I do not pretend I gave it a great deal of thought. I did not know at that time of Shaw’s commitment as an extreme Zionist and in particular his long term interest in suppressing the rights of the Palestinian people.

After 139 states have recognised Palestine as a state, Shaw led for Israel the legal opposition to Palestine’s membership of international institutions, including the International Criminal Court. Shaw’s rather uninspired reliance on the Montevideo Convention of 1933 is hardly a legal tour de force, and it didn’t work.

Every criminal deserves a defence, and nobody should hold it against a barrister that they defend a murderer or rapist, as it is important that guilt or innocence is tested by a court. But I think it is fair to state that defence lawyers do not in general defend those accused of murder because they agree with murder and want a murderer to go on murdering.

That however is the case here: Malcolm Shaw speaks for Israel because he actually wants Israel to be able to continue killing Palestinian women and children to improve the security of Israel, in his view.

That is the difference between this and other cases, including at the ICJ. Generally the lead lawyers would happily swap sides, if the other side had hired them first. But this is entirely different.

Here the lawyers (with the possible exception of Christopher Straker KC, an other attorney who represented Israel on Friday) believe profoundly in the case they are supporting and would never appear for the other side. That is just one more way that this is such an extraordinary case, with so much drama and such vital consequences, not least for the future of international law.

For the reason I have just explained, Shaw’s role here is not that of a simple barrister plying his trade. His attempt to extend the killing should see him viewed as a pariah by decent people everywhere, for the rest of his doubtless highly-paid existence.

Shaw opened up by saying that the South African case continually spoke of context. They talked of the 75 years of the existence of the state of Israel. Why stop there? Why not go back to the Balfour Declaration or the British Mandate over Palestine?

No, the context of these events was the massacre of Oct. 7, and Israel’s subsequent right of self-defence. He produced and read a long quote from mid-October by European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen, stating that Israel had suffered a terrorist atrocity and had the right of self-defence.

The truth is that this is not genocide but armed conflict, which state has existed since Oct. 7, he said. That was brutal, and urban warfare always involved terrible civilian casualties, but it was not genocide.

He then turned to the question of genocide. He argued that South Africa could not bring this case and the ICJ had no jurisdiction, because there was no dispute between Israel and South Africa on which the ICJ could rule, at the time the case was filed.

South Africa had communicated its views to Israel, but Israel had given no substantial reply. Therefore a dispute did not yet exist at time of filing. A dispute must involve interaction between parties and the argument had been on one side only.

This very much interested the judges. As I noted on day one, this got them more active than anything else when Professor John Dugard addressed the same point for South Africa. As I reported:

“The judges particularly enjoyed Dugard’s points, enthusiastically rustling through documents and underlining things. Dealing with thousands of dead children was a bit difficult for them, but give them a nice jurisdictional point and they were in their element.”

They were even more excited when Shaw tackled the same point. This gave them a way out! The case could be technically invalid, and then they would neither have to upset the major Western powers nor make fools of themselves by pretending that a genocide the whole world had seen was not happening. For a while, they looked visibly relieved.

Shaw should have given up while he was ahead, but he ploughed on for an hour, with some relief when he continually muddled his notes. A senior KC with zero ability to extemporise and recover was an interesting sight, as he kept stopping and shuffling paper.

Shaw argued that the bar for judging whether South Africa had a prima facie case must be significantly higher because of the high military and political cost to Israel if the court adopted provisional measures.

It was also necessary to show genocidal intent even at this stage. Otherwise the genocide was a “car without an engine”. If any illegal actions had taken place within Israel’s carefully targeted military action, Israel’s own military courts would investigate and act on them.

Random Israeli ministers and officials making emotional statements was not important. Official policy to protect civilians would be found in the minutes of the Israeli war cabinet and national security council. Israel’s strenuous attempts to move civilians out of harm’s way was an accepted measure in international human law and should not be viewed as mass displacement.

It was South Africa which was guilty of complicity in genocide in cooperation with Hamas. South Africa’s allegations against Israel “verge on the outrageous”.

Israel’s next lawyer was a lady called Galit Raguan from the Israeli Ministry of Justice. She said the reality on the ground was that Israel had done everything possible to minimise civilian deaths and to aid humanitarian relief. Urban warfare always resulted in civilian deaths. It was Hamas who were responsible for destruction of buildings and infrastructure.

There was overwhelming evidence of Hamas’ military use of hospitals. In every single hospital in Gaza the IDF had evidence of military use by Hamas. Mass evacuation of civilians was a humanitarian and legal measure. Israel had supplied food, water and medicine into Gaza but supplies had come under Hamas fire. Hamas steals the aid for its fighters.

Next up was lawyer Omri Sender. He stated that more food trucks per day now entered Gaza than before Oct. 7. The number had increased from 70 food trucks to 109 food trucks per day. Fuel, gas and electricity were all being supplied and Israel had repaired the sewage systems.

At this stage Israel had again lost the judges. One or two were looking at this man in a highly quizzical manner. A couple had definitely fallen asleep – there are only so many lies you can absorb, I suppose. Nobody was making notes about this guff.

The judges may find a way not to condemn Israel, but could not be expected to go along with this extraordinary nonsense. Sender continued that the scope and intensity of the fighting was now decreasing as the operation entered a new phase.

Perhaps noting that nobody believed him, Sender stated that the court could not institute provisional measures but rather was obliged to accept the word of Israel on its good intentions because of the Law of the Unilateral Declarations of States.

Now I have to confess that was a bit of international law I did not know existed. But it does, specifically in relation to ICJ proceedings. On first reading, it makes a unilateral declaration of intent to the ICJ binding on the state that makes it.

I cannot see that it forces the ICJ to accept it as sufficient or to believe in its sincerity. It seems rather a reach, and I wondered if Israel was running out of things to say.

That appeared to be true, because the next speaker, Christopher Straker, now took the floor and just ran through all the same Hamas stuff yet again, only with added theatrical indignation. Straker is the lawyer I suspect would happily have appeared for either side, because he was plainly just acting anyway. And not very well.

Straker said that it was astounding this case could be brought. It was intended to stop Israel from defending itself while Israel would still be subject to Hamas attacks. Hamas has said it will continue attacks.

If you look at the operation as a whole including relief efforts, it was plain there was no genocidal intent. Israel was in incredible danger. The proposed provisional measures were out of proportion to their effect.

Can you imagine if in the Second World War, a court had ordered the Allies to stop fighting because of civilian deaths, and allowed the Axis powers to keep on killing?

The final speaker was Gilad Noam, Israel’s deputy attorney-general. He said that the bulk of the proposed provisional measures should be refused because they exposed Israel to further Hamas attack. Three more should be refused because they referred to Palestine outside Gaza.

There was no genocidal intent in Israel. Ministerial and official statements made in the heat of the moment were rather examples of the tradition of democracy and freedom of speech. Prosecutions for incitement to genocide were under consideration.

The court must not conflate genocide and self-defence. The South African case devalues genocide and encourages terrorism. The Holocaust illustrated why Israel was always under existential threat. It was Hamas who were committing genocide.

And that was it. Israel had in the end not been allowed to show its contentious atrocity video, and it felt like their presentation had become repetitive and was padded to fill the time.

It is important to realise this. Israel is hoping to win on their procedural points about existence of dispute, unilateral assurances and jurisdiction. The obvious nonsense they spoke about the damage to homes and infrastructure being caused by Hamas, trucks entering Gaza and casualty figures, was not serious. They did not expect the judges to believe any of this. The procedural points were for the court. The rest was mass propaganda for the media.

In the U.K., the BBC and Sky both ran almost all the Israeli case live, having not run any of the South African case live. I believe something similar was true in the USA, Australia and Germany too.

While the court was in session, Germany has announced it will intervene in the substantial case to support Israel. They argue explicitly that, as the world’s greatest perpetrator of genocide, they are uniquely placed to judge. It is in effect a copyright claim. They are protecting Germany’s intellectual property in the art of genocide. Perhaps they might in future license genocide, or allow Israel to continue genocide on a franchise basis.

I am sure the judges want to get out of this and they may go for the procedural points. But there is a real problem with Israel’s “no dispute” argument. If accepted, it would mean that a country committing genocide can simply not reply to a challenge, and then legal action will not be possible because no reply means “no dispute”. I hope that absurdity is obvious to the judges. But they may of course wish not to notice it…

What do I think will happen? Some sort of “compromise”. The judges will issue provisional measures different to South Africa’s request, asking Israel to continue to take measures to protect the civilian population, or some such guff. Doubtless the State Department have drafted something like this for the president of the court, the American Joan Donoghue already.

I hope I am wrong. I would hate to give up on international law. One thing I do know for certain. These two days in The Hague were absolutely crucial for deciding if there is any meaning left in notions of international law and human rights.

I still believe action by the court could cause the U.S. and U.K. to back off and provide some measure of relief. For now, let us all pray or wish, each in our way, for the children of Gaza.

Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to 2010. His coverage is entirely dependent on reader support. Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.

[the-real-sasuke-uchiha]

Sasuke, I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now. I used to think analyzing people’s reactions to the Uchiha genocide was fascinating. I would say to myself “wow, people treat this like it was some kind of ‘both sides were wrong’ type of thing but I’m sure if it was happening in front of them, they would think differently.” WELL. Now a genocide is happening in front of us and people are REACTING THE SAME WAY. “Oh it’s not a genocide, you are being dramatic.” “They deserved it because they’re all evil.” “Is**** has a right to defend itself against terrorists!” Holy moly… Literally word for word. I feel so naive to have believed in humanity as much as i did.

I feel you, my friend. I never talk about these things because I think it might be upsetting if an anime blog starts talking about real life genocides in between joke posts and memes. I also don't like to parallel fictional and real life crimes for fear that people will find it frivolous and offensive. So please, everyone reading this, know that this is not by any means my intention, and that I am not trying to use real life massacres to justify my take in this fandom or anything, I am just answering a friend here.

I don't know what to say, really, I lost all hope in humanity long ago too. But, it baffles me that I keep seeing people around me repeating the bullshit you describe. And it baffles me mostly because I see this coming too from good people that have nothing to win out of this infamy. Now you are thinking that "good people" would never find excuses to turn a blind eye to a genocide, but I can ensure you they are no monsters, they really aren't. They are not indifferent to human suffering, I saw them committed with other causes, I know they wouldn't hurt a fly, so what is wrong with them?

I am no psychologist so, forgive me if I say something dumb. But I think the thing is, reality is just to damn painful. You just can't accept it like that. A genocide, complete and atrocious extermination of a whole group of people, just because? Just based on hate and lies? Just to steal their land? And you are comfortable at your home, safe just out of sheer luck, because you were born in the right moment in the right place. Two very agonizing realities arise when you become aware of this. The first one is that you, citizen of the so-called "free world", convinced during your whole life that you have the voice and the power in your very democratic country, are practically impotent; unable to do anything or to help anyone, unable to even get your government to officially condemn the genocide, let alone to get them to stop sending weapons to the perpetrator. The second one is that you are only safe until your annihilation can be of purpose to the geopolitical interests of some dominant global power.

So, I believe blaming the victim is a defence mechanism to help us convince ourselves that bad things happen for a reason and that we could never be subjected to such cruelty. Similar to when we blame poor starving people for their bad choices, or when we blame women for being raped because, you know, they were dressed like that, they drank or whatever. We want to believe that we know better, that we are safe because we are clever and not because we are lucky, because that would mean our luck could end one day and we could be susceptible to monstrosities any time. And I guess that is unbearable.

And then, of course, we have the media bringing us those excuses. Thoroughly. Picturing the victims as terrorists for defending themselves and the aggressor as a victim with legit reasons to commit a genocide. It is extremely well-thought and intentional, from the language they use to the things that they decide to tell or not. They know very well how to manipulate people and how to redirect their feelings and empathy to fit the goals and interests of the very rich people behind mass media. Many people speak only one language, never left their homes, never met a foreigner. They have access only to mainstream tv channels and newspapers, and they will never believe anything different from what they consider "official". And you would expect something more from educated people, but even the school curriculum is designed to shape your mind in a particular way that fits the political interests of your nation.

And going back to fiction, of course, I understand that people have a right to enjoy whatever they want and like any character they want and this is no reason to judge their morality. But, indeed, like you, I also find parallels between the excuses people give to overlook or justify fictional massacres and the real ones. I guess fiction mirrors reality and this is why, sometimes, we live this fandom a bit to viscerally. Because when you see someone justifying a fictional genocide you imagine them doing the same in reality and, well. As you say, we don't really need to imagine that at all, it is happening.

[beardedmrbean]

Something unprecedented is happening this weekend in Paris, brought about by the war between Israel and Hamas and its spill-over in Europe.

For the first time ever, a major demonstration being attended by representatives of the major political parties includes the far right - but not the far left.

On Sunday afternoon thousands of people heeded a call from the Speakers of the two houses of parliament to show their support for French "Republican" values and their rejection of antisemitism - this in the face of a steep rise in antisemitic actions since 7 October.

Among the first to announce their presence were Marine Le Pen, three-time presidential candidate for the National Rally (formerly the National Front), and the party's young president, Jordan Bardella.

Almost simultaneously came a rejoinder from their counterpart on the far left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, irascible leader of France Unbowed (LFI). His party would not be attending, he tweeted, because the march was a "rendezvous for unconditional supporters of the massacre [of Gazans]".

It is hard to overestimate the symbolic significance of this switch-over.

For decades French politics erected a bulwark against the far right, whose views - not least on Jews - were deemed "anti-Republican". The old National Front under Marine's father Jean-Marie Le Pen was seen as beyond the pale, and it was shunned.

The far left meanwhile - the Communists, the Trotskyists and the new formations like Mr Mélenchon's LFI - were certainly attacked for their views, but they were never excluded. They were part of the broad political family, in a way that the Le Pen franchise clearly wasn't.

A few years ago, for a far-left party not to have been part of a march against antisemitism would have been unthinkable. For a far-right party to have been there instead would have been unconscionable.

Such is the shake-up in the political order, which of course long predates the Gaza war and is mirrored in varying ways across other European countries.

Macron condemns rising antisemitism and Israeli bombing of civilians

Today's far right, rebranded "hard right" or "national right" has - in France at least - forgotten its obsession with Jews and its claims of a "Jewish lobby". Its primary focus now is the three I's - immigration, insecurity and Islamism - issues on which it finds common cause with many Jews.

Meanwhile the far left in France, analysing Gaza through the anti-colonial lens, sees an oppressed people hammered by a superpower proxy and shouts "Solidarity!" Having lost the support of the old working class, many of whom vote National Rally, it has a new natural base among politicised immigrants.

Thus we arrive at the novel situation where a party whose founder once called the Holocaust a "detail of history" openly embraces the cause of French Jews; and at the other end of the spectrum, a party built on ideas of human rights and equality stands accused of antisemitism for failing to call Hamas "terrorist".

Maybe this should all be nuanced. After all, many people still think that at heart the far right, by virtue of its French-first ethos, cannot help but be anti-Jewish. They note that Jordan Bardella this week refused to explicitly call Jean-Marie Le Pen antisemitic - a faux-pas to which enemies of the National Rally (RN) have reacted with glee.

And on the far left there are signs of division around Jean-Luc Mélenchon, whose prickly personality and autocratic methods are driving some colleagues to exasperation. This week one senior lieutenant, Raquel Garrido, was given a four-month suspension as party spokeswoman for challenging the leader's line - not least on Hamas.

But the fundamental point remains: the RN under Marine Le Pen is manoeuvring itself very successfully into the mainstream, while Mr Mélenchon's LFI is manoeuvring itself out.

Opinion polls bear it out: according to IFOP last week, Marine Le Pen would trounce the opposition in the first round of a presidential election today, with up to 33% of the vote. Mr Mélenchon, at 22% in the 2022 election, is down to 14%.

This week one of the historic figures in the fight against antisemitism in France gave his views on these ironies of history and politics.

Serge Klarsfeld and his wife Beate helped bring Nazi war criminals to justice, and documented the deportations and deaths of 80,000 Jews from France exterminated in the Holocaust.

Speaking to Le Figaro newspaper, Mr Klarsfeld, now 88, said: "For me the DNA of the far right is antisemitism. So when I see a big party of the far right abandon antisemitism and negationism and move towards our Republican values, naturally I rejoice."

"The far left for its part has always had its own antisemitic tradition. So just as I am relieved to see the RN… take a stand for Jews, so I am sad to see the far left abandon its actions to combat antisemitism."

[jaesrri]

So idk if anyone cares much, but I just gotta throw this out there-

DND Tumblr, send us some luck. I beg of you.

We open session tomorrow with initiative rolls and the facts are these:

We are level 8

Our playgroup is insane-we have a fully homebrew world, run Valda's Spire of Secrets from Mage Hand Press alongside most official 5e content and any other shiny bits that suit us

No really we're nuts. We have 1.6 conlangs (one full, a dialect thereof, and a few extra phrases) This campaign has already spawned a prequel novel, two prequel one-shots, thousands of words of prequel and concurrent text roleplay, an in-universe romance novella, and at least the threat of a prequel detective fiction-of-some-length. Plus assorted art, and an intro and an outro vid, and many, many playlists

The party consists of:

a 13 year old half drow necromancer who isn't exactly an orphan. Raised by the third of her mom's poly triad (terrorist cell leader, jealous AF, sus). Recently chosen as high priestess of Drow goddess of Death we.... May have released/awakened.

A playboy human guardsman (short king, twink, disaster bi) witch/fighter with two souls and royal blood. Also a very good loving mom and stepdad and lotsa excellent (vulnerable) siblings. Recently discovered blood dad and niece rather more questionable

A big (very strong, bit fat, busty) human Magani (oppressed desert culture- the conlang is theirs) fighter/cleric (battle master/twilight) and reluctant Prophet. Her boyfriend (secretly husband (secret wedding 4 in-game days ago)) is Magani by blood but not culture and also a state official (now rogue but not yet officially caught) ((Me!!!))

A Magani amethyst dragonborn aberrant mind sorcerer with a taste for gossip and a successful shop (girlfriend is half-orc craftsman smith- super sweet n talented, shit at finances). Incapable of minding her own buisness

Fairy mad bomber alchemist with a history as an expert fireworks maker and family back home in another country. Here investigating/troubleshooting fuckery in the Dreaming (existential threat to our world). In over their head (we all are)

Human warmage rebel/spy with serious history and beef with the imperial establishment. Recently reunited after 10 years with her sister. Things are rather tense, since said sister is now a warlock of a powerful member of the government (not quite as bad as it sounds, but very awkward)

We have 2 allied NPCs for this encounter, our fighter/cleric's boyfriend (husband), an eloquence bard (9th, poss 10th lvl), and one of the two high government officials that's been trying to make nice with us (sus, but we're pretty desperate) (sister's patron) who is a 20th level Wizard

Our opposition:

one equivalent government official who is absolutely opposed to everything we care about, is genocidal (Magani are probably next), and may infact be some sort of planar horror stuck here for reasons not yet understood. Also a slimy bastard.

And his pet horror who is strongly theorized to be our necromancer's dad, transformed and magically leashed. TBD if there's any of him left

Also of interest

None of us are full up on spells, including our npcs

Being caught doing magic by anyone but our friendly govt guy would be bad

I, (fighter/cleric) gave our witch/fighter my steel sword to hold onto, for I am in possession of the hilt of my ancestor's Thoughtblade which was broken in his last stand. I have learned that in order to reforge I I must simply (not easy) believe. So if I don't believe sufficiently I have no weapon

My steel sword is the only weapon our witch/fighter has, having given his rapier to his younger brother on parting and accidentally left his whip hanging in the coat-closet of the burlesque club we just left.

Our warmage is low-key actively plotting to throw the govt wizard NPC to the creature

Once again, the creature might be our teen necromancer's long lost dad

We have no idea what the super villain govt guy is packing. Wizard? Sorcerer? Horrible abomination? We just don't know

Things we (meta) know

The Dm has said the creature's statblock is unfair

That we should remember running away is an option

That the 20th lvl Wizard would find this challenging

There are five battle maps prepared "In case you do the smart thing and run"

"If you guys play this smart, you may all live to escape. If you guys are very smart, you may even defeat it. If you guys run in like a bunch of idiots, you *are* going to lose PCs. Maybe even permadeath, or very hard to cure death at least."

My character's whole deal is protecting people

We are *not* smart

Several of us are very adverse to allowing collateral damage. Others don't care much

This is a big city. Most of us don't know it well.

We should remember running away is an option

Thank you and I'll update on the fallout after. Hopefully without a blank character sheet in hand.

[eretzyisrael]

When We Said “Never Again,” We Meant It

My heart is breaking. What I surmised yesterday, but was afraid to write has turned out to be true. I have never wanted to be wrong more than I do this morning. But I can’t pretend that “it will be OK,” as Israelis like to say.

The IDF has been ready for some time to begin the operation to eliminate Hamas from Gaza. The plans were made long ago, and updated regularly. Hundreds of thousands of reservists have left their jobs and families, at great expense to the government. The tanks are poised near the border. Why aren’t they moving?

The reason is that they have been ordered not to by the Americans. Whether or not they planned it, Hamas struck gold when some twelve Americans and ten British subjects were included among the roughly 200 hostages that were carried back to Gaza by the terrorists. Now negotiations are taking place, brokered by the despicable Qatari regime, to obtain their release. The demonic Hamas have released two American women (for what in return?) to prove that a deal is possible.

I’m not surprised and I’m not criticizing the US president and British PM for trying to protect their people. That is the top job of a government – a job, incidentally, that ours has been failing to do for some time. But that’s another story.

Now our government has a different job. This is our last chance, after the disasters of Oslo, the withdrawal from Gaza, the Second Lebanon War, the Shalit trade, the ongoing loss of Area C, and countless other losses and humiliations, to end our slide to destruction. If Hamas is not ripped out of Gaza by its roots, the immediate result will be the loss of the northern and southern parts of our country (who would live there?) and the evaporation of any honor and deterrence that the State of Israel still has. And then there will be no peace agreement with Saudi Arabia, no hope of preventing a nuclear Iran, and no possibility of obtaining sovereignty in the strategic hill country and the Jordan Valley. We are suffering the death by a thousand cuts, and today the knife is poised over a vital artery. We are at the point of no return.

Israel today has no choice but to invade Gaza and wipe out every trace of the poison that poured out of it two weeks ago today. Otherwise, we are finished here. And if we are finished, the Jewish people are finished too, perhaps for another 2000 years or perhaps forever.

The situation of the hostages, American, British, and Israeli, is horrific. You may ask: would I say the same thing if my children were among them? Of course not, because I am only human. But that doesn’t make me wrong.

Maybe there is some magic by which the IDF can effect an Entebbe-like rescue. Who knows? I’m sure the IDF is trying mightily right now to locate them. If we invade now we may lose some or all of them, and if there is hope of rescue, then perhaps we can delay a few days longer. Of course, we have already lost 1400. And every day the international pressure not to invade, thanks to the media’s embrace of Hamas lies about its suffering civilians, is growing, along with the vicious antisemitism that our humiliation feeds.

My heart is breaking. But I say to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, and the Chief of Staff: do it. Give the order to start the tanks, to open fire with the artillery, to bomb every military target (even if it is called a “school” or a “hospital” or if it is the property of the UN). Do not allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, force Egypt to open the Rafah crossing, and let the world community express its love for the Gazan civilians there, in the northern Sinai. Make the campaign as short as possible and as brutal as necessary.

Show the world: when we said “never again,” we meant it.

[fakegingerrights]

Hold Your Tongue

[sequel to Kiss and Tell, can be read as a stand alone. Fives x Smuggler!reader, Enemies and lovers. No real warnings needed, just some fluff and hurt/comfort.]

You were flopped on the cheap bed on the seedy inn you had managed to find on the edge of the small town on Nar Shada. Fresh bandages wrapped your shoulder, a near miss with a blaster bolt.

You tensed at the knock at the door, counting out the rhythm that meant your cyare was home.

“It’s unlocked.” You called, pushing yourself up off the bed with a wince. Fives pushed the door open, making sure to lock it behind him.

“For a smuggler, you’re awfully bad at personal security.” He chided softly. There’s a hoarseness in his voice that instantly had you on edge. He looked even worse than he had a few weeks ago, the poor lighting of your rented room highlighting the dark circles and stubble. Carbon scoring dusted the nooks and crannies of his armor, like he had tried to hurriedly scrub it and missed half the grime.

“You’ve been in a firefight.” You noted, coming up to pull him into a hug. “Hope it wasn’t you shooting at me earlier.”

“No. Would’ve made sure to get you properly if I was, Troublemaker.” He huffed, relaxing into your touch.

“Nah, you like me alive too much to do that.” You grinned lazily, fiddling with the catch of his breastplate before undoing it. Fives stood stock still while you took off each and every plate, carefully turning it over and stacking it neatly by the door. His helmet, which had been tucked under his arm, was the last to go.

“Do I get to unwrap you too, Mesh’la?” He asked, tugging at your jacket. You didn’t have the same amount of pieces in your outer layer, but he took the same time and care with your jacket, overshirt, utility belt and shoes until you were just in the tank top and shorts you wore under your jumpsuit.

“Shower now or later.” You asked, pulling him back into an embrace. Fives made a small wounded noise in the back of his throat.

“Later. Need you.”

You nodded in understanding, pulling him back to the bed, still lightyears better than a military bunk despite it’s cheapness.

Fives groaned softly as he sank into the lumpy mattress, reaching for you and pulling you close to tangle his legs with yours and set you up on his chest, unable to relax until your weight had fully settled down on him.

Kisses were traded, heartbreakingly soft as you two readjusted to each other’s presence. Fingertips trace every swell and dip, every new knotted line of scar tissue.

You thread your fingers through his hair, pulling yourself up for another kiss before resting your forehead against his, breathing the same air and reminding the anxious knot that always settled in your stomach that he was alive. He was here. Maybe not safe, maybe never safe, but here all the same.

“Lysatra?” He whispered after both an eternity and a single second. “You were going out there?”

“Mhm…” you hum softly. “They’ve been in a civil war for the last who knows how long. And there are rumors… a new species human-adjacent that waits on the edge of the galaxy.”

“Waits for what?” Fives murmures, dipping his head to press a kiss to your collarbone.

“Nobody knows. The chiss are little more than legends, mostly.” You sigh, tipping your head for better access. “And you? Where have you been?”

“Classified.”

“Fives…” You squeeze him softly.

“I know. I know. We lost our commander. Somebody framed her for a terrorist act and she left the jedi. Left all of us.” There’s a note of bitter acceptance in his voice.

“Tano?” You ask, trying to remember the name of the togruta Fives had described. He grunted an affirmation.

“It was a nightmare, trying to track down the person who fought for us so many times.” He sighed, mouthing at the skin beneath your jaw and biting softly, leaving a mark. A reminder that would last days after he was gone.

Your hands tightened in his hair, pulling his head up to look at you. Rough stubble scrapped your lips and cheeks as you kissed him, hard and fast as you can, teeth clicking together in your fervor to know, to ingrain every part of him into your mind. From the taste of stale caf and dry rations on his tongue to the smell of sweat and ozone that clung to him to the feel of his pulse under your skin.

“Mesh’la.” The word is mumbled against your lips, a plea and a prayer all the same.

“Fives.” You answer right back, pulling away after a moment before it became a sob. He let you distance yourself for a moment, hands coming up to trace your hips and thighs, fingers digging into perpetually sore muscle from sleeping in a pilot’s seat.

“We’ll both feel better after a hot water shower and you shave.” You say after taking a few deep breaths. Fives just watches you, golden eyes glittering in the dull light before he nods.

“You what to join me?” He asks into the space between you two. You give him a lopsided smile.

“Depends, what do you need from me tonight?” You ask, sliding off of him and reaching down with your good arm to haul him up. His lips thin, the haunted look flitting through his eyes again.

“A good night’s sleep.” He whispered.

“Nightmares?” You ask, reaching up to cup the side of his face and tilt his chin up to look at you. He closes his eyes and leans into your touch.

“They’re not as bad with you here.” Fives admits. You kiss his forehead.

“Go get in the shower, my love. I’ll take the next one.”

He slips reluctantly from your hold, leaving you with your thoughts as he takes advantage of a real water shower. When he emerges, skin reddened from the heat and freshly shaven, a towel around his waist, you grin. Fives winks at you, fidgeting with the top of his towel?

“Like what you see? I am Kamino’s finest after all.”

You can’t help a laugh at his antics.

“I won’t argue that. Get dressed, or at least put a robe on while I wash our clothes.” You said, collecting his blacks and wrapping yourself in a towel before removing your own undersuit and dumping them in the small washunit under the reheater in the corner of the room.

You showered fast, mindful of your injuries before stepping out in one of the inn’s provided robes.

Fives was in the bottom half of his blacks when you reemerged.

“Wash is done.”

You nodded, slipping on your underclothes and shorts before crawling onto the bed next to Fives, who instantly pulled you in and snuggled into you, kissing the back of your neck.

Skin hunger, he had called it once. After days or even weeks of being in their armor clones craved skin to skin contact like a choking man does air.

You let him take what he needs, enjoying the proximity.

“You still owe me… intel…” His sleepy voice rumbled from behind you.

“Datachip. I left it with your armor.” You replied. Fives only gave a sleepy hum in response, pulling you in close. You chuckle slightly, relaxing into him.

“Good night, ner’cyare.” You whisper.

[weirdcat1213]

another day another week ANOTHER FUCKING VOLUME-

okok lets relax

vol 11 thoughts

chap 1:

you know i barely remember this so it should be fun :D

-CHAPEL IDC IF THIS A FLASHBACK BUT THE TF OUT OF MY HOUSE

-"all he did was to shoot you in the spine" lmao elendira calling legato a baby is my favorite thing

-you know what girlie youre so right- oh a joke? damn it

-ily zazie, youre so cool

-VASH SLEEPING IN THE CAR :D

-oh hey brad is here

-ah NO NOT THE AFTERMATH MOMENTS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

-brad, brad, honey....he knows

-why is my poor baby apologizing :c

-i mean brad's fears are valid and all but HE DOESNT KNOW AND WE KNOW AND VASH KNOWS AND ITS ALL JUST REALLY SAD

-GIVE MY MAN A BREAK LMAO XD

-also i can relate to livio here cuz rn my environment is too trusting and im so paranoid about security like yeah vash, i would never sleep in the back of a car of someone whom i just met you dumbass-

-shut up literally shut up

-fair

-Ion Blaster TM time :3

-final phase you say-

-oh....oh no. vash, this is gonna be one of those moments where you sigh and curse knives for being kinda right

-oh he angy xd

-OHH RIGHT YEAH

-yeap...they are fucked atm

-OMG ITS THEM THEYRE COMING YIPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY :D

chap 2

-THEYRE ALMOST HEREEEEE

-catch me being that guy when the end comes (just a dude in a coat with a hat playing music, thats gonna be me)

-oh god no, the worst and most boring thing you could do is to label knives as a terrorist. the guy is so much more and that word just doesnt fit him

-yes thank you! no time for nonsense

-THERE SHE IS HEY GIRLLLLL ITS BEEN SO LONG, TOO LONG, YOU LOOK SO PRETTY :3

-MILLY MY BELOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED

-when was the last time we saw them? 2 volumes ago?

-"i would never would have imagined this. that the world could change so fast" and that goes on the list of "timeless trigun things" or TTT for short

-:c

-wait so...transphobe guy? get yeeted

-oh...oh i didnt remember...oh i will cry

-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the reunioooooooooon

-look at their fucking faces, they missed each other so much

-tbh if i met the most jesus-allegory guy ever, then lost trail of where or how he was for 2 volumes of a manga ,to find him later in the middle of a silly fight i would also cry

-that scene with the pieces of earth announcement makes me kinda sad, no one will come for us

-geesus christ

-ohhh kinda pretty tho, looks like a phoenix

chap 3:

-"its all happening so fast" yeah sorry dude, its a trigun tradition

-HE LOOKS SO HAPPY, HIS DUTY (according to him) OF PROTECTING THE PEOPLE IS ALMOST DONE

-"do you want me to come along?" he would be the best person to go to public places when you are too anxious to talk to strangers

- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DONT ASK PLS NO

-livio honey what was the idea here "oh you guys seem like you liked him. i actually killed him. well not me but also me. im sorry"

-milly my girl is cursed to be the 1st and og wolfwood stan in any version. we feel your pain girl

-LMAO THE NOTE ABOUT ZAZIE XD

-AWWWWWWWWWWWWW :3 A BAG OF LITTLE THINGSSS

-NOT VASH CARRYING FIGURINES AROUND, HES LIKE ME FR FR WITH MY KEYCHAINS

-also ofc he has rare figurines, the man has had enough time to look for it lmao

-ok but imagine if vash actually had lost the coins xd

-the pressure and guilt livio must feel rn. his brother died trying to protect him and he has the official Vash Thinks Youre Cool stamp. he has to change cuz if he doesnt he would throw all of that away and really stop being human

-you did good brad

-"must be lonely" im eating my own arm

-oh im really crying over this, ok, fun

-i also dont know what to do vash the stampede but im begging you to ASK FOR HELP YOU MFFFFFFFFFF

-AH SHIT ZAZIE NO

-AH FUCK ITS HIM

chap 4:

-july 20th? ah great, july 20th-21st is cursed here too

-rad as hell as always

-huh, i expected knives to just yeet them on sight

-i would say him and humans are pretty much alike but ok, sure,hm

-i love her being suspicious of legato 1st xd

-i wonder how can this go wrong, seems like a solid plan

-oh right...him

-YEAH GO GET HIM >:3

-oh...oh thats so cool. like his body doesnt work...but he controls it...but not in the same way a human would...wow

-OH BEAUTIFUL EYE HOLY SHIT THATS BEAUTIFUL

-GATE CONSUMING STUFF YOU SAY.....HMMMMM I WONDER WHERE I SAW THE SAME TRIGUN CONCEPT-

(side note: "you still dont know how to control your gate" SO THATS HOW IT LOOKS WHEN YOU CONTROL IT? IT ONLY CONSUMES/CREATE WHAT YOU WANT?? ORANGEEE)

-MAGIC BULLETSSSSSS

-LMAO THE HOLE XD

-vash you cant say shit about silly haircuts im sorry

-also "new hair new outlook"...........i will curl myself into the moon

-they forgor

-who are you

-also ngl i never got the idea of what the coins did so lets find out

chap 5:

-SHES FUCKING HERE REJOICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

-wait wdym neural blocking programs

-LMAO XD

-LIVIO IS SO SCARED AND WITH REASON

-just the two of us :3

-i love his game face and then its just "ugh i cant do this" xd

-"fight vash the stampede fight" me cheering vash on in stampede

-vash i love you but you cant call my wife a bitch, thats not polite

-oh livio, oh i didnt get to appreciate you too much on my 1st read but come here man, come here. youre doing great

-they have officially trauma bonded :3 (ik thats a terrible oversimplification but leave me alone)

-"is it possible for something created by humans to completely break away from their creators?" yes next question

-OH NO IS THIS THE VOLUME WITH *THAT SCENE*?

-"you really have become a crybaby" and im glad cuz she was always so serious with her job and all, now she can express her feelings more

-STOPPPP THIS ALWAYS GETS ME CUZ AHHHHHH STOP

-AH NAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH :C

-...........and thats story is technically stampede but anyway jajajajaja :D

-the prettiest eyes

-FUNNY ENOUGH HE DOES LOOK LIKE A BUG

-OH ITS TIME ITS FUCKING TIME HOLY SHIT

chap 6:

-the title :c

-liviooooooo :c

-HEY! my boi can still kick your ass >:[

-DONT YOU EVEN *DARE*

-just leave him out of this pls

-i love that he still considers himself human <3 i want to think wolfwood taught him that indirectly

-FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

-I MEAN YES YOURE RIGHT BUT CAN YOU NOT???

-huh, the silhouette kinda looks like wolfwo- *gunshot*

-i love knowing exacty what livio is thinking rn

-aww :3

-liviooooooooooo :c

-his cowboy era is about to start im so proud of him :')

[forestshadow-wolf]

Blossoms of Love (Chapter 12)

Overtime

Pairing: soap/Ghost

Tags: Hurt/comfort, angst, hanahaki

Ao3 link || Chapter 1 || Chapter 11

"You're late." Laswell's voice sounded through the laptop speaker they were all currently crowded around.

They'd finished packing and made it to their original drop zone without much trouble. A second trip had been required in order to haul the rest of their salvaged supplies, which had taken them an extra couple of hours, but all in all they made good time. Setting up camp was easy enough as well. A central tent large enough to fit all five of them plus a table, three tents for sleeping, and finally they were able to set up communications to get in contact with Laswell.

"Yeah, we had some complications." Price informed.

"Mission status?"

"Still on, but we're gonna need a new exfil and some cash. We lost a lot of materials when we crashed."

"Copy that. I'll let you know when it's secured." Laswell confirmed. Price thanked her, and then they were confirming their current intel. The plan would be changing just a bit until they could restock what they'd lost. instead of hitting the location nearest to them, they would hike to the furthest location. It was set a just a bit away from civilization, and would be a covert operation. If they moved fast enough they could arrive by midday on the second day of hiking, then they'd have three days to observe guard rotations, gather what info they could get, and clean all traces of their presence. By the time they got back Laswell should have found them a new exfil and a way to get them their cash. "And one more thing, price. Eighteen hours ago Intel unencrypted information about a separate target near your region. Four hours ago it was decided that you would be taking the job, since you're in the area. Looks you're gonna be off base for a while longer."

"What's the word, Laswell?"

"A multi-national level terrorist, and human trafficking gang leader. No name, only a title. You might have heard of him, he started the arms war in Iraq." Price affirmed their knowledge on the subject. "They call him 'The Seller', Intel says he's flying out of turkey in thirty-eight days. You will have execute authority, but this is capture or kill and we want him alive." Price gave a noncommittal hum.

"We don't have the fire-power, armor, or rations for that. And barely any time, Kate, these things take time. And that's not even to mention that we have no jurisdiction there, we could be starting a war if we're found out."

"I know, John, but you have no say here, it's an assignment from General Durski." A low, frustrated growl came from Price, but he kept quiet, so Laswell continued. "Nik has said he has connections in Turkey, if I remember correctly." she directed the last part to wards the man.

"Yes, ma'am, to my knowledge they are all still intact."

Good. Then, I'll work with Nik to set you up with a private contractor, while you're completing this mission. That should remove some of the red tape for you. Intel is still coming in, I'll let you know when I have more for you." Price didn't say anything for a long moment. "Captain, please confirm your understanding." Laswell demanded.

"How much will we be able to trust this P.C.?" The captain asked, obviously thinking of a similar situation involving a Private military contract, and Soap had to admit he wasn't keen on repeating that experience.

"I'll set it up and employ them myself, they'll answer to only me." Price's mustache twitched as he mulled it over, not that he really had a choice on this, it was either accept or be tried in court for whatever crimes they could slap on them. "Captain, I need an answer." Laswell demanded.

"Fine. What's the plan?" Price gritted out, very obviously not thrilled.

"Sources say he's just outside Simak, just north of the border. You will fly out in thirty-seven days, to meet and confer with the P.C."

"That's not a lot of time, Laswell."

"I know." she plowed on, "the projected plan is simple, you will meet with the P.C., and go over the floor plan. Quietly infiltrate the territory, grab 'The Snake', and bring him in for interrogation."

--------------

@checkerscharlie @halb-nichts @heyitsropi @trekkie-in-space @lavenderstem @toasterduck23

[leaffiii]

*shows up from the sewers like alligator, with headcanons and 1 drabble in teeth* hello :)

I like to think that Pharaoh man is the old man of this team.

Maybe he was fighting along with other robots in Hard war somewhere far away, was able to survive and run away from government long enough to be considered a legent, waiting for the right moment to rejoin in this lost war again.

Maybe he heard about Silicon city's many attends from other robots to overthrow humans ones again but without any luck and decided to lend his hand there. And so he travels and eventually arrives and joins your terrorist club. Maybe he even seems badass first time we get to his introduction. A legend thought to be long gone, a experienced warrior that can survive in extreme situations, a hard war veteran and ect.

And then hes like "how do you do fellow kids" and the badass points that he has? Long gone.

Expect the "in my time-" and "I've seen better" routine. And don't even try to ask about his past, because you just will be stuck in unskipable cutscene of him telling you all about it, like at least 3 hours, bare minimum. Usually the victim of this "cutscene" is Hard man, because he's to slow to make a getaway in time before Pharaoh starts telling story and to nice to actually walk out if he started it.

Also i just think that solar shot (or whatever Pharaoh uses) is actually one of few things that beats Hard mans defense. Like, dude can be dence as much as he wants but can he stand the plazma with a heat that feels like surface of the sun?

Imagine Snake asking Pharaoh about Hard war, and thinking that now that he has a literal veteran he won't need to steal documents about that ever again and walking out of that same room 12 hours later and be like: i wish that i was stealing documents and failed rather than be stuck in a room with him like this ever again.

Pharaoh is pretty affectionate toward Metal man but in a "grandfather that tells u suck after barely telling that he's proud of you" kinda way. Like "man, Metal you actually not half bad with repair stuff, i dont feel anything wrong with my arm animore. But i still had better, so you have room to improve."

Also Pharaoh sometimes uses slangs in hes speeches, so it leads to situations like this:

Hope you recovered from whatever you had and that you have a great day! Bye *goes back into sewers*

Reaches out of my trashcan and munches on this like a raccoon eating grapes (Had a busy day lol but FINALLY got on my laptop to reply)

Oh my GOD this is such a treat, actually!! I've been having a bit of trouble characterizing him and this is PERFECT for him. Pharaoh being a veteran is such a good idea! It also officially marks him as the oldest of the group. I'm still deciding on what his abilities will be specifically, since I'm trying not to have too much overlap between them lol. Poor Hard Man though, big man has to deal with so much lol

I do imagine Pharaoh and Skull being from the same creator (Some FC version of Dr. Cossack) BUT keep in mind I haven't touched the comics at all, aside from skimming the articles on the Wiki. This is already an AU of sorts anyways, which I'll elaborate on eventually. That being said I think Toad should also have come from the same creator for shits and giggles lmao THAT DOES REMIND ME i gotta finish Pharaoh's ref, hes been legless for so long oops (and I gotta do one for Metal and the last two guys. whoops.) I recovered from my cold a bit ago, I'm doing well now!

[marthashlyn3]

The entire point.

God this entire time: “Y’all still don’t see these consistencies Marthashlyn is pointing out?! It is truly the end of days. Hold on! Get tf out of my places of business! And these two are MFEO because I’ve declared it so since they were born! Don’t tell me what to do. Stay in your place. ..And I’ve reimagined the prophecy in revelation. 😏”

Also God: “With these two together, I can get more work done. I need them together NOW!”

Also God: “I want a wedding for those two.”

Me: “I think they’ve gotten the message boss. 🫡👩🏾‍🔬👩🏾‍🎨”

Also me: “Do you all know how long our celestial spirit has been catching our attention speaking as loud as he has been for us high vibrational to instantly pay attention?”

Le monde is waiting for the bird class on the farm to get it together. The farm animals too. Y’all still human to me too. And the story is clear. Just eyes & leveling of oxygen & salt in the water. It’s greeky too. The lining is golden and the background is gray.

The real tea while the adults try to fix the spiritual issue that arose around 2016; I’ve entered gracefully of age around 2020.

See how I could point it out since then & many still do what they want to do? I’m waiting for God still. It’s interesting 🤔

Many suddenly wanted to attack me & I’m only a new entrepreneur focused on my spiritual growth.

A mass majority of people are never present as a whole. Mind, body, & spirit.

Witchcraft and perversion like crazy since our last senior pastor’s dismissal is evident everywhere every day.

Psycho mania as a result of being cursed by the lord for God knows what is also evident.

Many are lost in extreme self-comparison in feeling inadequate, overcompensating, burnt out.

Many are stuck in an extreme state of flight or fight.

Many are also sleep deprived from spiritual menaces & stress.

Private time for many are still interrupted by spiritual menaces who are actually terrorists for illogical reasons pertaining themselves never discussed too; many only pray & sing to keep rooted in their personal spiritual journeys.

The seven deadly sins are blindly linked. Many cannot stop. They’re blind in what they are doing & cursed.

An extremely perverted & corrupted reproved favorite is the real source of these issues with her boatload of parallel equals. Elderly & young adults alike. While all, also seeking to be loved by someone who wants nothing to do with them. As do many others. Lost in that. Their ears don’t work.

Others show evidence of extortion & exploitation, slaving and whoring one another, seeking to have that pass on the next generation

So, yeah the devil amongst plenty still..

I’m also a light worker providing insight as I grow on my journey.

Grey space simulator energy while I am not present in the room or stretching off to the side somewhere listening to music will not continue.

I only feel that energy. A serious grey spell with people stuck in a primitive psychopathic criminal state barely able to directly communicate was 2 to 3 sabbaths now. Lost in a traumatic way. They don’t even realize it.

I’ve walked the track at the park for 2 sabbaths in a row now. Spirit led. A third time, I’ve only stared at the building. I know nothing. Just energy change. After church, I only do my energy conversion.

Extreme reality falling apart & coming back together things. “Checkerboard” to me. A black whole may show up there.

I’ve already walked through a rip of white space there too a while ago. SOBER. Completely dry.

All of this, is added to God’s organic chemistry at work and chakra voodoo/Matilda tricks shared with the general public, among many other things

My reserved and I are waiting for a peaceful transition to be in completion, although, everything was finalized formerly in the lord.