mirrorforthesun

[mirrorforthesun]

To donate to the Beat Breast Cancer campaign, text the word BEAT to the number 70007 or 70099

Sources:

http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/styles/adaptive/public/About%20Breast%20Cancer/Touch%20Look%20Check/About-Breast-Cancer-Touch-Look-Check-Signs-To-Look-For.jpg

http://media.summitmedicalgroup.com/media/db/relayhealth-images/selfexam_2.jpg

http://www.worldwidebreastcancer.com/wp-content/uploads/what_breast_cancer_looks_like.png

http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/styles/bth—img—list_thumbnail/public/About%20Breast%20Cancer/Breast%20cancer%20publications/Thumbnails/About-breast-cancer-publications-touch-look-check-leaflet-382x280.png?itok=uD0jBoFT

[mirrorforthesun]

[mirrorforthesun]

gonna try that next time around 🤞

dear people with OCD: the next time you have spiraling & intrusive thoughts, what-ifs, or catastrophizing scenarios, I am sending a cardigan-wearing 46-year old NYU professor directly into your brain and he says "Aaaaand scene!!!" and he claps his hands slowly. and he says "Wow. Wow. Powerful stuff. Evocative imagery. A little bit post-modern, a little bit hysterical realism in the vein of Don Delilo but let's pause right here." and you will recognize your thoughts as a perplexing avant-garde film shown to an audience of 15 liberal arts students who are now trying to get a good grade and sleep with their professor.

[mirrorforthesun]

Indigenous knows indigenous. We welcome First Nations people from around the world.

[mirrorforthesun]

lmao I’m sorry I have no idea if this is even true but the fact their takeaway is “THIS IS AN EVIL ZIONIST PLOT TO CONFUSE ADVOCATES” is fucking hilarious

like I’m sorry, if you think supporting Hamas, the totalitarian regime that suspended elections & killed any palestinians in the opposition the moment it came to power & has actively put palestinians in harms way to the point that an increasing number of palestinians have been protesting and openly cursing Hamas despite knowing it could easily mean Hamas kills them, is advocacy… you don’t need help being confused

you’re a violently idiotic person & you are a danger to palestinians. I hope your data gets scraped for all of our sakes

[mirrorforthesun]

Another Colleague Conversation

I recently had a conversation with a friend and colleague about stuff they shared regarding the rescue operation of the four hostages. They had posted the tweet from the Deeja account that said in all capital letters that Israel used an aid truck. I reached out because 1) I know this person to be reasonable and evidence based, and 2) I knew they were coming from a place of genuine concern that was being manipulated. For context, this friend is a brilliant geneticist that I have know for nearly 2 decades as we did our undergrad together and have stayed in touch ever since. They're a kindhearted person and their work has led to some breakthroughs that highlight this trait as they've worked on certain types of genes that can have detrimental mutations when expressed. As I've said before, a lot of people are empathetic and sympathetic individuals to the plight of others, and those behaviors are being manipulated for nefarious reasons.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Me: Hey G, that thing you shared about the aid truck? Yeah, that's not the complete story or accurate.

G: What?! What do you mean?

Me: It wasn't an aid truck that they used. In fact, only that tweet and Al Jazeera were reporting that initially. All the other sites, including pro-Israel and anti-Israel, were reporting a civilian truck of some sort. Most said a moving/furniture truck.

G: Wait. Hold on. So it was a moving truck then?

Me: Well...we now know it was a soap truck.

G: Why the fuck are people saying it was an aid truck then?

Me: You know the reason.

G: Yeah...okay, admittedly I am not well informed on all this. Thank you for reaching out and correcting me. Do you have any suggestions on how to stay informed? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (Now this is where it gets interesting because at this point they say something that I knew was a thing on some level, but hadn't really put the pieces together.)

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

Me: Well, I wouldn't share anything from Al Jazeera. All they do is spout Hamas propaganda. I'd also avoid accounts that share from them as well, unless you're really interested in what the propaganda is itself. I'd avoid JVP since they're the Autism Speaks of Jewish groups. And also avoid SJP groups, many of them openly support terrorist groups and have been recently endorsing domestic terrorism. G: Wait, wait, wait. AJ is bad? I've been following them since we were in undergrad.

Me: Since undergrad?

G: Yeah, they were the only ones covering news in a Lefty manner. Like, remember when Occupy Wallstreet broke out during grad school? They were the one of the few news sites that covered it in a left leaning manner.

Me: Ah fuck...that makes sense. Okay. So. AJ is the state media of Qatar, think of it like RT or Sputnik. Qatar has literally hosted the leaders of Hamas for years and they live there in multi-million dollar homes. AJ pretty much acts as the propaganda mouthpiece for Hamas through Qatar.

G: But what does that have to do with how they covered stuff when we were younger?

Me: Well, there was a meeting in 1993 in Philly of Hamas members that was wiretapped. Those wiretaps were submitted as evidence during some trials in the 00s and they revealed that Hamas had planned at that meeting to use the language of progressive Westerners to garner support for their cause and manipulate them.

G: oh

G: Oh, fuck!

G: So you're saying they purposefully set themselves up to be more sympathetic to Leftists and manipulate them through using their jargon and it's on tape?!

Me: Yep. Here's the link (https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/2023-10/the-hamas-network-in-america.pdf)

Me: Now there's a lot more to that doc. It goes over how they planned to set up research groups to influence academia, political groups for politics, and charity groups to raise money. The latter of which is what the 00s trials were about.

G: Fuck...that's well planned out. I can't believe it's on tape.

Me: Mhm, it's right there. I'm surprised it's been allowed to go on this long though. I think after all the dust settles we might see some Bush Era Patriot Act shenanigans go on.

G: I wouldn't be surprised.

G: Thank you for reaching out and letting me know. I can't believe I fell for that.

Me: It's totally okay, and understandable. If you have questions about anything please feel free to reach out.

G: Again, thank you so much. I will.

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

What G said about Al Jazeera though and how they'd been following it for years stood out to me. I remember when Occupy Wallstreet happened and AJ was reporting on it. I remember so many American news sites denigrating the movement and AJ was one of the few that was actually covering those protests in an objective manner. We didn't have a lot of the Left news sites that currently exist today. It was a wasteland of center and right wing sources as far as the eye could see. But that makes sense for the time period and why AJ is still so prevalent in Left spaces.

As I told G, the 93 meeting documents Hamas members talking about using the language of Westerners against them and infiltrating their spaces to garner support. With AJ being the mouth piece of Hamas and having been one of the few "Left" leaning news source since Occupy...well, they've been grandfathered in to Leftist spaces as "trusted". That's why so many of these Western activists will accept an AJ article with no question or critical analysis, it's one of the go to sources and has been for a long time.

I'm a little mad at myself that I didn't remember the coverage of Occupy and other events in the USA by AJ and how they were framed until G brought it up. I'm second guessing all the times I read articles back then and my reactions. G admitted they're now doing the same. To think that many of us older Lefties have been manipulated for years because we had some friendly coverage of our opinions is disheartening. But then again, how many of us actually knew what AJ was, who was running it, and what the agenda is/was? I mean, hell, I'm a forensic consultant and consider myself well versed on big cases, but I didn't know about the HLF stuff until Vidino's report came out (the doc mentioned and linked above).

The internet has come such a long way since then. I'm hoping that when this is over that many of these news sites, Leftist and otherwise, will reconsider how they interact with AJ and other such groups. It's quite clear that we've been in a long con, and something has to change.

[mirrorforthesun]

I am so tired of asexuals being boxed into the "sweet naive child not needs to be shielded away from sex"

what I am trying to say with poll is that Allosexual (a term for non asexual people) if you meet someone who is asexual don't just atomatically assume they are sex repulsed instead ask if you are shy here is a prompt

"hey I noticed that in your bio you said are asexual/on the ace spectrum and I just want to know what are comfortable with before I send you risky memes/jokes I want to honor your boundaries as a friend because I respect you. I am only asking this because I myself am not asexual but I realize that is is a very broad spectrum and want make sure I don't make you uncomfortable by maybe sending risky memes about character we both like"

[mirrorforthesun]

“They came in on humanitarian aid trucks!”

“This is a war crime!!!”

“They massacred 200+ people!”

It’s actually a war crime to take hostages babe. It’s also a war crime to kill people you take and/or attack civilians. All of October 7th was a war crime. You cannot enter another country and slaughter random civilians dancing at a rave. You cannot go door-to-door in a village and burn people alive. That’s a war crime.

On the other hand, it is not a war crime to attack an entity involved in war, even if it would normally be a crime to do so. For example: attacking a refugee camp is not a war crime when the “refugees” are hiding hostages. If a hospital is being used as a base for terrorists, the hospital is now legally fair game for war. When we have satellite videos of Hamas members driving UN vehicles and operating out of an UNRWA building, those vehicles and that building are up for grabs.

They will literally video themselves wearing press vests while firing rockets into Israel. But if they die, they won’t be reported as a combatant death. The headlines will read “Israel Kills Member of Gazan Press”. And people eat it up.

At this point people have two options:

1. You’re a sheep. You do no real research. You follow blindly.

2. You’re a Jew hater. You are antisemitic.

Which one is it? Maybe a combo of both.

[mirrorforthesun]

"we lived in peace" "they treated the Jews well---" I know most everyone I'm talking to here is aware of reality and this history, and the people denying it are not listening and refuse to learn, but this is very well explained in a quick format, so if you ever need it - disprove the "happy Dhimmi" myth.

source

[mirrorforthesun]

while i‘d classify saying they‘ve only shown their true colours now as either blind or naïve, that doesn’t mean this isn‘t still an indcredibly disturbing sight to see. these people are so far removed from reality, viewing themselves as freedom fighters like they claim hamas to be

^^^ exactly

[mirrorforthesun]

I hate it when people fall for the blood libel with the children casualties in Gaza. "Have you tried not killing children!?" they scream, not caring about the thousand-year-old libel that they're parroting. As if Israel is going out of its way to kill children--which they seem to believe.

"I can't believe there's a legal way to kill children!" these people cry.

Yeah, there is. You know why? Because if it was blanket illegal, then you'd have someone like Putin order every kidnapped Ukrainian child strapped to the outside of his tanks for a second run at Kyiv. And if these people had their way, then the Ukrainian defenders would be unable to stop the legally indestructible tanks without being guilty of warcrimes, because there's nothing capable of stopping a tank that wouldn't reduce those kids to paste. But then the people shooting at the invading tanks would be guilty in the eyes of the law if it was legally impossible to ever shoot a child in war. Which is absurd--Putin, in that scenario, would be the one responsible for putting them there.

It's horrible, and immoral, but the laws are structured that way so that there is no advantage in using human shields, and puts the guilt purely on the person trying to use them.

The problem is, in this scenario, the people who accuse Israelis of relishing in child murder are all too happy to blame the IDF, and not Hamas, for the deaths of the children that Hamas puts in harm's way.

And Hamas knows it, and relishes every time they force an Israeli to kill a child. As far as Hamas is concerned, children are disposable body armor, and they freely admit it, and know that people outside of this conflict are willing and eager to believe the worst of Israelis.

[mirrorforthesun]

PSA: There is no such thing as a "white Jew"

There are Jews who have European backgrounds and *some* of them have benefited from eurocentrism or being white passing, but in moments of crisis or need the social tides that create white privilege have never seen Jewish people as part of that group. Whiteness is a social category which has changed with time and attitudes and, at least for now, it has never and still doesn't include Jewish people.

Continuing to use the term "white Jews" is ignorant at best and harmful at worst. Even converts once converted are othered and can no longer rely on any previous white background to save them if they are identified as Jewish.

[ Non-jews please reblog]

[mirrorforthesun]

what do you, as an Israeli, think of Standing Together? asking entirely in good faith because I see things supporting them a lot, but it's always from American Jews and (no offense to us), I don't totally trust that we're informed enough to know what we're talking about and what their perspective and usefulness truly is in the way that someone who actually lives there would. so many orgs are untrustworthy or covertly antisemitic and it made me curious for your perspective. thank you for everything. <3

Hi Nonnie!

Sorry it took me a moment to reply, but I hope my answer can still help you!

As an idea, Standing Together is a movement that I should have been all for. They are pro-coexistence, and so am I. There's no doubt in my mind that Jews aren't going anywhere, and neither are Arabs, and we are all better off working together for a good future for all. Supposedly, that's ST's message, so they absolutely should be an organization that I would be all for.

BUT from everything I've experienced, the narrative that they adopted is way more one-sided than their official stance, they're closer to being anti-Israel than balanced, which makes them problematic for me. Especially when you look at the individual actions and statements of many of this movement's leaders, it's evident that coexistence to them comes at the expense of historical facts, as well as certain Jewish rights. Obviously, the leaders' personal positions influence the movement's stance and actions.

For example, in this interview from Nov 2023, a Jewish leader of the movement falsely calls Israel's 2014 operation in Gaza against Hamas, "a war against Gaza and its people" (brief summary: Hamas kidnapped and murdered three Jewish teenagers in Judea and Samaria, Israel launched Operation Brother's Keeper during which it arrested some of Hamas' terrorists in that area looking for intel on where those 3 kids were and what happened to them, Hamas fired rockets from Gaza at Israel to get its terrorists released and used terror tunnels, including ones that crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, to kill and kidnap our people. That's what Israel ended up fighting against in Operation Protective Edge), while an Arab leader of ST defines their way as one which rejects "maintaining violent military control over millions of people," but says nothing against the terrorism that's used against millions of Israelis and Jews.

In terms of the recent war, since Oct 7 they have come out calling for a ceasefire now very early on in the war (I can't remember when they started it, but I know by Dec 7, 2023 they'd already put out a vid calling to stop the war, when really the ground operation only started about a month earlier, before it could possibly achieve anything), meaning this call was undermining Israel's right (and duty!) to defend its citizens, and asking us to surrender our goals of returning all the hostages and destroying Hamas' rule (only the latter can prevent Hamas from fulfilling its promise to carry out more massacres of the type that started this war, and has claimed so many lives on both sides). Another thing you can see in that vid is ST participating in spreading the false narrative that Israel is intentionally starving the Gazans (you can see the same thing in this poster, which says in Hebrew, "Thou shalt not starve." It's a poster for humanitarian aid they were supposedly bringing into Gaza, as if the IDF would ever let anyone bring anything they want unchecked into a war zone, or as if the amount of aid a few Israeli cars could bring is more than the hundreds of trucks Israel has been allowing in, checked. ST's just posturing and spreading an anti-Israel libel). Helping to spread a libel against one side is NOT being pro-coexistence. Imagine if they were spreading a libel that all Gazans are Hamas terrorists, and took part in the massacre! I think it's clear that, even if it's not simple to tell them apart, there are people in Gaza who are complicit, and people who are uninvolved and innocent. So if ST were spreading such a libel against Gazans, I'd oppose them. I am not going to do less when ST is spreading a libel against my own people.

I hope one day they correct course, but I can't currently support them. Give me REAL solidarity between Jews and Arabs, which sees and recognizes the humanity of both, not a repeat of the de-humanization of Jews, and a surrender of Jewish rights to an anti-Jewish narrative. That's not real peace, it's not real coexistence, it's a return to the way that we Jews have had to live for centuries in exile: always dependent on the good will (or lack of it) of the majority under whose will we lived, forced to bend ourselves, our rights, our dignity, too often even our very lives, to our subjugators, in the hope (and without any guarantees) that they will show us some kindness.

Many of the movement's leaders have not only expressed themselves in a way that reflects an acceptance of the anti-Israeli narrative, and took one-sided positions I can't agree with, they also acted in ways that have left me feeling quite unsafe.

For example, one of ST's founders, Yeela Raanan, joined and supported the violent Palestinian riots on Israel's border with Gaza, organized by Hamas, meant to breach the border fence, which started in 2018. Today we know these riots were a part of Hamas' preparations for the Oct 7, 2023 massacre, as they were getting the IDF used to them coming closer and closer to the fence. TBH, those of us listening to the statements of Hamas' leaders, we didn't need to wait for the border to be breached in order to know that it would be a bloodbath if they succeed. Sinwar's promise that they will reap out the hearts of Israelis with spoons from our chests was enough. Also, the repeated use during these riots of flags and kites with swastikas was pretty telling. So yeah, I can't trust anyone who supported that.

The movement is also financially supported in part by funds, such as the New Israel Fund, which finances a lot of good causes, but also many anti-Israel ones, and the German fund Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, which supports the antisemitic BDS movement (it's antisemitic first of all because one of its stated goals is to put an end to Israel as a Jewish state, another reason is their use of antisemitic tropes in characterizing the Jewish state).

The ironic thing is that, despite how imbalanced against Israel ST is, it was still the so-called pro-Palestinians who actually started a campaign to boycott the organization. Not because of anything specific ST said or did. It was simply for being an Israeli organization, showing the diversity of Israeli society, which is apparently bad 'coz it "normalizes" Israel's existence. That shows you the anti-Israel nature of this opposition, that no amount of willingness to cooperate with the de-humanization of Jews and erasure of our rights will ever be enough for people whose real motivation is antisemitism, that wishes to see an end to the Jewish state.

I hope this helps, Nonnie! Once more, my apologies for how long it's taken me to reply. Be well!

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

[mirrorforthesun]

"The majority of Russian Jews lived in conditions even worse than the poorest of Russian peasants and workers. Many families were crammed into one small house, infant mortality was high, and labour productivity low....Even antisemitic Russian newspapers admitted that the bulk of Russian Jewry was exposed to slow death by starvation."

--Walter Laqueur, A History of Zionism, page 57

But please, anti-Zionist antisemites, tell me about your theory that Ashkenazim had the good life, about how you think they were just a pampered little group of privileged folks who had never known hardship. Jews didn't found Israel as a colonizing mission for white supremacy. Jews founded Israel so our culture would not be completely destroyed by the force of our oppressors.

Seriously guys, please read this book if you haven't. Or any well researched history of Zionism written by a competent historian. I stg most people have no fucking idea what Zionism is.

[mirrorforthesun]

“May I be permitted to say a few words? I am an Edinburgh graduate (MA 1975) who studied Persian, Arabic & Islamic History under William Montgomery Watt & Laurence Elwell Sutton, 2 of Britain ‘s great Middle East experts. I later went on to do a PhD at Cambridge & to teach Arabic & Islamic Studies at Newcastle University . Naturally, I am the author of several books & 100s of articles in this field.

I say all that to show that I am well informed in Middle Eastern affairs & that, for that reason, I am shocked & disheartened for a simple reason: there is not & has never been a system of apartheid in Israel. That is not my opinion, that is fact that can be tested against reality should anyone choose to visit Israel.

Let me spell this out, since I have the impression that many students are absolutely clueless in matters concerning Israel, & that they are, in all likelihood, the victims of extremely biased propaganda coming from the anti-Israel lobby.

Hating Israel

Being anti-Israel is not in itself objectionable. But I’m not talking about ordinary criticism of Israel . I’m speaking of a hatred that permits itself no boundaries in the lies & myths it pours out. Thus, Israel is repeatedly referred to as a “Nazi” state. In what sense is this true, even as a metaphor? Where are the Israeli concentration camps? The einzatsgruppen? The SS? The Nuremberg Laws?

None of these things nor anything remotely resembling them exists in Israel, precisely because the Jews, more than anyone on earth, understand what Nazism stood for. It is claimed that there has been an Israeli Holocaust in Gaza (or elsewhere). Where? When?

No honest historian would treat that claim with anything but the contempt. But calling Jews Nazis and saying they have committed a Holocaust is a way to subvert historical fact. Likewise apartheid.

No Apartheid

For apartheid to exist, there would have to be a situation that closely resembled how things were in South Africa under the apartheid regime. Unfortunately for those who believe this, a day in any part of Israel would be enough to show how ridiculous this is.

The most obvious focus for apartheid would be the country’s 20% Arab population. Under Israeli law, Arab Israelis have exactly the same rights as Jews or anyone else; Muslims have the same rights as Jews or Christians; Baha’is, severely persecuted in Iran, flourish in Israel, where they have their world center; Ahmadi Muslims, severely persecuted in Pakistan & elsewhere, are kept safe by Israel; or anyone else; the holy places of all religions are protected by Israeli law.

Free Arab Israelis

Arabs form 20% of the university population (an exact echo of their percentage in the general population). In Iran , the Bahai’s (the largest religious minority) are forbidden to study in any university or to run their own universities: why aren’t your members boycotting Iran ?

Arabs in Israel can go anywhere they want, unlike blacks in apartheid South Africa. They use public transport, they eat in restaurants, they go to swimming pools, they use libraries, they go to cinemas alongside Jews — something no blacks were able to do in South Africa.

Israeli hospitals not only treat Jews & Arabs, they also treat Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. On the same wards, in the same operating theatres.

Women’s Rights

In Israel, women have the same rights as men: there is no gender apartheid. Gay men & women face no restrictions, and Palestinian gays oftn escape into Israel, knowing they may be killed at home.

It seems bizarre to me that LGBT groups call for a boycott of Israel & say nothing about countries like Iran, where gay men are hanged or stoned to death. That illustrates a mindset that beggars belief.

Intelligent students thinking it’s better to be silent about regimes that kill gay people, but good to condemn the only country in the Middle East that rescues and protects gay people. Is that supposed to be a sick joke?

(…)

I do not object to well-documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations.

(…)

Israeli citizens, Jews & Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest). Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations & call for no boycotts against Libya , Bahrain , Saudi Arabia , Yemen , & Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world’s freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the ME that gives refuge to gay men & women, the only country in the ME that protects the Bahai’s…. Need I go on?

(…)

Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more.”

[mirrorforthesun]

please reblog!

hi, this is lisired or @revehae or yani(sha) or whatever you know me as. long story short i am a dumbass and i accidentally deleted my primary blog (lisired) which in turn deleted all my other blogs… so i would appreciate it if you could reblog this post so that i can get some of my followers back while i try to figure this whole situation out. i will be gradually reposting my fics so please do not fret too much lol

[mirrorforthesun]

feels like a good time to bring this back