#i am against israel political agenda and the genocide they commit

[princen-monkie]

If you think being Israel critical is the same as being antisemitic, please unfollow and block me!

I will not tolerate this speech here! Those two terms are not interchangeable. Israel is no synonym for Judaism or the Jewish community. And I will not discuss this with you.

[kuronekonerochan]

Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there's only one thing I can say to speak my mind.

The fucking orange said once one of the stupidest things I ever heard considering the context. "There's good people on both sides". He was of course wrong in the case. But regarding this subject there is something similar yet opposite to be said.

There are bad people on both sides.

Hamas is a barbaric terrorist organisation that oppresses its own people and has no qualms using its own people as humans shields, amongst other atrocities.

The Israeli Zionist government is a genocidal, land thieving, racist and fascist regime that regularly commits war crimes sanctioned by powerful foreign allies and foments conflict to fuel their internal political agenda.

The prepotency of the Allies post WW2 in randomly assigning land to the Jewish people on an already inhabited land without the locals consent is preposterous and a recipe for disaster.

I use "randomly" here not because I am ignorant of world history or religion and am unaware of the historical significance of Jerusalem, but because the decision of relocating the Jewish people there was incredibly stupid and random without consideration for the horrific consequences it would bring.

I would like to add that I have read the old testament. And this is not an antisemitic take. It would be the same for every religion with the concept of promised land as a god sent (literally) justification for war and aggression. According to the old testament Moses guided the Hebrews out of Egipt, where his ppl were enslaved, in a divine quest for a promised land where they could live in peace. Moses wandered the desert for 40 years leading an ethnic and religiously persecuted group of people that we could consider in modern days as the concept of refugees. He asked for permission to enter other nations in search of refuge and safe passage and was denied multiple times.

How horrible it is that after milleniae this is still a current tragedy around the world for so many people in need of aid. To name a few the crisis in the Mediterranean and, in a perverse twist of fate, the Palestinians stuck in a warzone in Gaza with the State of Israel being the oppressors cutting basic human needs such as water, food, housing and electricity to innocent civilians who are trapped with no way of escaping.

Back to the old testament it was also foretold that Moses would die in the desert without reaching the promised land (but still sighting it from afar, cruel,man!) and another would lead their people to the promised land, Josiah.

The city was already there, inhabited. Josiah was able to conquer it from the previous inhabitants because God was on their side to win the battles and conquer the land He had promised. Is it just me or God promising a Holy Land of peace and prosperity by leading the Hebrews to take it from the current inhabitants by means of a bloody war against another people a contrasence and hypocrisy? Get your land of peace through invasion, war and killing. As I said, using God as an excuse for warmongering should never have been acceptable, not just in this case but in all of world history, including the Catholic Crusades and Colonialism with the excuse of spreading faith.

But all of this is just historical context.

So let's approach the main issue by talking about the Good People on both sides...or to put it simply, just the people, the innocent civilians on both sides. The only ones I care to defend and the ones that break my heart. The ordinary Palestinians that have lived so many decades in a warzone and now stuck between an extremist terrorist group claiming to be fighting for them while murdering kids in music festivals, kidnapping and executing civilians while also being oppressed, robbed of their lands and routinely murdered with the slaughter of their children by an extremist fascist foreign government. The innocent Israeli civilians born in Israel, who have no culpability in the messy geopolitics of the past generation of international leaders. Those who are against the oppression of the Palestinian people and the war crimes committed by their own Government. Both current Palestinians and Israeli citizens have the right to live in peace in their homeland. It's extremist and unacceptable to demand that only people of one or the other ethnicity and religion be allowed to live in the territory from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean sea. Both current generations of Israeli and Palestinians were born there and have the right to be allowed to be citizens there in peace. Foreign immigrants granted that right or seeking asylum also should be able to live their lives in peace.

People have a right to Peace and to live unoppressed. There needs to be a two state solution with defined borders internationally acknowledged and that the violation of it by either party causes such an earned international outrage as the invasion of Ukraine or the outrage there should have been before the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. Two states and two people coexisting side by side with the hope of cooperation and mutual neighbourly aid instead of hate for the generations to come.

The many injustices and errors of the past and most unfortunately the present cannot be allowed to trap the future generations in this cycle of hate, war and tragedies. Foreign interest and wars by proxy cannot be allowed to continue to ruin the lives of innocent civilians. Terrorism and Government sanctioned war crimes cannot be tolerated and silently ignored by the rest of the world. Bloody incursions and invasion of foreign nations should not be tolerated in this modern age, regardless of the perpetrators. America, Russia, China, African and European nations alike should be held accountable for their warmongering and held to the same standards of international law and put to trial in Hague for their war crimes.

As a last note because the discourse around this seems to be purposefully incendiary, narrow minded and just plain irrational:

1) Advocating for a free Palestine is NOT condoning terrorism. Palestinians would never be free under an extremist terrorist group. They just suffer from two opposing oppressive forces currently squashing the people under their war.

2) Denouncing the war crimes of the State of Israel against defenseless Palestinian civilians is NOT antisemitic. Hebrews originally fled from Egipt to escape slavery, racism and oppression. They were refugees. When the Inquisition persecuted, murdered and expelled Jews from Catholic European Nations? That was also Genocide. The survivors were also refugees. During the Holocaust many managed to survive by managing to flee the Nazi who slaughtered millions of them for their ethnicity and religion. This was genocide. The survivors who escaped were refugees. Currently persecuting and killing Palestinians for decades, denying them citizenship and the right to remain in their homes and coexisting because of their different ethnicity and religion and trapping them in a warzone to die of starvation and thirst, without electricity or shelter from war? That is ALSO genocide. And in a land with closed borders and no means of evacuation of civilians like the current situation in Gaza? It's not even giving the innocents a chance to become refugees.

Considering the history of the Jewish People, being against the far right government of Israel and the atrocities they have made and are currently doing cannot be antisemitic. I am not Jewish but to me, supporting it is a spit in the face of the suffering of the Jewish People over the past milleniae. From the few things I can agree as far as dogmas go is that "Do not do unto others..." Is a solid universal principle.

3) There is one fundamental thing about the Jewish religion that I am adamant against, that is also expressed in similar ways in other religions, that I cannot tolerate under the guise of religious freedom and tolerance. There is no chosen people. Every human life has value. No one is less of a person in any part of the world than it is in another. Believing in a God does not give permission to mistreat and oppress ppl from different cultures or even your own. Not believing in your god is not a reason to invoke conflict. The only "God's Work" you are allowed to do is to be kind and help others, regardless of where they come from or their creed.

[spookyboywhump]

I can relate to the frustration, but assuming this is about politics, I don't think "lesser of two evils" is a deep moral statement people believe in on a philosophical level, but just a way to cope with begrudgingly voting for a party that's the obvious choice given the only realistic alternative. It's a roundabout way of signaling how bad the implied "greater evil" is, and it pops up every election season, only to die down, since it's rooted in pragmatism rather than some serious moral shit. When (progressive) people in the US vote, don't they do it with an understanding that at the end of the day they'll either have to live under a government led by the "war crimes and some welfare here and there" party or the "50x the war crimes and also we need to start killing as many trans people as possible" party? Even in terms of foreign policy alone, there is not a single thing on the republican agenda that wouldn't be like, at least ten times worse (unless someone's idea of "good" is just maximizing the amount of brown people that die). And domestically? Holy shit. I don't want to spiral down into a rant on how fucked the mind of an average conservative lawmaker is, but we both know that for some marginalized people democratic rule vs. republican rule is literally life vs. death.

Just to be clear I ain’t trying to start an argument or nothing this is just my opinion on shit going on in the world.

After seeing so many people say “I know he’s committing genocide and I don’t like it either but you HAVE to vote for Biden, you HAVE to vote for the lesser of two evils” I cannot take it anymore. After seeing people yell “four more years” over people protesting an actual genocide I cannot take it anymore. I am tired of Biden being treated like he can do no wrong, and any wrong he does do should be ignored simply because “Trump Worse™️”.

I have reached the point where I don’t give a shit who wins the presidency, I care about pretty much everything under that down to small local elections. It ain’t really that I’m one of those people who thinks voting Doesn’t Work, I think it can, I think people need to worry about more than just who becomes president though. I think both candidates are evil, and I want the people who represent me and my state to be there when they’re committing evil to speak out against it. I want smaller politicians who actually have to listen to the people voting for them to run in the best interests of those like me and I want them in power in whatever office they’re running for. I think people put all their effort into the presidential candidates and ignore other elections that can still make change, even just in their home town.

I personally however cannot put my support behind this bastard after watching all this. I am tired of watching people defend him, when he wants to bypass all this shit to send weapons to Israel it’s whatever, but when it comes to Roe v Wade being overturned, when it comes to states trying to criminalize transgender people existing at all, when it comes to kids in cages, suddenly he’s “doing his best” and he “doesn’t actually have that much power”. I find this to be a somewhat selfish take given the severity of things in Gaza and other places but all that money he’s sending to Israel could work fucking miracles for those vulnerable minority populations here. Everything I was told to fear would happen in 2016 has happened since 2020. Everything we were told would be fixed in 2020 was swept under the rug and any criticisms of it were met with “Oh, so you’d rather have Trump as president???”.

I’m a mixed Mexican transgender man. I live in Texas. I’m capable of bearing children. I am becoming more disabled by the day since October of 2023. And I don’t trust neither presidential candidate to protect me and those like me, I don’t trust neither one as far as I could throw them. I know people are gonna vote for Biden anyway, I can’t realistically tell people what to do and who to vote for, but I do think we have a responsibility to hold him accountable, we should speak up against war crimes, as long as he’s saying the US stands with Israel, we need to be shouting that we sure as fuck do not. We cannot continue to let this fear of trump hypothetically becoming president make us feel like we have to look the other way when this president is currently, actively helping to commit genocide.

[zevranunderstander]

the current genocide happening in palestine so brutally opened my eyes about german politics in terms of antisemitism awareness it kind of makes me sick

the german school curriculum does a lot for antisemitism awareness and for analysis and discussion of WWII and holocaust. i am not jewish so i can't say how much a jewish person would judge the methodology to be effective, but in school we extensively talked about how the fascist regime came to power in germany, why the movement was rooted in antisemitism, and while i think you could have gone into more detail about some aspects of it, i felt like my school at least laid a very solid basis for having an anti-fascist understanding. germany is very much funding a lot of jewish art and projects that are dealing with the holocaust, there are some quite well-known holocaust memorials and visiting a concentration camp is something most school classes do at some point.

and i genuinely think this is a good thing, there is a platform given to jewish people who want to express their indescribable trauma and anger and grief at the holocaust through art and museums and exhibitions and talks and monuments and in my personal opinion it did a lot in terms of creating awareness for antisemitism and the dangers of fascism, and please do not think that i view these things to be bad in any way

but one thing that has always bothered me that this applies to the holocaust ONLY, it is of course one of the worst against humanity commited, but germany never took responsibility in ANY way for the Herero and Namaqua genocide or any other atrocities commited. the most Namibia ever got was a weak apology that amounted to 'we aknowledge it :( sorry :('.

and at the same time germany hails itself as modern and progressive and past all barbarism and is publically atoning for the holocaust in every form they can. so the funding of these projects to me always had that sense of creating an image of atonement, more than actually atoning for a past. funding something good for the wrong reason still creates something good, but if you analyse it a bit, you can clearly see that this atonement is not for actual atonement's sake, but is instead done so that germany can be internationally respected again and is allowed to be in the Important Councils™ again, that france, the uk and the us are in, and so that they can officially be internationally "forgiven" by the other countries

i don't think this is an 'agenda' so to say, i think it's a lot more complex than that, and that politicians often probably actually want to combat antisemitism, but i don't want this post to go on forever, so just right now understand that in germany antisemitism awareness as a talking point has kind of become something that is universally aknowledged as "good", even the really fascist parties aren't stupid enough to have openly antisemitic talking points (they still are mad about every other minority, so idk if you're really supposed to believe that). and i again want to state that that is genuinely very good, that open antisemitism is seen as such a huge political no-go. openly denying the holocaust is a pretty severe crime in germany and you can get in REAL trouble for it and that is also a very very good thing!

however, all of this public atonement is fine and good, but what has germany done for the actual families of the victims of the holocaust? well. they paid 3 billion marks in reparations to a state that didn't exist 4 years prior to the agreement, which is, of course, israel. since its founding, germany has at every turn helped legitimize israel's existence and it's representation as the jewish homeland, while barely otherwise aknowledging victims of the holocaust when it comes to reparations

and in the modern day they have absolute gall to use this framing - that germany themselves created that israel is the state that we need to pay our atonements to - against everyone daring to speak up against the genocide in gaza. i know that a lot of western states try to frame support of palestine as antisemitic, but nowhere is it as insidious as in germany. the state that seemingly atones for genocide is calling speaking up against a genocide a hatecrime.

like i said, germany does a lot of things correctly but for the wrong reasons and now those wrong reasons stand in the way of the image they have previously set up as a peace-loving modern nation, and so they just hold up jewish people as a shield against any criticism of their defense politics, claiming that people opposing them are antisemitic, (which, like said before, is pretty much an universally aknowledged "bad thing") running news stories and quotes of zionist jews on the political situation and framing this occupation as "the jewish people of all the world vs. the evil terrorist palestinians", not caring how much actual antisemitism they create in the population, and how much they harm actual jewish communities, when they directly frame them as the enemy of the besieged palestinian population

[he-i-mean-they]

(Image description; screenshots of a post from cowitchcraftofferings on instagram)

Text from images;

I am writing to you- after having written to you repeatedly already- to ask, to demand, to beg again that you use your position in congress to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, ending the genocide of the Palestinian people that the world is witnessing, halting the supply of military aid to Israel from the US, introducing nonviolent sanctions on Israel, and condemning the extreme violence that the Israeli government has enacted and is still enacting against the Palestinian people.

On May 8, President Biden said that an invasion of Rafah would be a “red line” for the US, that an IDF assault on Rafah without a credible plan to protect civilians would result in the suspension of supplying artillery shells, bombs for fighter jets, and other offensive weapons. This statement was already far too little and far too late after more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s decimation of Gaza.

Days ago, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah.

And now we have watched as Israel has staged an ongoing strike against Rafah, including razing refugee encampments of civilians, with no accountability from the US government- of which you are an elected participant- has decided that the highest court of the United Nations holds no authority over Israel and no influence on US policy. This is profoundly unacceptable. It is unconscionable. There is no justification for this violence or the US complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.

I do not know how you have witnessed these atrocities for over seven months without opposing this violence. I do not know what to write to convince you that the US complicity in the massacre of over 35,000 people is something that your constituents will not accept. Your silence and inaction are unacceptable. I cannot discern your motivations as the US supplies Israel with billions of dollars of unconditional military support, leaving Gaza in ruins and millions of Palestinians displaced with nowhere to go.

Perhaps you are more concerned with re-election than you are with mitigating this stain on the history of our species. Perhaps you are more committed to partisan political agendas than our intrinsic obligations to protect and preserve the lives of those with whom we share this planet. Whatever your motivations, you are making a legacy that will be remembered. Your inaction will be remembered when we return to our ballots to vote, and your complicity in these atrocities will be remembered by history when those who come after us look back and ask, “How could this have happened”?

(Post description)

These are excerpts from my most recent letters to my elected officials. For me, this includes Senator Sherrod Brown, Senator JD Vance, and Representative Joyce Beatty. If you are feeling at a loss for words or as if you do not know what to say to your lawmakers, please use any of this language that feels useful to you. . Sometimes writing letters to my elected representatives feels like a spell or ritual, an action I take not because I have any trust in our political systems or because I believe my words will change the perspectives of those to whom I’m writing, but because it is a way of acting in alignment with my values and convictions. The same could be true of our protests and prayers. This does not mean that our letters and protests and prayers do nothing or have no effect, but rather that their effects may exceed our intentions, shaping ourselves as we are shaping change. .

#ceasefire #rafah #gaza

[legendarycollectorengineer]

If Israel Commits Ethnic-Cleansing, Is It Anti-Semitic to Notice?

The same people that taught three generations of Europeans that 'colonialism is wrong' are oddly silent about Israeli apartheid and Palestinian genocide...

I was inspired to write this article in light of recent political events in Britain. For some time there has been an Anti-Semitism in the Labour party ‘scandal’ which has intensified in recent months after Labour’s strong showing at the last General election under Jeremy Corbyn. There have been near-daily press reports accusing Jeremy Corbyn of Anti-Semitism, and he has put under a level of pressure that we have rarely seen in British Politics.

The Labour NEC (National Executive Committee) was asked to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of Anti-Semitism in full in-order to demonstrate action on the matter. Last week the NEC bowed to the pressure and did precisely that.  The IHRA code offers a definition of Anti-Semitism and 11 examples of what constitutes Anti-Semitism. Many legal experts including the very author of the text have raised serious reservations about the code arguing, amongst other things, that it limits freedom of speech.

I am inclined to agree, for me the IHRA code is a flawed and contradictory document which will be very problematic to enforce. I feel that whilst there is indeed some Anti-Semitism in Labour (can prejudice ever be entirely eradicated?) the whole issue is primarily a witch-hunt against Jeremy Corbyn because there is a realisation in many quarters that for the first time in many years we may have a Prime Minister in this country who has Pro-Palestinian sympathies.

https://russia-insider.com/en/politics/if-israel-commits-ethnic-cleansing-it-anti-semitic-notice/ri27731

#Apartheid #Israel #Palestina #Genocide #Colonialism #NWO #Agenda 2030 # Lies

[roguesynapses]

I am not trying to further any political agenda, except an agenda of ending oppression everywhere, no matter who executes it, no matter where it occurs, no matter who it happens to. I apologize if you see this as unacceptable, but given the circumstances I see this as perfectly appropriate.

I call Israel a settler colony because it operates within a structure of settler colonialism, in which indigenous people (that being, people currently living within an are) are pushed out of their homes and lands en masse in order to "make room" for the importation of settlers to the lands. Israel did this explicitly against multiple peoples within the area, including Jewish people already living in Palestine. The fact that Jewish people originated in the area is irrelevant to this, as almost all of the settlers in Palestine were not living in the area, and their immediate ancestors had not either.

Yes, I am aware of this. I am not calling people who lived in Palestine since before the establishment of Israel and/or the British Mandate settlers. I am calling those who explicitly went to Palestine in order to establish a Jewish state (and in far too many cases, a Jewish ethnostate) settlers.

The United Nations is a liberal imperialist institution with a heavy Northern/Western bias against those in the Global South/Third World. It was since its founding as an organization. The fact that the Nazis committed a genocide and were not stopped is an atrocity. The fact that the Nazis and several of their allies in Europe committed their own form of settler colonialism is outrageous. But that is no excuse to establish yet another settler colony and do extremely horrible things to indigenous populations in Palestine. A better solution would have been civil resistance. A better solution would have been to realize wherever one lives is their homeland and fight against oppression there. Unfortunately for millions, this did not happen.

I am an anarchist, and as such, I am against every state in the world. I have no special hatred for Israel, just as I have no special hatred for China, the United States, England, Italy, Bulgaria, Iran, Cambodia, Thailand, El Salvador, Greece, Bulgaria, Finland, the Dominican Republic, Hungary, Portugal, Bangladesh, Egypt, Morocco, and every other country. To me they are all fundamentally against human existence. They must all be destroyed, and the concept of the state forever abolished, in order for all of us to live in peace, with no chains to bind us, no masters to rule us.

I have been an activist for Palestine and against oppression since I became an anarchist, and that was when I was 15 years old. I have looked into the history of this conflict in my college courses. I have studied antisemitic and Islamaphobic dogwhistles. I have demonstrated for the victims of this attack, just as I have demonstrated for the victims of Israel's ongoing ethnic cleansing. I talk with Jewish friends every day, and ask them about their well being every day, and have since before this attack. I am acutely aware that I am not a leading voice in this. I'm just some enby anarchist. But that doesn't mean I should not be able to offer my opinion, and try to offer you an explanation and apology.

I am sorry if I did hurt you, but as I said, I am against every state, no matter who lives in it, no matter who controls it. I do not want to force people living in Palestine out, and no activist group I participate in wants that. I am, and always have been, for freedom of movement and settlement anywhere in the world. I want those who are now called Israelis to live in peace with those who are now called Palestinians. I want those who's homes were stolen to live back where they were, of course, but I also want those who lived in those occupied homes to keep living too, in their own, adequate home, with all of their needs met, anywhere they wish to live. I believe, firmly, that no people need a state of any kind to protect themselves from oppression. I believe people can, and should, protect themselves from the oppression of others, and I will gladly help any oppressed people in that. But we do not need states for that. I do not need a state to protect myself as a queer person, as an indigenous Turtle Islander. My Jewish friends do not need a state to protect themselves as Jews. My friends who had lived in Gaza city before many of them were forced out of their homes or died in bombings did not need a state to protect themselves.

I don't want anyone to be "eliminated". I want the Jewish and Palestinian people to go forward together, without coercive hierarchies to oppress them. And anarchist organizations in Israel and Palestine agree with such a notion, and have espoused views similar to my own on this very subject, views I have studied intensely. Anarchism excludes no one, excludes no possibility. How else am I, a person against the oppression of states, supposed to view this? Why should I make a special exception for any people, when my goal is to end their oppression and the conditions that caused their oppression in the first place? I am aware of what this conflict has led to, of the genocidal rhetoric espoused by Palestinians and Israelis alike in this millennia long conflict. But I believe, firmly, that this can be overcome, and that only through statelessness can all of the people of the Levant, all of the people in the world, can be liberated.

I am sorry if I seemed rude, and I am sorry if I hurt you. But I stand by my belief in liberation, and I will until I leave this world

I don’t think most non-Jews understand how disappointed we are in the left right now. How completely abandoned we’ve become. How our contributions to progress for other groups have been erased or disavowed or hidden. How the actual tangible things that Jews have contributed to black rights and civil rights are being ignored. How we’re being told we contribute and have contributed nothing.

How we are being told that the world has been kind to us when it never has. As if my mom didn’t grow up getting called a Kike and getting beat up for being Jewish. How I thought I had friends until I caught them saying “xyz was beautiful until Jews showed up.” How people told me I was pretty “for a Jew.” How I grew up hearing stories about bombs being set off in Israel in buses and markets. How I couldn’t even go two weeks without hearing that and how nobody cared and somehow, every time that happened, the whole world became more hostile to me for some reason.

I just don’t understand. I don’t understand what leftists are doing. Or why. I hate that I have to say—of course, I support a free and self determined Palestine (which I truly do)—in order for you to decide I’m worthy of care and support.

We showed up for you. All of you. And the entire movement is abandoning us at best or targeting us at worst. Celebrating our deaths. Saying we deserved it. How are we supposed to trust you ever again? How are we supposed to feel safe ever again?

A very few select people who are in my life have taken the chance to actually learn about and dismantle their own unconscious antisemitism during this time. And I’m eternally grateful for them. But most people haven’t reached out at all. Most people are still sharing hateful things that could get me hurt and they don’t care. Most people Reblogging my posts are still Jews. Because we are alone. And it sucks. You need to be as loud about antisemitism as you are about Palestine or you’re an antisemite (unless you’re Arab/Muslim/Palestinian—I totally get that these groups are also doing damage control in their own communities just like Jews are).

But we are all in tremendous pain right now.

This moment will pass. And when it does, I will remember how many people let me down. I will remember that when I needed support more than I’ve ever needed it in my life, people fucking vanished. They pretended violence against my people wasn’t happening. They ignored and rewrote the history of Israel to suit their own narratives.

You don’t know what it feels like to be hated this much for opposite things. PoC hate us for being too white. White supremacists hate us for not being white enough. Europeans hate us for being middle eastern. Middle easterners hate us for being western/European. Everyone hates us for being settlers but continually kicks us out of their countries so that we have to settle somewhere else.

I saw a post going around from a Black person who said that the reason he and his fellow black activists go protest for Palestinians instead of fighting antisemitism (as if it’s a binary, which it’s not) is that Jews don’t show up. Muslims and Palestinians do. And honestly? Fuck that guy. Heather Heyer died standing shoulder to shoulder against racism in 2017. I have devoted substantial time and effort and money that I don’t even get paid a lot of because I don’t get paid a living wage. I have continually reached out to PoC people in my life of all religions to ask how they are doing and what I could be doing to help more—both for them personally and how they would best like me to help their community. I have elevated their voices at every opportunity. And not one person I checked in with has done the same for me or for my community.

And it’s bone chilling. It’s awful. And it’s even worse knowing that when it’s over, people will want to go back to normal. They won’t apologize. They won’t self reflect. They’ll just live their lives, maybe a little more aware of how much they hate us and completely indifferent to the harm they’ve caused us. How disposable they made us feel. And the thing is…it’s not hard for you to know. You just have to ask.

Too many people are cowards. Too many people care about looking good than actually learning something or making the world better. And to those people: you should be ashamed of yourself.

I don’t have any hate in my heart. Truly. Not a drop for any group of people. But I have a tremendous lack of trust that anyone would actually lift a finger to keep me safe.

[jewish-privilege]

In October 2015, I found myself in a frightening situation: My name and face on a Neo-Nazi website identifying me as a Jew along with several hundred other Jews in politics, civics, and philanthropy. The website, which I will not name, warned its readers that Jews were too influential in American life; that we were a corruptive influence on America. While it didn’t advocate actually killing me, I was marked as a person to be silenced.

“How likely are these people to actually kill me?” I asked the expert at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an anti-hate group that researches white supremacist groups. I had called them seeking answers. My husband was sitting beside me, his face full of fear. I felt a tiny kick, a flutter inside me, my hands dropping to my belly. “I should probably mention that I am 8 months pregnant.”

There was a pause at the end of the line. “It’s very rare for these threats to escalate offline,” the nice man began. “They want to scare you. They want to scare you so much you decide that you never want to write again. That’s their goal. What you decide to do next is a personal decision.”

You can see that I decided to keep writing. But thinking back on the advice he gave me, it almost seems quaint: In the four years since those threats, especially since the 2016 election, white supremacists spewing anti-Semitic hatred have marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us,” shot up synagogues in Pittsburgh and California, and murdered gay Jewish student Blaze Bernstein. Anti-Semitic assaults are up 105% since 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit on American anti-Semitism. More Jews have been killed in anti-Semitic violence around the world in 2018 than in the last several decades, according to the Kantor Center, based out of Tel Aviv University, which researches and analyzes global anti-Semitism. In New York City, a major center of Jewish culture and life, the NYPD has reported an 82% spike in anti-Semitic hate crimes in 2019. In fact, Jews are reporting the highest number of religion-based hate crimes — this is particularly troubling given that Jews are only approximately 2.2% of the U.S. adult population.

And while the majority of incidents and assaults are committed by white supremacists on the right, there has been a concerning spike in incidents and rhetoric from the left wing, too...

As a child growing up in Boston, I knew anti-Semitism existed. I even experienced it from time to time — including when my childhood synagogue was defaced with a swastika. But overall I felt safe in America... I was grateful for a country that had provided Jews with peace and prosperity. America was a rare safe place for us.

Today, that’s different. The baby I was pregnant with is now a thriving, rambunctious toddler. But when we tour Jewish preschools, my first question isn’t about education philosophy, recess or student teacher ratios — it’s always about security. In just a few short years we’ve gone from history to fear.

To understand what can be done, first we need to understand what it is: Anti-Semitism is the hatred of Jews as a distinct people, as opposed to anti-Judaism that targets our religious beliefs and practices. Anti-semitism is a conspiracy theory. It depicts Jews as a cabal secretly controlling the world for evil ends, hurting innocent people to further greedy, cruel agendas. How those agendas manifest changes based on your worldview. If you are far left, it may be that Jews are imperialists who start wars to enrich themselves. If you’re a white nationalist, it’s that Jews are the ringleaders of the White Genocide. If you’re Minister Louis Farrakhan, it’s that Jews were the secret orchestrators of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Anti-Semitism is an ancient, chameleonic monster. It adapts to circumstances and seemingly new excuses for age-old prejudices to take hold. This is especially true in periods of political and economic insecurity.

...It doesn't help that we are also living in an era when conspiracy theories can so easily spread (from anti-Obama birtherism to Pizzagate to QAnon). President Trump and his cohorts on the far right capitalize and promote them, fomenting hatred and division through fake news and an assault on the truth. They accuse prominent Jews like George Soros of treacherous crimes, while consorting with and justifying white supremacists and their actions (“very fine people” Trump called them.). They act shocked and appalled when fear mongering, the mainstream legitimization of white nationalists, and dangerously lax gun control leave them with blood on their hands (as it did at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue).

And yet while I fear anti-Semitism on the right will lead to more violence, I fear anti-Semitism on the left will cause that violence and hate to go unchallenged. As American Jews face rising hate crimes and domestic terrorism, progressives have grappled with a string of unsettling scandals. At first, it was the way left wing groups downplayed anti-Semitism. In the wake of the 2016 election, for example, the Women’s March conspicuously left anti-Semitism off its unity principles, while left wing groups erased it as a core issue in Charlottesville, and were silent during hundreds of JCC bomb threats. Then it got worse. The anti-Semitism scandal surrounding Women’s March leadership unfolded over several tense months, during which they publicly associated with anti-Semitic Farrakhan and engaged in anti-Semitic dog whistling and bullying.

This controversy was followed by statements by freshman Representative Ilhan Omar, in which she fell into anti-Semitic tropes referencing dual loyalty, foreign allegiance, and Jewish money in her criticisms of Israel. Omar had many defenders who dismissed the charges because Omar herself faces Islamophobia and racism. But such tropes do feed the beast. As Ilhan Omar struggled to contain criticism and put forth multiple apologies for her comments, David Duke, the Grand Wizard of the KKK, came to her defense dubbing her the “Most Important Member of Congress.” It’s not to say that Omar should be held accountable for the words of David Duke. But it does indicate the way anti-Semitism — be it from the left or the right — can connect to amplify the threat.

While the Women’s March has taken positive steps to mend fences, like expanding Jewish leadership in the organization and including Jewish women in their Unity Principles, and Omar and the New York Times have apologized, the situations have led to increased division as anti-Semitism continues to spread, and becomes a political wedge issue, all of which creates increased danger for the Jewish community. In a time of increased concern about Jewish security, these scandals have had a devastating emotional impact on the Jewish community. We were taught by our grandmothers to watch for signs of danger — hateful words from across the political spectrum is one of them.

Over the past three years, I have seen anti-Semitism break and undermine strong community relationships and budding movements for justice. This what anti-Semitism does: It attacks democracy and transparency, giving authoritarian actors scapegoats for national problems. It endangers women, people of color, and immigrants as it strengthens and animates white nationalism, xenophobia, and extremist movements.

American Jews know this intrinsically and are frightened. The jump from hate speech to exterminatory violence has been a short one in the history of global Jewry. Many of us were taught about the dangers of anti-Semitism and how quickly it could rise against us from very young ages, especially for those of us who had family who were Holocaust survivors or who endured violence against Jews in the Middle East or Soviet Union. We need Americans to listen to our fear and take a stand.

The first step is to call it out when we see it in our houses of worship, living rooms, libraries, college campuses and kindergartens. This doesn’t mean we dismiss or “cancel” our friends, families, colleagues, and community leaders who engage in anti-Semitism. It means we tell them they are wrong. We educate. Jewish history is over 5,000 years old, and learning what narratives have been used to oppress Jews can be lifesaving. And then, let’s build relationships between communities that are under attack and frightened.

...This is what we need to do for each other: Come together to fight not just anti-Semitism but racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia. If we learn each other’s histories, warning signs and dangers and fight for each other, we can make the monsters afraid of us. 

[roanofazgeda]

As one of your palestinian followers I’m really upset you chose to be happy about israel winning, and not only that but ultimately booking a ticket to israel for next years Eurovision. I’m appalled at the lack of knowledge you seem to have and the fact that you’re dismissing centuries of violence and conflict for a fucking concert. You can be against the politics of a country but to say “why country hasn’t committed genocide” is erasing everything my family has been through. Truly appalled.

Okay so I want to address something so please listen up. I AM JEWISH, its something I usually try to hide for this reason exactly and because last year i got so brutally harassed online that I was genuinely scared to leave the house. as a result, I am now extremely hesitant to let people know I am Jewish, but I think it is extremely relevant to this conversation so here goes. FIRSTLY - ‘dismissing centuries of violence and conflict for a fucking concert’ - so are we instantly not allowed to like a song from a country because of their history? does that mean I should actively hate Austria’s act because the person who was responsible for me having hardly any family was born there??? or maybe I should hate Germany for their Nazi past? or how about Poland because that’s where my grandpas’ 6-year-old sister was murdered?????? I am sorry but I would still be happy for any of those countries to win!!! SECONDLY- ‘I’m appalled at the lack of knowledge you seem to have’ - how do you know what level of knowledge I possess regarding this topic? as far as I am aware, we have not previously engaged in discourse so that is not really something you can assess??? THIRDLY - ‘erasing everything my family has been through’ - please don't accuse me of this, because as someone whose family has an awful history (which is frequently denied) that is something I completely abhor. I completely empathise with you and your family, and I do not deny any Palestinian suffering, but please please please don’t try and turn my enjoying a song competition into a political agenda.

[superrman]

You shouldn't be supported Gal Gadot this way,shes an Israeli supporter, and solider! Countries are boycotting this movie because of her!

Sigh* I was waiting for thisquestion, because let’s face it Tumblr can’t enjoy anything without bringinghalf-assed politics into it. By half-assed I mean completely trivializing, andtaking complex issues, such as the Israel Palestine Conflict, and turning intosomething very black and white, I.E. all Israelis are suddenly evil. 

Time to break this down so I never have to answer a questionlike this. Israel versus Palestine is not as basic as tumblr has decided it is.Yes, Israel shouldn’t exist, but it does. Shock the world doesn’t actuallyexist the way it should. Palestine was immorally taken over, horrendous warcrimes have been committed/are committed against it and its people. However,Israel isn’t some theoretical country that can just be backspaced, it exists,people have lived there for generations now, and consider it their homeland asmuch as those who live in Palestine. Both sides have fought/bleed/died fortheir respective causes. 

Now, the government of Israel is not synonymous for every personliving in Israel, just as you are not responsible for every crime that yourgovernment as committed. Gal Gadot grew up in a country that teaches you thatyou and your people were chased out of the world, she is the granddaughter of Holocaustsurvivors. When people’s solutions to the current conflict is expel the Jewsand you cannot understand why that is so problematic then you are beyond help.

But everyone is like sheserved in the military so she is a monster. Military conscription is mandatoryin Israel, yes she was apart of the military, however she never served inactive combat. Yes, she wants the country she was born and raised into beprotected by the military, and I did say country because Israel is a realityfor people, not a liberal conversation about which lines on a map should existand which shouldn’t. 

Like I am so tired of this stupid fucking trend of boycottingeverything Israeli, if you are doing that you should with the same zeal be boycottingeverything British, as they created Israel, and everything American as it isIsrael’s biggest supporter. If you are boycotting Gal because she was aconscripted solider for 2 years, without any active service, everyAmerican/French/British/Canadian/etc. solider or actor that tweets theresupport for the troops should also be boycotted cause guess what westerncountries have been committing just as many atrocities. Boycotting Israel makes sense, I highly encourage it, but boycotting people because they are from Israel? It sounds like semantics if you read it but think about it and realize there is a serious difference, we are all from nations that do horrendous things, I am from a country where Genocide has been committed against the First Nations, and continuous eraser and mass human rights violations continue to occur, are you going to boycott every Canadian movie/actor/singer? I didn’t think so. 

Israel shouldn’t exist, neither should Canada/US/Australia etc. Lines on maps shouldn’t just be drawn arbitrarily but they are, examples basically all of Africa, the Middle East, they were drawn without the consent or even consideration of the people who live their. Yet these are realities that have to be dealt with, and maybe this time we can actually treat those who live their with humanity, and this extends to Israeli born people, cause they are fucking people.

Do you realize how xenophobic it is to have people say thatWonder Woman should be boycotted because she is Israeli, while movies likeAmerican Snipper and Zero Dark Thirty are winning Oscars despite depicting andmore importantly glorifying war crimes? 

Gal Gadot isn’t a monster for being born in Israel. She is ahuman being, she is a Jewish woman who is facing attack for the simple realityof her birth. Israel and Palestine both exist now, erasing one will not undothe past crime. the Israeli government and its current agenda shouldconsistently be challenged, but as you would not condemn every American forthere horrendous foreign policy you should not condemn every Israeli.

This got long and rambling, but here is the basic point, Gal Gadot is an actress, and I feel no guilt for supporting her. Have a nice day ♥

[oldguardaudio]

Joan Swirsky -> The groveling Jewish lefties

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swirsky/190923

By Joan Swirsky

Joan Swirsky Paintings http://www.joanswirsky.com/art.htm

Joan Swirsky at HoaxAndChange.com

September 23, 2019 Not long ago, I received a lengthy e-mail – “Why We Must Renew Our Commitment to the Civil Rights Movement” – from a woman named Melanie Roth Gorelick, who identified herself as Senior Vice President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).

Honestly, I thought it was one of the preposterous spoofs of that satirical publication, The Onion.

But no… it was the real thing.

In short, Ms. Gorelick recommended that Jews concentrate their attention not on the pandemic of anti-Semitism and violent acts against Jews throughout the world and in the United States of America, but instead on those poor oppressed blacks who have never had it better in the good ole U.S.A., thanks to President Trump!

While Ms. Gorelick briefly mentioned that there is an “increase in anti-Semitism and hate crimes” in America, her entire discourse was devoted to a plea for the Jewish community (2.8 percent of the U.S. population) to turn their impassioned efforts and energies to supporting the cause of blacks in the U.S. (14 percent of the U.S. population), who she claimed still experience grave discrimination.

This in spite of the fact that since President Trump was elected, blacks have never experienced a higher degree of employment, independence, wealth, homeownership, and freedom from discrimination in the history of our country!

Not to omit the president’s First Step Act that gives black prisoners serving lengthy sentences the first chance at freedom for relatively minor offenses that they’ve ever been offered in their lives – an opportunity never proposed by all those empathic and caring Democrats who would have kept them in prison for the rest of their lives!

THE PLIGHT OF JEWS

Jews by the thousands are fleeing from France because of both violent physical and verbal attacks on them by Muslims that go unaddressed by the powers-that-be.

Jews have been relentlessly assaulted, raped, and terrorized in Sweden by Muslims who go unindicted.

Jews have been driven to hide in their basements in the United Kingdom as anti-Semitism is at an all-time high.

Jews have been vilified in Ireland, which passed a law to support the Boycott-Divest-Sanction (BDS) movement to strangle Israel economically.

In far-away New Zealand, the official government website published a fact sheet with a map of the Middle East that showed a fictional place called “Palestine” – but not the authentic, 71-year-old State of Israel.

Anti-Semitic attacks in Germany – yes, Hitler’s and now Angela Merkel’s Germany – have risen by a whopping 20 percent! The country is now what writer Dogan Akman calls an anti-Semitic terrorist state.

Jews in the United States have been mass-murdered in a synagogue, terrorized on college campuses, and spat on by the entire Democrat Party whose members supported the virulent anti-Semitic racism spewed forth from the Jew-and-Israel-hating Democrat Representatives Ilhan Omar (MN), Rashida Tlaib (MI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), and Ayanna Pressley (MA). In fact, recently the execrable Ms. Omar mourned the death of the Muslim Brotherhood tyrant who called Jews “apes and pigs.”

Here, in repulsive detail, is just a small sample of the rancid hatred of these Sludge Sisters that Joel B. Pollak of Breitbart.com spells out.

And not long ago, Bernie Sanders, the Brooklyn-born Jewish senator from Vermont who is running for president again in 2020, told his Socialist/Communist followers: “Our policy cannot be pro-Israel.”

Then there is presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who recently said she would push to end the Israeli government’s “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza (which it obtained in the course of defending itself during the 1967 x-day war). Not to omit that the senator’s “Director of Progressive Partnerships” is Max Berger, co-founder of the extreme Israel-hating group “If Not Now,” the goal of which is to “end support for the occupation” – meaning to get rid of the Jews and Israel itself.

And let’s not forget the Trenton, NJ, Democrat councilwoman Robin Vaughn, who defended a colleague’s use of the expression “Jew her down,” insisting that it’s a verb that refers to negotiating.

Or the non-stop assaults on Jews in Brooklyn. Or the relentless calls for Jewish genocide by U.S. imams.

Or, as writer Jonathan Tobin points out, that the Jewish community’s Reform movement – to its everlasting shame – launched a political war on President Trump right in time for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR!

Apparently, Ms. Gorelick and others at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs think the organization should ignore these dire facts and stick to its 1960’s retro agenda of helping the blacks who Regressives believe cannot help themselves.

This is clearly an admission that the people who are traditionally known to be the “best friends” of blacks – i.e., Democrat politicians who depend on Jewish votes and prostitute themselves for the money Jewish voters send them – have all utterly failed to improve the poverty, illiteracy, high crime rate, single-mother rate, and rat-infested cities they have controlled for the past 60 years.

WHY THE WORLD’S GROWING JEW HATRED?

The widespread Jew-hatred exists because in the back of the minds of all people who consider themselves oppressed is the question – Why are those damned Jews so tiny in number but so much better off than I am?

To me, the answer is simple: Too many have bought the sweetened – but toxic – Kool-Aid that Democrats have sold them that has proved to be their undoing.

Think about it: Why, as documented scrupulously by Robert B. Charles, a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell and teacher at Harvard University, are the 25 worst cities in the U.S. led by Democrats? And why do the top-ten “most dangerous cities” in America, according to Forbes, all have Democrat mayors?

WHAT HELP CAN MS. GORLICK EXPECT?

For all her social-justice posturing, I wonder which black “leaders” Ms. Gorelick hopes to recruit to her mission. Let’s speculate on potential candidates.

“Reverend” Al Sharpton, famous for creating the gigantic race-based Tawana Brawley hoax, for which he was never indicted; fomenting antisemitic race riots in Brooklyn, NY; instigating the deadly boycott of the Jewish-owned Freddy’s Fashion Mart, in 1995 and his effusive praise of notorious anti-Semites like the former Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammed, as well as Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and Khalid Abdul Muhammad. On and on, to this day! In fact, here is a mountain of evidence about other hateful acts of his to convince you never to enlist him in your ridiculous goal!

“Reverend” Jesse Jackson, who snidely called NY City “Hymietown,” then denied it, then admitted it, but still couldn’t bring himself to condemn the Nation of Islam’s radical leader Louis Farrakhan, an aggressive anti-Semite, and old Jackson ally.

Barack Obama, a heavyweight anti-Semite – see here and here and here and here, and that’s the shortlist as well.

“Reverend” Jeremiah Wright, in whose pew Mr. Obama sat for 20 years, who married Mr. Obama and his America-loathing wife Michelle, and who regularly spewed virulent anti-American and anti-Semitic “sermons” – which both Obamas mysteriously never heard!

How about the newly-elected congresswomen I referred to earlier:

Ilhan Omar (D-MN): says Israel has “hypnotized the world” and “I pray that Allah awaken the people and help them see [its] evil doings….”

Rashida Tlaib (D-MI): ardent supporter of the BDS movement who accuses American Jews of “dual loyalty” to both the U.S. and Israel and supports a global economic, academic and cultural boycott against Israel.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY): supports BDS and falsely and maliciously condemns Israel for committing a “massacre” against Gaza “protesters” when in fact the Arabs (who call themselves “Palestinians”) were violent rioters trying to infiltrate Israel to murder Jews.

Or maybe Ms. Gorelick would like to recruit the famous actor Danny Glover to her virtue-signaling mission – he who recently called for a cultural boycott of Israel.

And let’s not forget former President Jimmy Carter, 95 on Oct. 1st, a life member of the Hate the Jews and Israel Club – who endorsed Hamas and laid a wreath on Yasir Arafat’s tomb.

Or how about the people I listed in a 2008 Canada Free Press article who either staffed Barack Obama’s administration or acted as his advisors or fundraisers, Jew and Israel haters all: General Merrill “Tony” McPeak, Samantha Power, Robert Malley, John Kerry, Rashid Khalidi, Anthony “Tony” Lake, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Lee Hamilton, James (“F… the Jews”) Baker, on and on.

WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

What do all of the above candidates to help Ms. Gorelick have in common? They are all Democrats!

Aha…is that what her plan is really all about and why she launched it in this presidential campaign season––to convince the American public that Democrats are really not the racists they have been for their entire 190-year history?

Does she hope that Americans will forget that Democrats opposed the abolition of slavery, created the Ku Klux Klan and the Jim Crow laws, and steadfastly voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Acts of 1968, and the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972?

Does she believe that Americans will erase from their minds the ugly history of Democrat suppression of blacks, as documented so scrupulously by Bill Federer of American Minute?

Or is it because Ms. Gorelick wishes that Americans will strike from their memories the facts American Spectator’s Dan Flynn documents about Democrats’ oh-so-cozy and obsequious relationship to the Klan? This includes:

In the 1980s, Democrat Senator Joe Biden voted to elect Robert Byrd (D-WVA), a former Exalted Cyclops of the Klan, as the leader of their party in the Senate;

In the 1970s, a Democrat Congress named the Old Senate Office Building in honor of Richard Russell, a staunch segregationist from Georgia;

In the late 1930s, Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt nominated Hugo Black, also a former Klansman, to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served for decades.

In 1924, Democrats rejected a measure to formally condemn the Ku Klux Klan at their national convention.

THE SOCIAL JUSTICE FIASCO

Liberal Jews – by and large raised in America and spared the 5,000-year history of searing hatred, slavery, oppression, and mass murder – have been drawn to leftist politics because it deludes them into thinking that if they are good enough and generous enough and even agree with their enemies enough, all their virtuous acts will somehow, magically, exempt them from the oppression and hatred their ancestors experienced.

And that by subscribing to and acting on the concept of Tikkun Olam – repair of the world – they will fit in and be appreciated, admired, liked, and accepted.

But as writer Jonathan Neumann explains in “Liberal Jews Are Destroying Their Own Religion,” the phrase Tikkun Olam was lifted “out of context” from a Jewish prayer before WWII to mean social justice and popularized in the 1970s and 1980s by radicals like Michael Lerner, who founded the extreme left-wing magazine, Tikkun.

“Since then,” Neumann continues, Jews “have been led to believe that the purpose of the Jews in the world is to campaign for higher taxes, sexual permissiveness, reduced military spending, illegal immigration, opposition to fracking, the banishment of religion from the public square and every other liberal cause under the sun – all in the name of God. But the truth is that Tikkun Olam and its leftist politics have no basis in Judaism.

“Tikkun Olam is not Judaism at all but a distinct religion [which] teaches that the Jewish People is an outdated and chauvinistic relic, with no need for a nation-state of its own in its ancient homeland. Consequently, Jewish social justice activists help to defame Israel and weaken America’s bond with the Jewish State.”

The alternative, says Neumann, author of “To Heal the World? How the Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism and Endangers Israel, is “a new generation of traditionalist Jews, proud of their heritage and jealous to preserve it. These Jews know that their ancestors did not live to worship a political party nor die for faddish causes. It’s time American Jewry repaired itself instead of the world.”

To which I say, Here, Here!

But will the leftist Jews of the world wake up and smell the coffee? Realize that the people they’re fighting for loathing them? Reclaim their own glorious heritage and start to fight on behalf of their DNA brethren?

Where there’s life, there’s hope!

Joan Swirsky -> The groveling Jewish lefties Joan Swirsky -> The groveling Jewish lefties By Joan Swirsky September 23, 2019 Not long ago, I received a lengthy e-mail – "Why We Must Renew Our Commitment to the Civil Rights Movement" – from a woman named Melanie Roth Gorelick, who identified herself as Senior Vice President of the 

[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/the-rise-and-fall-of-isis/

The Rise and Fall of ISIS

by Ghassan Kadi for Ooduarere via The Saker Blog

A year or two ago, I would have never imagined that I would be writing an article with this title, at least not this soon; but things change.

If anything, my previous articles about ISIS which I wrote back between 2014 and 2017 were very alarming and predicted the worst, but again, things change, and back then there were many reasons to feel alarmed.

I have reiterated in that era of the past that the ISIS ideology had deep roots in fundamentalist Islam, and I still have this view. I have professed many times that this fundamentalist doctrine had been in place long before Christopher Columbus set a foot on American soil and that we cannot blame the CIA, Israel, the UK, or the West in general for the creation of this ideology, and I am not retracting. I have also said that those fundamentalist views do not represent real Islam, and there is no change in heart on this aspect either. So what has changed?

In this context, we are talking about the ideological rise and fall of ISIS. We are not talking about the political aspects and the horde of players who helped create, manipulate and employ ISIS for different reasons and agendas. With all of those players however, ISIS needed the support base, and that support base was the Muslim youth who are disenchanted by world events and the manner the world views Islam. Furthermore, they are disgruntled by the governments of the Muslims World and their links to the West: links they consider as treasonous and shameful. It was this mindset that was the recruitment base for ISIS; not the Pentagon.

So for the benefit of clarification, I must herein emphasize that there has always been a perverted version of Islam that founded itself on violence; in total contradiction to the Quranic teachings that clearly forbid coercion and oppression. This version was finally committed to a written doctrine, written by Ibn Taymiyyah; the founding doctrine of the Wahhabi Saudi sect.

When the West “discovered” this doctrine, it tried to employ it to its advantage, and this was how Al-Qaeda and ISIS were created, with Al-Qaeda’s role to hurt the USSR in Afghanistan, and ISIS to topple the legitimate and secular Syrian Government.

The not so funny thing about ISIS was that when the proclamation of creating the Islamist state back in mid-2014, the Caliphate passion became something easy to grow and self-nurture in the hearts and minds of many Sunni Muslims across the globe; including moderate ones.

Harking back at what happened back then; one honestly cannot blame them much. After all, many of the then Iraqi ISIS commanders and fighters were former Saddam-era Iraqi Army personnel. Many of them have even actually walked away from the “dictator” in the hope that the “regime change” was going to be for the better, only to soon realize the state of mess and mayhem that the American invasion created.

Before ISIS “had the chance” to show its ugly face, may moderate Muslims thought that this new force emerging out of Mesopotamia, one that does not recognize the border lines that Western colonialists have drawn between Sham (Syria) and Iraq, one that wants to unite Muslims, is perhaps “the one” to go for and support.

Ironically, most of those Muslims today look back at those days and either forget or wish to forget that at one stage, at some level, deep down in their hearts they supported ISIS, albeit not fully knowing what it stood for.

It was this subtle and covert support for ISIS by some elements of the global Sunni rank-and-file that gave ISIS a fertile ground for luring in recruits and that was the major cause for concern.

If anyone looks for evidence that supports this statement, then he/she need not go further than looking at the recent history of terror attacks in the EU (especially France) and the UK.

After the horrendous Bastille Day attack in Nice in the summer of 2016, a new direction for terror was established, and the perpetrator proved that one does not need a weapon to kill. His weapon was a truck, and he didn’t even need to buy it. He rented it.

After this infamous attack and what followed it, I among many others, predicted more of such events, and they continued for a while, and then suddenly they stopped. Why? This is the question.

For ISIS to be have been able to keep its momentum and growing support base, it needed to gain the hearts and minds of Muslims. But to do so, it needed to score victories and be able to revive Muslim nostalgia. Both are equally important.

In the beginning, it boasted its victories and the biggest of which was the takeover of Mosul; Iraq’s second largest city. This was how the ears of many Muslims worldwide pricked up and poised themselves to hear more. Some jumped on the band wagon straight away, but the majority braced and waited for more evidence that ISIS in general, and Baghdadi in specific, are the right ones to trust and follow.

What followed the capture of Mosul by ISIS however was nothing short of disgrace for ISIS; one that exposed its true inner ugliness. And instead of being able to capitalize on its initial momentum and promising to achieve more of it by adopting at least some of the virtues of Islam, ISIS turned its inability to achieve further military victories into a blood bath, looting and a sex slave market.

Before too long, even some of the most ardent Muslim supporters of ISIS turned away from it, and then against it, to the degree that they now even forget or deny that they once supported its baby steps.

What is interesting to note is that the move from secularism to Islam has not changed in the Muslim world. An increasing number of Muslim girls are wearing the Hijab with or without ISIS, but ISIS itself has lost its sway with the general Sunni Muslim populace.

What is interesting to see is that the definition of what is a “real Muslim” is changing, and changing quickly. And whilst the move towards Hijab and all what comes with it is still going full steam ahead, there seems to be a growing trend in the Muslim World towards moderation.

The ISIS fundamentals of black and white doctrine seem to be becoming increasingly tolerant of certain shades of grey. Even some personal Facebook friends and friends of friends who have brandished their photos performing Pilgrimage at Mecca don’t seem to be at dis-ease posting other photos brandishing a Heineken. To someone outside the Muslim Faith this may not sound like a big deal, but in reality, it is.

This all sounds good, but what has happened here really?

ISIS has definitely lost the plot. Fortunately for the world, irrespective of who are/were the people “behind” ISIS, its recruitment base had to come from Muslims; especially the youth. Having lost the ability to draw more recruits and enthusiasts who pledge their actions and lives to Baghdadi without even having to be formal ISIS members, ISIS as an organization and a name is now a spent force, and dare I say a figment of the past.

This however does not mean that the Muslim community has “immunized” itself against potential new ISIS-like organizations and agendas.

The initial rise of ISIS could have well been the result of a nostalgic remnant of a certain belief system that many Muslims did not even want to investigate and study properly to see if it really and truly conforms with the Teachings of Islam and all other religions. The fall of ISIS however heralds a new unprecedented era in the Muslim mind, and this calls for great optimism.

Perhaps for the first time in the history of Islam ever since its inception, Muslims are now beginning to examine some teachings they inherited. Even Saudi Arabia and its infamous Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) seem to be sick and tired of the old rules and dogmas that allow this and prohibit that; based on no foundation at all. I have never been a fan of MBS, but having lived in Saudi Arabia for a while, I had always thought that this country would never allow women to drive, never ever. The fact that he changed this is a great step in the right direction. This does not take away from MBS’s genocidal activities in Yemen of course, but on the dogmatic side of things, this is a huge step towards reform. In Saudi Arabia there is also a call to have a second take on the Hadith (the spoken word of Prophet Mohamed) in an attempt to identify certain teachings that promote violence and that are incompatible with Islam. The rationale behind this is that they were never the words of the Prophet to begin with and that they might have been injected into the huge discourse by others with political agendas. Such an initiative was totally unfathomable only up till a few years ago.

Does this mean that we are seeing the end of Muslim fundamentalist-based violence? Hopefully we are, but the real answer to this question is for the whole Muslim community to answer.

The truth is that ISIS may be done and dusted, but the ideology behind lives on.

It is hoped for that the actions of ISIS will be remembered for eternity. It is hoped that Muslims realize that if they truly want to pursue the fundamentalist dreams of conquest and world dominion, then they cannot distance themselves from the legacy of ISIS. It is hoped that they look forward to a new world that is open to all religions and doctrines.

I am a firm believer that God created man in His own image, and part of this image is goodness and love of goodness; and Muslims are part of this creation. After all, Muslims, all Muslims believe in the Hadith that says: “The best people are those who most benefit to other people”. Russia and Syria might have won the military war on ISIS, but it is Muslims who have won the spiritual fight. Muslims: 1, ISIS: 0.

[thewebofslime]

ՀԱՅ РУС Politics Law Economy Event Press digest Science/tech Sports ARF-D cabinet members resign as party pulls out of coalition government 14:33 • 26.04.18 Three cabinet members from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) laid down their ministerial portfolios on Thursday, a day after the party officially announced a plan to pull out of the coalition government. According to an official statement by ARF-D press service, Davit Lokyan has handed in his resignation as the acting minister of agriculture. Levon Mkrtchyan and Artsvik Minasyan are stepping down as the acting ministers of education and science, and nature protection, respectively. In its decision issued Wednesday evening, the party cited the internal political situation in Armenia as a serious reason to end the coalition partnership with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). 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[96thdayofrage]

50 Years Later, We Must Again Confront and Reject U.S. Warmongering

More than ever, Black America needs a peace movement to confront militarism and the global structures of white supremacy. “We are calling for a new alliance to help revive the black anti-war and peace movement in the black community as an essential component of a revived broader anti-war and pro-peace movement,” says human rights activist and former Green Party VP candidate Ajamu Baraka, an organizer of the new Black Alliance for Peace.

“With the ascendancy of the corporatist President Barack Obama, there was a decidedly rightward shift in the consciousness of the black public and a significantly dampened anti-war sentiment among black people.”

Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King reconnected with the radical black tradition by adding his voice of opposition to the murderous U.S. war machine unleashed on the people of Vietnam. For Dr. King, his silence on the war in Vietnam had become an irreconcilable moral contradiction. He declared that it was hypocritical for him to proclaim the superior value of non-violence as a life principle in the U.S. and remain silent as the U.S. government engaged in genocidal violence against a people whose only crime was to believe that they could escape the clutches of French and then U.S. colonialism.

“As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems,” Dr. King said. “I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked, and rightly so, ‘What about Vietnam?’ They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”

In his speech at Riverside Church, King not only criticized U.S. actions in Vietnam but identified the cultural pathologies at the center of U.S. society. “I am convinced that if we are to get on to the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values,” he said. “We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

50 years later, what rational person can honestly argue against the position that the U.S. is still the greatest purveyor of violence on the planet?

“The cutting edge of the Black liberation movement took an early and resolute oppositional stance against the war on Vietnam.”

But what existed in 1967 that helped put moral and political pressure on King was a militant anti-war and anti-imperialist movement; a movement that in many respects was born out of the black-led pro-democracy and social justice struggles and organizing in the South. Many of the young white activists who took up opposition to the war and built such organizations as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) cut their activist teeth while working with black activists in the South. From the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) to the Northern-based Black Panther party, the cutting edge of the Black liberation movement took an early and resolute oppositional stance against the war on Vietnam.

After almost three decades of pro-war conditioning by both corporate parties and the corporate media coupled with cultural desensitization from almost two decades of unrelenting war, opposition to militarism and war is negligible among the general population. The black public has not been immune to these cultural and political changes. And with the ascendancy of the corporatist President Barack Obama, during whose tenure the U.S. continued its militaristic bent unabated and in fact ratcheted up its aggressive posturing in some parts of the globe, particularly in the Middle East, there was a decidedly rightward shift in the consciousness of the black public and a significantly dampened anti-war sentiment among black people.

Politically the result has been disastrous for the society and for the U.S. anti-war movement. The bi-partisan warmongering over the last two decades has met very little opposition, and the traditional anti-war stance of the black population has almost disappeared.

“Opposition to militarism and war is negligible among the general population.”

But once again we are seeing opposition to militarism, violence and war developing among young people. And once again we are seeing young black voices making the connections between opposition to domestic state violence and the moral necessity to be in opposition to the U.S. war machine reflected in the policy statements from the Movement for Black Lives, BYP 100 and the Black Lives Matter network. Those positions are supported by the Black Left Unity Network, the Black is Back Coalition and other black formations. What is needed at this historical moment is for those forces to be galvanized and given more strategic focus.

What is needed is a Black Alliance for Peace (BAP).

The BAP must be a people(s)-centered human rights project against War, Repression, and imperialism that seeks to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement. So, on April 4, we are calling for a new alliance to help revive the black anti-war and peace movement in the black community as an essential component of a revived broader anti-war and pro-peace movement. Moreover, this new movement is even clearer on the connection between state violence and repression and the global war-mongering of the U.S. The pivot to Asia, the rotating of NATO troops on the borders of Russia, the destabilization of the U.S. African Command (AFRICOM), continued support for apartheid Israel, police executions and impunity in the U.S. and mass incarceration are all understood to be part of one oppressive, desperate structure of global white supremacy.

Dr. King also called upon the nation to understand the link between the unfulfilled economic needs of the majority of the population ground down by the ravages of an unforgiving racialized capitalism and the ruling class commitment to direct public funds toward militarism. His call for a poor people’s campaign was the human rights foundation of his anti-war position.

“We need a new movement to end the wars on black people and people around the world.”

Militarism has a direct impact on working people and the poor. Even Republican president Dwight Eisenhower understood this when he issued what in today’s right-wing U.S. culture would read as a radical statement:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”

There must be an alternative to the neoliberalism of the Democrats and the nationalist-populism of Trump. We need an independent movement to address both the economic needs of poor and working people and the escalating attacks on the Black community, immigrants, women, unions, the LGBTQ community, refugees, Muslims, the physically and mentally challenged, youth, students, the elderly, Mother Earth -- all of us. We need a new movement to end the wars on black people and people around the world. The BAP is a significant step toward helping to revive the anti-war, anti-imperialist and anti-state-repression movement in the U.S. Let us on this 50th anniversary re-dedicate ourselves to building a movement for social justice that rejects the dehumanizing effects of war on everyone.

Ajamu Baraka was the 2016 candidate for vice president on the Green Party ticket. He is an editor and contributing columnist for the Black Agenda Report and contributing columnist for Counterpunch magazine. His latest publications include contributions to Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence (Counterpunch Books, 2014), Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA (HarperCollins, 2014) and Claim No Easy Victories: The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral ( CODESRIA, 2013). He can be reached at www.AjamuBaraka.com

Ajamu Baraka's blog