#ignoring all the genocide and war crimes this country has committed

[justvibingwhilecrying]

Im at my schools home football game and they did the pledge of allegiance and I just

I don't get how anyone could love this country unconditionally. I fucking hate Joe Biden and the only reason he supports Israel and not palestine is because this country was built on the stolen land of indigenous Americans.

Hamas isn't even a terrorist group, they're fighting to get rid of their colonists. Decolonization will always be violent I don't understand how that's such a hard concept to grasp. Tax payers money is actively being used to support Israel isn't that so fucking disgusting.

We can afford a genocide but not housing for everyone. We can afford a genocide but not student loan forgiveness. This country is such a fucking joke. Genuinely I wish I stayed in Mexico, this country has done jack shit for me.

My entire life has been spent in poverty. And what does the government do to help the impoverished and homeless? It supports a fucking genocide. I stopped standing for the pledge of allegiance in 4th grade because I was petty and hated being told what to do.

Now though I sit during the pledge because of the genocide of indigenous Americans, I sit because of the millions of people without a place to live, I sit for all the innocent afghani children and civilians who died because of George Bush's lies, I sit for my mom who went to college but when immigrating here the government said her college and highschool diplomas don't count and now she has to wprk minimum wage jobs, I sit for the thousands of Palestinians that have died

This country is a fucking joke and I will never ever stand for the pledge. I will never look away at genocides we fund. Every politician, journalist, and UN official who remained silent/or spread propaganda has over 6000 Palestinians blood in their hands.

From the river to the sea Palestine will be free

[stuhde]

i had shared what is happening in sudan on a long facebook post last night, but it virtually received almost little to no engagement or shares from the nearly 600 “friends” i have on the site.

this morning, my great-aunt was shot by the soldiers fighting for power, and God forbid, i lose more of my family members before eid this friday.

please read below to understand what is happening and how you can help my country. i hope the tumblr community can show more kindness than the lack of support and advocacy i’ve seen elsewhere.

يا رب اجعل هذا البلد آمناً 🇸🇩

the lack of awareness and advocacy from the African, Arab, and Muslim diaspora and the human rights community has been painful.

while Western media has done little to no coverage of the ongoing conflict in the capital city of my motherland, Sudan, it appears that the rest of the world also partakes in normalizing crimes and violence against SWANA people.

violence and war hurting the SWANA region are NOT ordinary occurrences — no one, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity, religion, and gender, should experience the unprecedented amount of violence that harms my two living grandmothers, aunts and uncles, and baby cousins who live in Khartoum.

your decision to ignore reading or educating and discussing with others about what is likely to be a civil war is complicity in viewing SWANA people as individuals who regularly experience conflict and are undeserving of help.

the silence is damaging, and it is up to us as privileged members of the diaspora (or individuals living in the Western world committed to human rights) to support the people of my country and their dream for a stable, democratically elected government.

what is happening in Sudan is a fight that started on April 15 between two competing forces for power — the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — neither groups are representative of the needs of our people. The Sudan Army is loyal to the dictator, Omar Al-Bashir, and the RSF is responsible for the genocide in Darfur.

with both power struggles backed by different Arab and Gulf nations, the two parties have been fighting for power for the last few years. While they worked together to try and end the people’s revolution, they lost. however, they are now in a constant power play of who will get to rule the nation.

this all means that war is NOT a reflection of my country — violence does not represent the SWANA people. Sudan is a nation of beautiful culture, strong women, intellectual and influential Islamic scholars, poets, and youth at the front lines of the revolution. we are a people committed to a region of peace for ourselves and the rest of the Ummah.

my family and the rest of Sudan’s innocent civilians are at the most risk, with many currently without drinking water, food to eat, electricity, and complete blockage to any mosques during the final nights of Ramadan, our holiest month of the year.

i ask that you please keep Sudan and our people in your prayers — donate to the Sudan Red Crescent or a mutual aid GoFund Me, email your representatives if you live in a country that can put pressure on either competing force of power, discuss this with your family and friends, and please do not forget to think about SWANA people — our brothers and sisters in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and many others need our love and support.

الردة_مستحيلة ✊🏾

#KeepEyesOnSudan

[moonlayl]

"According to the United Nations, roughly 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis have been killed in the ongoing conflict since 2008, not counting the recent fatalities." - X

Palestinian deaths: 6,407

Israeli deaths: 308

Palestinian injuries: 152,560

Israeli injuries: 6307

Palestinian children's deaths: 1,437

Israeli children's deaths: 25

Palestinians children's injuries: 32,271

Israeli's children injuries: 524

Palestinian women's deaths: 626

Israeli women's deaths: 36

Palestinian women's injuries: 8,953

Israeli women's injuries: 218

(this is total, so not just civilians.)

168.6 times more Palestinians were killed than Israelis

24.2 times more Palestinians were injured than Israelis

57.5 times more Palestinian children were murdered than Israelis

61.6 times more Palestinian children were injured than Israelis

17.4 times more Palestinian women were murdered than Israelis

41 times more Palestinian women were injured than Israelis

source: UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

but yes "Israel is protecting itself and not at all carrying out genocide or hurting innocent Palestinians. Israel has never hurt Palestinian civilians and this is totally an equal fight where both Israelis and Palestinians are equally wrong, equally at fault, and Israelis deserve to defend themselves by wiping out an entire region of 2 million Palestinians (most who are children) but the barbaric Palestinians better not fight back, defend themselves or hurt their oppressors.

Israelis are justified in their slaughter and oppression of Palestinians for DECADES because of the action of Hamas 3 days ago, but Hamas’ actions 3 days ago are completely wrong in every way shape or form, no question, despite the war crimes Israel has committed towards the Palestinian people and the people of Gaza for decades. That makes perfect logical sense

Israel has only started harming Palestinians because of Hamas, despite the fact that Palestinians were being murdered and displaced for more than 40 years before Hamas was ever a thing. Again, Israelis are perfectly justified in any horror or warcrimes they've committed and the UN will never condemn them and will sweep their infinite war crimes under the rug, but Hamas needs to be stopped which includes trying to suspend humanitarian aid to innocent Palestinians (even though most Palestinians aren't part of Hamas and this will affect the innocent people in need of help) and also cutting off their medical and water supplies (even though it'll affect almost a million innocent children stuck in an illegal blockade) but billions of dollars, supplies, and military support needs to be sent to Israel immediately!!!

The world cannot remain silent and the Israelis deserve our support, but please do ignore how the world's been silent for Palestinians all these years!!

We will show you videos of horror from other countries taken years ago, or even crimes Israelis have committed but spread the news that it was Palestinians who did such things, but we will not show any of the evidence of Palestinians refusing to harm women and children and instead taking Israelis as hostages, majority of them soldiers.

We will show you Muslims across the world celebrating the death of innocent people (when in reality they're protesting in order to call out their hypocritical governments who support an apartheid state) but we'll conveniently ignore how the people of Sderot (the city nearest to Gaza that Palestinians were recently able to enter after 16 years of being caged in Gaza) used to watch rockets hit Gaza and cheer on, calling it " best reality show" and "better than the world cup" back in 2014 which is one of the deadliest years for Palestinians (more than 2000 massacred).

Israel will warn the people of Gaza to flee and then go right ahead and bomb the only route they could possibly use: the Rafah crossing to Egypt and it will also threaten to target any humanitarian aid trucks trying to enter into Gaza (X, X, X)

Israel will also murder journalists, including an American citizen which is a war crime and illegal, but will face no consequences and try to frame Palestinians instead.

but remember! Palestinians are all terrorist islamist barbarians and you MUST support Israel and its oppression of Palestinians, otherwise you are antisemitic. Every Palestinian deserves to die and Israel is justified in carrying out mass genocide (by taking away electricity, water, and food) with the support of foreign countries because of the actions of Hamas, but Palestinians will never be justified in attacking their oppressors or defending themselves from 70 years of oppression. Shut up, these things aren't meant to make sense, just support Israel.

[the-catboy-minyan]

why so many people don't recognize that their antizionism is antisemitic, in my opinion:

(disclaimer: this is not an educational post, it will not have sources for claims, and is not meant to be read as the objective truth. it is solely my observation and opinions. civil debate and criticism is encouraged in both the notes and reblogs, I will do my best to answer those and correct my post if necessary. edits will be highlighted in pink, if this is a reblog, press the original post to see the most updated version. English is not my first Language, I might have used the wrong words for some terms.)

The Meaning Of Zionism:

this section is meant to highlight the difference between

firstly, they falsely believe the term Zionism means supporting genocide or Netanyahu's government, when most Jews don't use the term Zionism that way. Zionism has many different meanings and subgroups, as Jews love to argue (/j but Judaism encourages debate and personal interpretation), but all meanings are built on the original idea of "Jewish self determination in their indigenous land/creating and maintaining a Jewish country somewhere in the world" (yes, technically believing giving Israelis land somewhere else to be Israel is a form of Zionism, I've seen that take). the methods for creating and maintaining the lands differ, so is the belief of what land should be considered Israel, but all forms of Zionism rely on that core belief. while Zionists may support those things, that is not an integral part for Zionism, and many Zionists oppose those ideas and condemn them.

in addition, they falsely believe Zionism is in favor of illegal occupation and apartheid, which only specific subgroups of Zionists (extremely right-wing Zionists) are in favor of. Zionism is, again, mostly about an end goal (establishing and maintaining a Jewish state (which currently means in Eretz Israel)), and people will have different opinions on how to achieve it, including extremist and racist opinions. all movements have people who hold extremist beliefs, and are usually condemned by other members of their movement, Zionism is no exception.

they don't see Zionism as Jewish. I mean, there are more Christian Zionists than there are Jews in the world! of course it's not Jewish! lets ignore the fact the movement started by a Jewish man, was widely popular in Jewish communities and is what led to the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state.

now, let's for a moment ignore the misinterpretation of the term and assume that by saying Zionists, they refer only to people who support Netanyahu, illegal occupation in places like the west bank, war crimes committed by the IDF, etc. regardless of the Zionist's religion/ethnicity/race. (keep in mind that while that's their assumed intentions, their antizionism will still ultimately include self-identified Jewish Zionists who are strongly against these things)

Antizionist Activism and Beliefs:

have you heard accusations of antisemitism and the response "I'm not antisemitic, just antizionist"? this section will highlight the reasons why many antizionist actions or claims are seen as antisemitic by many Jews.

No Zionists Allowed: as in, excluding zionists from public, private, and online spaces. this tactic is used today to exclude many groups deemed problematic, "no [queer]phobes allowed", "no racists allowed", "no men misogynists allowed", etc. which is why on the surface, it doesn't seem antisemitic. yet this exclusion tactic is derivative from historical exclusion of ethnic groups, groups that were seen as evil/violent/sinners/subhuman were ostracised from society and denied access to public/private spaces. signs like "no blacks allowed", "no gays allowed", and, of course, "gentiles only".

Zionists Are Nazis: comparing any "evil" group to Nazis is common, they're so overly exposed to ww2 stories, especially ones that paint Nazi germany as pure evil cartoon villains, that they have no idea what the term Nazi actually means anymore. Nazism is based on race theory and antisemitism, it's the creator of the term antisemitism to make it sound more scientific instead of discriminatory, in Mein Kamph, Hitler wrote that almost every "issue" in the world is the fault of Jews. comparing the extremely antisemitic, supremacist, racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. ideology of Nazism to a Jewish movement for self determination is in fact antisemitic. (it is also wrong to throw the term Nazi around for any reason, but especially for a Jewish movement)

Zionists Control The Media/Government/etc: the belief that there's a secret organisation controlling the media is an old conspiracy theory, which comes from the genuine fear of your government feeding the people propaganda to sway their opinion in favor of the government to let it do what it wants. it's is good to believe the media is biased, as it's written by humans who are inherently biased, but to outright claim the entirety of media is untrustworthy when it's not hailed from a dictatorship is a harmful belief. this is what antivaxxers believed during the pandemic, what conspiracy theorists believed for centuries, and believe it or not, it's at least partially derived from the antisemitic belief of Jews controlling the banks and conspiracies like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Rid The World Of Zionists: again, there are many other activist groups that believe their enemy should be eradicated, that if they believe in or have done xyz, they deserve their rights to be taken away from them and to die. this is dehumanization, and an oppression tactic. the moment you say "this type of person doesn't deserve rights because they're evil", the moment people are gonna start getting falsely accused of falling into that type with the purpose of silencing them or getting their rights revoked. + the before point of political exclusion being derivative of ethnic/religious/racial exclusion. we've seen many people getting accused of being secretly Zionists for even mentioning the hostages.

Zionists Want Genocide/Are Bloodthirsty (a reminder that this is under the assumption that Zionists blindly support the current Israeli government and the IDF's war crimes): this is both straight up a variation of blood libel, and extremely hypocritical.

blood libel started as the antisemitic accusations that Jews kidnapped Christian children on Passover to creat Matzot, while no one beliefs are that extreme anymore, the underlying belief that Jews are violent and enjoy murder still exists, and was shifted to be about Israelis. the "it was self defense!" accusation that claims Israelis are just itching for their enemies to strike first to get the opportunity to respond violently and use self defense as an excuse, for example.

hypocritical as in, this goes hand in hand with the belief that Zionists should be killed. "Zionists support genocide so they should all die a violent and gruesome death" is a take I've seen MULTIPLE TIMES - and being said completely seriously, not in the comedic tumblr way of "my blorbo is cringe? wrong, killing you with hammers :3" - and is extra hypocritical when they very strongly oppose the idea of "Hamas are terrorists who committed atrocities therefore they should all die" (and ftr I don't claim they should support that).

there are people who believe that violence is necessary for an end goal, extreme violence even. that doesn't make them bloodthirsty or violent people, it makes them radicalized. there are some Zionists who believe the only way to maintain safety in Israel is to not only eradicate Hamas, but to eradicate Gaza, as they believe that all the people of Gaza are brainwashed to be violently against Israel and pro martyrdom (as in suicide attacks), and thus a threat to Israel's safety. there are some antizionists who believe the only way to free Palestine and bring safety to Gaza is to eradicate Zionists, as they believe that all Zionists are brainwashed to hate Palestinians and to be pro illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing, and are thus a threat to Palestine and their human rights. both of these beliefs are radical and false.

Zionist Blocklists: this is mostly an online problem, but Zionists have been doxxed IRL (and I don't mean individuals, massive lists of hundreds of alleged Zionists) for the same reasons those blocklists exists. people are gathering usernames of "Zionists" online to "warn other users" from interacting with them, with the disclaimer of "I'm not telling you to harass them, don't interact, just block". not only does it encourage to never hear the opposing side, thus pushing you further into an echo chamber of only voices that agree with you and never actually learning from the source what are the opinions you oppose, it ultimately creates a neat little list of people to harass because of the before mentioned dehumanizing belief that evil people deserve violence against them. suddenly sending death threats is easier than ever, and it's justified since these are allegedly evil people. you're not encouraged to double check if these people are actually Zionists, there's no explanation as to why they're on the list, you just have to trust the op.

Boycotting Zionist Companies: The Idea of boycotting companies or other organisations that support unethical causes is also, again, not new. People boycott companies that donated to anti-lgbtq organisations or that relied on slavery for their product creation. and yet the companies who are being boycotted are

Israeli companies, which are not necessarily supporting the Israeli government, it would be like boycotting every Chinese company because of the Uyghur genocide.

companies which helped Israel in some way, like McDonald's, which donated meals to Israeli soldiers during the start of the war (this is again a reminder that the majority of McDonald's income is real estate). there are arguments to be made to justify these type of boycotts, as they're similar to other justifications for different causes, yet unless these companies have directly funded the IDF's weaponry, the arguments for boycotting is flimsy at best.

companies which mentioned the hostages, like Paramount, which ran an Israeli ad for the release of the hostages. mentioning the hostages is not the same as condoning war crimes, it's recognizing there are innocent Israelis wrapped up in this conflict, just as supporting a free Palestine is not the same as supporting Hamas.

organisations that allowed Israel to participate, like Eurovision. there's just no reason to disallow a country to participate in a songs competition due to being in a war.

events that happen "while Israel is bombing Gaza". American events like the Oscars that happen on a set date and have nothing to do with Israel have no reason to be boycotted just for happening on the same day a war is happening.

Starbucks. why is Starbucks being boycotted? it had done nothing in support of Israel, literally fucking none, it's being boycotted for supporting Palestine wrong, once, on October. it doesn't operate in Israel, it never said anything publicly in support of Israel, there's literally 0 reason to boycott it????????????

anyways. while there are different reasons and justifications for every company or event, there's this silly little thing that happened in Nazi Germany that was boycotting Jewish business, in response to the "anti-nazi boycott". the Jewish boycotts were unsuccessful on paper, but ingrained the Nazi idea of Jews being inferior.

The Harm It Does For The Jewish Community:

The Overlap: the majority of Jews are Zionists, not in the sense of supporting genocide, but in the Jewish meaning(s) of believing a Jewish state should exist or is in some way beneficial for Jewish safety. by excluding and silencing Zionists, the antizionist crowd are excluding and silencing the majority of jewish people. a Jewish person who wants to integrate back into their circles has to refute their Zionism in fear of being seen as a genocide supporter, a Jewish person who refuses to hide their beliefs will be labeled evil and be ostracized. actual right-wing zionists would stay away from these spaces anyways for being leftist/centrist spaces, thus the exclusion is effective only on leftist Jews who dare believe Israel should exist.

"Zionism Isn't Judaism": is a claim many antizionists make, yet time and time again we see synagogues, Jewish schools, and Jewish neighborhood get targeted by antizionist protests. Jewish spaces are being attacked, even if you claim it is by a minority, these are still actions that are largely ignored by the antizionist crowd and aren't being condemned. you know, by the people who believe that silence is violence?

Can't Have A Single Positive Opinion About Israel: you have an Israeli relative that enlisted to the IDF? they should have refused servitude and gone to jail, you're a genocide supporter. You've done a birthright trip and it was nice? ew, everyone knows every inch of Israel is full of illegal settlements and apartheid, genocide supporter. you talked about the hostages? propaganda, genocide supporter. Israel passed a pro lgbtq law? pinkwashing propaganda, genocide supporter. you don't think Israel is an occupying terrorist force that oppresses their own citizens and deserves to be burned to the ground? genocide supporter, from the river to the sea!!!

Eretz Israel (not the State of Israel) is an integral part of Judaism. most of our holidays are about Israel in some way, some our traditions require Israel as a place, we bury our dead with soil from Israel, we vow to never forget Jerusalem during our weddings, we celebrate our agriculture and our miracles which happened there, our ancient holy cites are there, so are our ancestors (for ethnic Jews). many Jews are going to have at least a single positive or even a neutral opinion about Israel, and see it as a Jewish land.

The Israeli Identity: since people see Israel as an illegal settlement, apartheid, genocidal, terrorist state, etc, they also see Israelis as complicit in those crimes. every Israeli they meet is going to immediately be a criminal, Israelis are not a "real Jews" (that makes half the Jewish population fake), in the case Israel is dismantled and Israelis are forced to "go back to where they came from", will those countries accept them with open arms? or will the boycotts continue? what about Mizrahi Jews which hailed from the Arab world? do you think they'll even be allowed to live after their country's crimes against Palestine? will the Houtis let them when their flag has "death to Israel" on it (most Mizrahis are Yemeni)? if citizens are the same as their government, would that mean every Russian immigrant is an evil spy who wants to murder Ukrainians? just some questions to think about.

in conclusion: I'm tired. I've been writing for 3 hours. bye.

[bfpnola]

ID 1: “These are your reminders that:

Decolonization is not a metaphor or an abstract theory.

Every action/idea is born within context. This is not happening within a vacuum or the void.

It is not our place to dictate what the “proper response” is to 70+ years of occupation, genocide, and apartheid.

In 1923, even pioneering Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinksy acknowledged Zionism as a colonial project, impossible with the consent of natives.

Americans, your tax dollars (a planned $38 billion from 2017-2028) kill Palestinians. Contact your representatives.

The issue lies in settler-colonialism, not Jewish residents, as Palestine’s rich history demonstrates.

The two-state proposal is conceptually flawed, making it unsuitable for resolving conflict. How? It ignores the root issue of Zionist settler colonialism and the displacement of indigenous Palestinians. It offers solutions to symptoms.

This is not a fair fight. The resistance of indigenous people within the confines of an open-air prison ≠ the might of a nuclear-armed military superpower.

The colonial seeds of Zionism were planted nearly a century before the Holocaust.” End ID.

ID 2: “Statement from 09/08/23: Better Future Program has always, is always, and will always be a staunch ally of the Palestinian people.

Through this statement, BFP reaffirms its commitment to the Free Palestine movement, and stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine in the pursuit of their liberation from settler sovereignty, colonial dispossession, carceral culture, racial apartheid, and European/USAmerican imperialism.

BFP also denounces the Zionist agenda, which seeks to suppress the rightful claim of the Palestinian people to their ancestral homeland, and we reject the notion of a "two-state solution." This "solution" eclipses the fundamentally asymmetrical power difference between the settler-state of "israel" and the nation of Palestine.

Furthermore, BFP rejects the ideals of homonationalism and pinkwashing. For far too long, non-racialized members of the LGBTQ+ community have been complacent in the war crimes committed against Palestinians, all because of the alleged "modernity" of israeli queer life versus the "barbarity” of Palestine.” End ID.

ID 3: “It is time to reject the idea that queerness absolves whiteness/imperialism, and non-queerness justifies the abuse of generations of innocent people.

At BFP, we recognize the need to decolonize the narrative of "israel vs. Palestine" and endeavor to do so by elevating Palestinian scholarship and voices. It is wholly inappropriate to assume expertise where there is none, or to speak over Palestinian activists during dialogue regarding Palestinian liberation.

To summarize, BFP reaffirms that we will always defend Palestine and her people. BFP rejects the Zionist agenda, and its colonial, imperial, and racist trappings. Further, we reject all ideas of homonationalism and pinkwashing applied to israel's conquest of Palestine. Finally, and most importantly, BFP seeks to elevate the voices and expertise of actual Palestinians in this fight against a widespread colonial and genocidal mindset.

— BFP's Muslim + Decolonization Youth Advocate.” End ID.

ID 4: Excerpt from The Jewish Paradox by Nahum Goldman [former president of the World Zionist Organization], p. 99:

“I don't understand your optimism," Ben-Gurion [1st Prime Minister of israel] declared. "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time, but for the moment there is no chance. So it's simple: we have to stay strong and maintain a powerful army. Our whole policy is there. Otherwise the Arabs will wipes us out".

"But how can you sleep with that prospect in mind," I broke in, "and be Prime Minister of israel too?"

"Who says I sleep?" he answered simply.” End ID.

To make clear, BFP does not rejoice over the deaths of civilians. But in the words of Jewish director of ProjectLETS, Stefanie L. Kaufman-Mthimkhulu, “All death & loss is not the same. Violence in response to genocide & ethnic cleansing is NOT = violence for the sake of colonial land expansion. … Jewish people in Israel are not being targeted or killed because they are Jewish. This is the logical outcome of a colonized & dispossessed people's fight to EXIST and not be wiped off the fucking Earth or continue to live under a death-making apartheid state. Please understand."

No more band-aids or superficial fixes! We WOULD NOT be here if not for settler-colonialism, apartheid, genocide, occupation. We WOULD NOT be here if not for hundreds to thousands of Palestinian deaths at the hands of the IDF every year. The historical truths, even acknowledged by Zionist leaders and British records, cannot be hidden any longer. It is journalistic malpractice to continue to obscure the context that begets Palestinians’ desperately warranted responses.

And to those who may have forgotten, ALL OF OUR STRUGGLES ARE INTERCONNECTED. This has to do with YOU too. This is OUR struggle too. Open your eyes. Please.

[jacensolodjo]

I just wish people cared more about Ukraine. I wish I didn't have to watch and fear that tomorrow a friend will stop posting because they're dead. Because russia killed them. And no one gives a shit.

Russia murders so many Ukrainians and no one can give a single fuck about it. Russia is right, Ukraine is wrong. Russia is committing genocide and war crime after war crime but it's fine it is just eastern europe. Let the former soviet states fight it out. What does it fucking matter?

Blah blah US proxy war. Go fuck yourself.

But it is almost worse to see people who can't even find Ukraine on a map decide they know Ukraine is the evil one.

Ukraine never attacked first. Ukraine wanted and wants to be left alone. Russia can't allow it. Why is that okay?

Why is it okay for russia to be like this? Why is it okay for people to ignore the war crimes. The hospitals bombed. The supermarkets blown up. The civilian housing flattened.

Oh but such and such western country-- I don't care. I care about Ukraine. I care what is happening to Ukraine now. By russia. When will it be 'bye russia'?

(Also don't think we don't see all the shit you heap on Zelenskyy. All the antisemitism. Guess what for a country supposedly filled with nazis, Ukraine has like the lowest rate of antisemitism compared to western countries and russia itself but you don't care abt the facts you care there is a jew who is president of ukraine that you want to pretend wanted this war and controls the USA but you pretend it's just abt the 'nazis in ukraine' even tho you're the one spouting the nazi rhetoric.)

[sophieinwonderland]

please explain how burning the one flag that represents freedom for all 50 states with all 50 stars, is "protecting our liberty"

So this is weird...

They blocked me and all of their asks disappeared from my inbox on desktop... But apparently I can still respond on mobile?

Tumblr really needs to get this fixed.

Anyway, taking this opportunity to reiterate... Protecting free speech means protecting speech that you don't like.

The flag, at its best, is a symbol of freedom and unity, yes. But it is also a symbol of imperialism and colonialism. This is the flag under which we detained Asian immigrants in World War II for their ethnicity. It's the flag of a country that displaced native Americans, and spent hundreds of years committing a cultural genocide against them. It's a flag but oversaw a century of slavery.

It's the flag under which we have committed numerous war crimes, from Vietnam to the fraudulent invasion of Iraq that was based on lies of weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist. It's a flag that destabilized countries around the world and performed illegal experiments on our own citizens.

It's a flag of the country of the Tulsa race massacre. A flag of the country that has one of the highest prison populations in the world. Much of which are from marginalized communities.

I could go on and on listing all of the horrible things that the flag stands for. What this flag means is different to different people.

There are a lot of good reasons that people don't like this country. There are a lot of good reasons that people don't like the flag that represents it.

But besides the emotional reasons for burning a flag... There is one very practical reason.

When you are going out and protesting against corruption and injustice, those in power will try to ignore you as best they can.

But you light the flag on fire, and people will pay attention.

If the part of the flag that you like is the positive parts, the dedication to freedom and free speech most of all... Then it is your duty to those values to protect the right of people who don't share your views to burn it in protest of the negative things that the flag stands for.

[icycoldninja]

Can you perhaps write a reader whose a war veteran/anti-war photographer with the DMC boys?

She became an anti war photographer after witnessing multiple horrors and war crimes committed by both her country as well as many others during her time serving as a front line soldier

When they ask her why she finally chose to become an anti-war photographer, she confessed that she can’t keep turning a blind eye to every atrocities committed by some soldiers ( some nights, her guilt of ignoring both her ex-comrade’s as well as other soldier’s war crimes comes to eat her up, reminding her of who she was and what she could’ve done to prevent their war crimes but instead she chose to stay ignorant as she didn’t have a backbone then )

So that’s how she became an anti-war photographer, to raise awareness of the after effects of war the governments chose to keep silent about in hopes to press enough pressure on them to apologize for their committed war crimes. Not just war, but also to raise awareness about silent genocides still happening in some parts of the world

A small part of her reasoning has to do with the fact she still feels guilty of feigning ignorance to the war crimes she had to commit as well as other’s so she became a photographer in hopes to feel less guilty abt herself

Yes, of course, enjoy!

Sparda boys + V x Veteran!Reader headcannons

¤ Dante ¤

-Dante was worried about you, and how you always run out to the front lines to take pictures of all the atrocities going on over there, then sending them to news sites so word can be spread.

-He couldn't understand why you did this. You were a veteran, someone who'd been in combat plenty of times in your life, why would you want to go back?

-After some time, he decidedd to ask you about it, not at all prepared for the response you gave him.

-You publicly displayed your opinions against war because you felt guilty for all the crimes you committed during your time in service and wanted to show the world that war was harmful, as a way to atone for your sins.

-While Dante thought that was a noble effort, he didn't want you going out there and putting yourself in danger.

-If you weren't going to reel it in, then he would go with you to ensure your safety.

■ Vergil ■

-Vergil never paid any mind to humans and their foolishness; they could wage all the wars they wanted and he wouldn't care.

-However, that all changed after discovering you were an anti-war photographer who readily charged into the fray to expose the harsh truth of battles.

-He instantly became more concerned with affairs such as these, though only for your safety.

-He once traveled to the front lines with you, and while what he saw was horrific, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before.

-He later asked you why you did all this, and what you hoped to gain from doing such dangerous work. After hearing your reasoning, he decides you are a fool.

-While what you do might cleanse you of your guilt and all that, there's no denying you're willingly putting yourself in danger, and that you could likely get killed taking pictures of the violence. You must understand, he doesn’t intend to sound like he wants to crush your dreams; if something were to ever happen to you, he'd never get over it.

□ Nero □

-Nero knew you were a war veteran and that you'd seen some shit, but he didn't think it was so bad, you'd start becoming an anti war photographer.

-Getting you to explain why you do what you do was difficult, as it was a sensitive topic, but once you revealed the truth, Nero understood.

-Not that he's opposing you. If anything, Nero's supportive of you and your feelings. He's seen a lot of violence too, remember?

-He is concerned about your safety, but that just gives him an excuse to tag along and help take pictures.

-He's not scared of the blood and gore, nor does he enjoy it; he just wants to help you in any way that he can.

-He's your assistant, cameraman, editor and pretty much anything you need him to be. Even though he isn't as zealous about promoting anti-war material, he still helps because he knows this is your passion.

● V ●

-V didn't think much of your profession when he saw/heard of it.

-It's your business to do what makes you happy, and if taking pictures of the violence on war fronts makes you happy, then so be it.

-While V is rather worried about you out there, Griffon frequently assures him he has nothing to worry about; you can take care of yourself, and if he's really that worried, then he go with you.

-V decides to take this sage advice and accompany you on your next journey. Needless to say, he did not enjoy it. No one did.

-Upon returning from that traumatic trip, V asked you why you would willingly charge into such a dark place like that, knowing the horrors that lay in wait.

-Your response was equally as dark; it showed him just how much battle had scarred you and how far you were willing to go to atone for what you'd done.

[daisyachain]

It’s been read into the record that the US Army committed egregious civilian massacres in Vietnam, killed an estimated 100-500 thousand civilians in total in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, caused thousands more poisonings, birth defects, and related deaths in the Agent Orange ecocide. Vietnam is considered by most residents of developed countries to be an unfortunate policy bungle in which US soldiers suffered trauma.

This is not counting massacres by allied forces. It is unsealed public knowledge that the United States either installed or propped up military dictatorships in a majority of Latin American countries and Indonesia, which engaged in political killings. The United States backed the governments which carried out the genocide of the Maya. US interventions in Latin America are considered by most residents of developed countries to consist of a heroic opposition to Cuban dictatorship, where they are considered at all. Indonesia does not exist.

The word ‘genocide’ was coined to describe the Armenian genocide. Descendants of Armenian survivors have risen to prominence in US pop culture (Cher, System of a Down). Armenians have suffered crimes, military aggression, and civilian killings by Azerbaijani and allied forces multiple times within the past five years. The US government recognized the Armenian genocide for the first time in 2019. The United Nations organized COP29 in Baku with no formal dissent or objection from developed countries, and I’ve seen accounts on here with my own eyes praising the current Turkish government (more of a case of ‘you do not under any circumstances have to hand it to a far-right nationalist regime because they’re geopolitically opposed to Israel’s far-right nationalist regime’). Most residents of developed countries couldn’t point to the Caucasus on a map.

These atrocities and many, many more are cases of factual unarguable history that have been acknowledged by hegemonic governments. There is no public or intellectual debate on the fact of the Armenian genocide, American installation of Pinochet, the My Lai massacre. It’s gone down in history.

It’s also true that the average resident, even the average sensible political moderate in the suite of developed countries has an understanding of the world that denies or excludes these facts. Tumblr fandom blogs will share a video of Erdogan if he’s saying something politically convenient, a mildly left-wing guy will disbelieve me when I mention the Pinochet thing until I make him look it up on friggin Wikipedia, there are 2 Vietnam War films focusing on heroic American characters released in or after Anno Domini 2020. One of which is by a solidly progressive director.

I’ve seen the sentiment frequently that history will show the Israeli genocide as the most vicious, cruel, inhuman assault on humanity since the turn of the millennium. That is true. It will show as fact, records will be unsealed, media distortions will die down. Already, internal Israeli news sources Haaretz and +972 have disproven many of the claims used by the US government as an excuse to dismember children on the basis of ethnicity.

At the same time, I think that there’s a lot of evidence that factual atrocities will be ignored by the liberal hegemony as long as they’re inconvenient. The Shoah is remembered as a tragedy in part because it fits into a narrative that portrays the US as a morally just world power. Universally acknowledged genocides mass killings have little to no impact on the memories or politics of ‘normal people’ in developed countries. Most people don’t know that the UAE is currently playing a key role in the decimation of Sudan’s population and most people, if they ever did find out, would not see any reason for the US to use its economic leverage to have any impact on the UAE at all.

The record does and will show that Israel is guilty of genocide. It will go away sooner or later because of the efforts of Palestinians and allies to free Palestine from occupation, apartheid, and genocide. I don’t think that anyone who cheered on genocide will be aware of any of this, reflect on any of it, or do anything at all make up for the people they’ve killed. Vindication by history might not change them at all. Which is why it makes sense to keep bringing up the Palestinian genocide in all contexts whether ‘appropriate’ or not, because all historical evidence shows that it will be swept under the rug, forgotten, or misremembered if it doesn’t remain a conversational landmine forever

[houseofpurplestars]

🚨 Government Media Office (1/2):

—

The famine deepens in the Gaza Strip, and the airdrops of aid are useless. We hold the the American administration, the international community, and the "israeli" occupation responsible.

The famine continues to deepen significantly in the governorates of the Gaza Strip, with 2,400,000 people suffering from a severe lack of food. The famine is particularly severe in the governorates of North Gaza and Gaza. This disaster has already led to the martyrdom of 15 children due to hunger, malnutrition, and dehydration, threatening the lives of more than 700,000 Palestinian citizens suffering from extreme hunger.

Some countries have attempted to air drop aid through a few planes, but it is well known that this is not the optimal method to deliver aid to the people of the Gaza Strip. In this regard, we would like to affirm the following:

🚨 Government Media Office (2/2):

—

1. We believe some countries that have conducted aerial aid drops have good intentions, while others, like the United States and others, have malicious and devious intentions as they actively participate in the war, supply the occupation with weapons, and give it the green light to commit more massacres.

2. The practice of airdropping aid and ignoring the introduction of aid through land crossings is part of a circumventing strategy that avoids root solutions to the problem by following showy, propaganda, and ineffective methods. This aligns with the occupation's policy of enhancing the starvation policy, buying time for the occupation, and extending the famine to inflict as much damage as possible on the people and citizens.

3. The air-dropping operations carry serious repercussions for the residents and people, posing a significant challenge, as part of this aid lands near the separation fence or in areas controlled by the occupation army or within the occupied Palestinian lands, thus endangering the lives of citizens trying to access the aid.

4. Air-dropping operations are extremely difficult in a crowded environment like the Gaza Strip, home to 2,400,000 people. Aerially delivered aid is susceptible to damage due to weather conditions or serious accidents in the Gaza Strip. Some of the aid dropped has fallen into the sea and has not reached the people, while land transport of aid reaches citizens safely and is not subject to damage.

5. The aid delivered by air is minimal and limited, and the capacity of the planes is limited and does not meet the people's needs at all. The aerially delivered aid does not cover anything, but is merely a drop in the ocean of massive needs, unlike land transport, which can deliver the largest possible quantity of aid safely to the people and citizens suffering from hunger. Additionally, aerial transport operations are significantly more expensive than much less costly land transport operations.

6. The aid delivered by air does not achieve justice at all, as this process requires 2,400,000 people to go out into the streets and then run after the aid, which does not reach safe places, in a shameful, humiliating, inhumane, and non-humanitarian manner.

7. The policy of closing land crossings to relief, supply, and food aid convoys constitutes a war crime in violation of international law, international humanitarian law, and all international conventions, which is what the occupation does against our Palestinian people since the beginning of the genocide.

In light of all this, we renew our full responsibility to the American administration, the international community, and the "israeli" occupation for the genocide waged by the occupation against civilians, children, and women. We also hold them responsible for the famine and the enhancement of the starvation policy, and for 19 types of crimes against humanity committed by the occupation in the Gaza Strip.

We call on all free countries of the world to pressure the occupation to stop the genocide and ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people, which has claimed more than 100,000 victims, including martyrs, wounded, and detainees, and to immediately and unconditionally stop the bloodshed against civilians, women, and children.

Government Media Office

Sunday, March 3, 2024

t.me/PalestineResist

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Children of Gaza protest the extreme hunger and famine they are experiencing, chanting slogans saying, "We have been under brutal siege for 135 days. No food, no water, no medicine!"]

[ 📸 An infographic published by the Quds News Network detailing that food aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip have been reduced by more than a third.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚨

ISRAELI ENTITY REFUSING TO COMPLY WITH ICJ DECISION, FOOD AID TO GAZA DROPS BY A THIRD

In a report issued by Human Rights Watch, the rights organization says that, in the month since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its ruling, the Israeli entity has refused to comply with the decision, continuing its genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the Palestinian enclave.

Back on January 26th, 2024, the ICJ issued a ruling where, citing "catastrophic conditions" in the Gaza Strip, the ICJ ordered Israeli authorities to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid,” and to report back to the Court with evidence of its compliance to the ordered measures “within one month.”

Now, one month following the ICJ ruling, the Israeli occupation continues to "obstruct the provision of basic services and the entry and distribution within Gaza of fuel and lifesaving aid," all while committing "acts of collective punishment that amount to war crimes and include the use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war."

Human Rights Watch says that "fewer trucks have entered Gaza and fewer aid missions have been permitted to reach northern Gaza" in the month after the ICJ ruling, over the weeks preceeding it, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“The Israeli government is starving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, putting them in even more peril than before the World Court’s binding order,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli government has simply ignored the court’s ruling, and in some ways even intensified its repression, including further blocking lifesaving aid.”

Human Rights Watch emphasized that "other countries should use all forms of leverage, including sanctions and embargoes to press the Israeli government to comply with the Court's binding orders in the genocide case."

Human Rights Watch previously found in December of 2023 that the Israeli authorities were "using starvation as a weapon of war" as part of a policy "set out by Israeli officials and carried out by Israeli forces" to deliberately block the delivery of food, water and fuel, "willfully impeding humanitarian assistance."

According to data published by OCHA and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), the average number of trucks entering Gaza with food, aid supplies and medicine "dropped by more than a third in the weeks following the ICJ decision, with 93 humanitarian aid trucks entering Gaza between January 27th and February 21st, 2024, compared with 147 trucks between January 1st and January 26th, 2024, and only 57 trucks between February 9th and February 21st, 2024.

A survey of "impediments to the entry of aid" faced by the 24 humanitarian organizations operating in the Gaza Strip between January 26th and February 15th, 2024 "pointed to a lack of transparency around how aid trucks can enter Gaza, delays and denials at Israeli crossings and inspection points, and concerns about safety of trucks."

By comparison, Human Rights Watch says that an average of 500 trucks filled with food and goods entered Gaza each day prior to the escalation of hostilities beginning on October 7th, 2023, during which time 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza were estimated to to be "facing acute food insecurity," with 80% of Gaza's population reliant on humanitarian aid under Israel's 16-years-long blockade of the Palestinian enclave, which Human Rights Watch calls "unlawful."

"High-ranking Israeli officials have articulated a policy to deprive civilians of food, water, and fuel, as Human Rights Watch has documented," the rights organization said.

The Israeli authorities, for their part, blame the UN for "distribution delays," and accuse Hamas of "diverting aid" and the Gaza police for "failing to secure aid convoys."

"The Israeli government cannot shift blame to evade responsibility," Human Rights Watch said in its report.

"Israel is obliged to provide for the welfare of the occupied population and ensure that the humanitarian needs of Gaza’s population are met. The Israeli human rights group Gisha challenged the Israeli government’s claims that it is not obstructing entry or distribution of aid and also found that it is not complying with the ICJ order."

Human Rights Watch also accuses Israel of destroying the offices of at least two humanitarian organizations and have undermined the work of UNRWA, the largest such aid organization currently operating in the Gaza Strip, with the organization's chief, Phillippe Lazzarini, stating in a letter on February 22nd that the aid organization has reached the "breaking point" due to suspensions of funding after accusations by Israel that a handful of its personnel were involved peripherally in the October 7th attacks on illegal Israeli settlements.

The report also blames Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, for blocking aid shipments, including a shipment of Flour from the United States, because "it was going to UNRWA," based on the accusations that 12 of the Agency's 30'000 employees might have participated, directly or indirectly, in the October 7th attacks, which the United Nations is currently investigating.

According to the report, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a multiparty initiative, concluded that "over 90% of Gaza's population is at a crises level of acute food insecurity or worse," with the IPC emphasizing that "virtually all Palestinians in Gaza" are regularly skipping meals as a result of near famine conditions in the enclave, while adults commonly go without eating entirely in order for their children to eat.

“This is the highest share of people facing high levels of acute food insecurity that the IPC initiative has ever classified for any given area or country,” the group is quoted as saying.

Furthermore, on February 19th, a study published by the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that over 90% of children under the age of 2, and 95% of pregnant and breastfeeding women are facing "severe food poverty," while on February 22nd, the organization Save the Children said Gaza's Palestinian families are "forced to forage for scraps of food left by rats and eating leaves out of desperation to survive." The organization also added that, "all 1.1 million children in Gaza [are] facing starvation."

The ICJ's ruling orders Israel to "protect the rights claimed by South Africa that the Court has found to be plausible," including "the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide," and although South Africa asked the Court to provide "provisional measures" to make any report it ordered public, the court has not yet done so.

However, since the Court's ruling, in the period from January 26th to February 23rd, the Israeli occupation has slaughtered more than 3'400 Palestinians, according to figures from Gaza's Ministry of Health and compiled by OCHA.

According to Human Rights Watch, "South Africa's case against Israel for genocide is distinct from the proceedings on the legal consequences of Israel's 57-year occupation, which began at the ICJ on February 19th."

According to Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine director, Shakir Omar, "Israel’s blatant disregard for the World Court’s order poses a direct challenge to the rules-based international order."

“Failure to ensure Israel’s compliance puts the lives of millions of Palestinians at risk and threatens to undermine the institutions charged with ensuring respect for international law and the system that ensures civilian protection worldwide," the director added.

#source

#videosource

#infographicsource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[i-cant-sing]

I just want to take a moment as someone from Israel-in Israel. A woman in Israel.

I do not agree with what my country is doing. I do not agree with the violence and atrocities we commit. But just like Americans, we can be against a war our country is fighting.

Yes, if Israel stops this war, the war is over. It is not equal.

But we cannot ignore what Palestine has done, also. I have lost family. Many people I know have lost family. I am fortunate in that I was not ever taken, I am far from the border, but I know someone who lost a sister. When her body was recovered, she had been raped. This happens on both sides, as women are seen as property of the state. But it does not excuse it. There is no excuse in raping women. Not even for freedom, as how can you achieve freedom through violating women?

I understand it muddies waters to say that there is violence on both sides. There are atrocities on both sides. We like to pretend it is one sided as it makes it easier. But it isn't. You can be the country in the right and still commit war crimes.

I understand if my words are seen as unwelcome here. But I wished to see it acknowledged, the pain that has been brought, not always justly. War is simple, but it is also complex. Trauma goes back generations, it grows roots and takes hold. The fear of the Israeli people for another holocaust is perhaps not well founded, but it is real in our minds. It will always be. The hatred we faced for something not of our doing by Palestinians was real. Our response does not become justified, an overreaction is not justified. But it was real. Their hatred for their land being taken was real-but their reaction to us was not justified. Not in the beginning.

I suppose i am trying to point out the suffering we face as a reminder that we are not our country. I do not enjoy seeing myself and my family and friends vilified in media because of where we live-where we were uprooted to because our family was murdered and our homes taken from us. But I understand our government does evil, now. But we are not our government. Even if we wished to speak up for Palestine, we would be branded terrorists. The things done to innocents is never justified, on either side.

This isn't a war because for a war, both countries should be able to have somewhat similar resources to defend themselves. It's a fucking massacre, a genocide, a cold blooded murder.

Look at Israel's military budget, that gets US aid. Now compare it with Palestine.

Your suffering, the death of your loved ones, your pain, its not invalidated, but it certainly will never compare to the pain of Palestinians.

I understand that this is Israel's government that's behind all this, but you guys are the ones who voted for them. So you should come out and begin protesting for Palestine, even at the cost of being labelled as "antisemitic" or "hamas sympathiser". If Holocaust survivors were to be here, do you think they'd stay silent? People of Israel chose and voted their government officials who now don't even consider Palestinians as humans, so... sorry to say honey, but yall are also responsible for this genocide.

Water, food, fuel, electricity, even donations and trucks carrying MEDICAL supplies have been cut off or prevented from reaching Palestinians. Is that happening in Israel rn? Didn't McDonald's just promise to supply food to the Israle armed forces??

Now, anon, imagine this-

Your country is being bombed, what for? You're not even sure exactly at this point. You've been kicked out of your home, which was then bombarded. your dad's business? All gone, his money, tears sweat, were all for naught. You've been shifted to a refugee camp, and you've been moving from one camp to another for many years because you're constantly hearing airstrikes. You've lost many of your siblings, family, friends. Every night that you go to sleep, with your mother making sure that all of remaining family members are sleeping together, so that in case something happens, you're all dead and no one has to live in pain to mourn for others. Your entire childhood is gone now because you've witnessed such horrible conditions, death is almost always a certainty, and you're struggling for basic necessities such as drinking water, food, etc. Almost all of your family is dead, you were one of the "lucky" ones who didn't die under a pile of rubble. You're grown up now, and you're thinking of leaving this hell by educating yourself and applying to a university outside of Palestine but oh oh! Well, the passing rate is incredibly low, less than 1% of students pass a test which is graded by an occupying force. The doctor who onec treated you is now breaking down becase she lost her entore family in the airstrike while she was helping victims of the same airstrikes, but she doesnt have time to mourn them or wven bury them because the hospital is understaffed nd theres way too many trauma patients in the triage that need her. Oh and look, your best friend was just shot in the back of the head. What for? He was just walking down the street. And the little kid you saw yesterday? Well he was body slammed to the ground by the occupying force's police and taken into custody where he was forced to confess to a crime he never committed, WAS TRAUMATISED AND TORTURED and was never even given a fair trial before he was locked up for more than 2 decades, after which this kid, now an adult has developed schizophrenia. As for you, you thank your lucky stars because you passed your test somehow but oh no. You're suddenly being taken into custody by the occupying force for "suspicious activity and links to a terrorist organisation".

Shall I go on?

[paperstorm]

It's so sad to know that your favorite character who gives you comfort is played by an ignorant pro-genocide piece of shit. I know we should separate characters from actors but every time I see tk I see him and I just can't.

I don't think that's a fair thing to call him. From what I've seen (I don't have instagram so correct me if he's posted something new that I haven't seen) he has posted about how Israel was attacked (factual), that peace needs to be achieved for both sides, and that Hamas is a terrorist organization (it's designated so by most Western countries, you can disagree with that designation if you want but it's important context that he didn't pull that out of nowhere.) You don't have to like what he's posted. I wish it was more nuanced. I wish he was currently showing the same outrage for the genocide and ethnic cleansing that's happening in Gaza as he showed for the Hamas attack last week. I find it all the kind of disappointing that puts a pit in my stomach. But pro-genocide is an extraordinarily serious accusation and I don't think it's helpful to be flinging that around as if it doesn't mean anything.

There are people in the west who are very explicitly calling for genocide. Senator Lindsey Graham, as an example. There are people who are outright stating that Palestinian citizens are inhuman and deserve to be exterminated. That is unbelievably serious and horrific and it only waters down the dangerousness of that sort of talk when we use words like pro-genocide to describe anyone whose views don't exactly align with our own. If you have trouble separating him from TK, that really sucks. You're valid in that emotion and I'm so genuinely sorry about it. You're certainly not alone there, lots of people are struggling with that right now. But we can't, we can't, get into the territory of accusing random American celebrities of war crimes when actual war crimes are being committed. I'm begging. It doesn't help Palestinians. It only serves to undermine the gravity of what's actually happening.

[janaknandini-singh999]

neutrality is a much greater threat than taking a side. you can't create balance by putting your two feet in separate boats which ultimately are sailing in opposite directions. your heart is in the right place but instead of using your empathy outwardly to help your fellow people, you are using it to appease yourself and absolve yourself of responsibility. your empathy should not remain a feeling but should transform into action. otherwise your empathy holds no value if it can't be felt by the people you have empathy for. which they can only feel if you do something with your empathy. for them.

if you have the ability to recognize the hateful intentions and actions of hindutva extremists, why then are you saying that the only solution is "karma"? that they will get karma'd? i get that you're religious and all. but ultimately isn't leaving fate to god also inaction, avoidance, irresponsibility. god did not save the jews, and if conscious hindus make excuses like "karma", guess what, god will not be able to save our muslims either.

all this to say, abeyyaaar is right. and you are being wrongly defensive.

"all lives matter" as a slogan would have made sense had there been someone who was denying that notion. but who's denying this stance? no one. all lives matter is a given. hell it is a right. but wonder why activists say "black lives matter", "muslim lives matter", "indigenous lives matter" and why that is important? because the status quo is not in compliance with these beliefs. that is why. muslim people, black people, their inherent right to live, right to be is threatened under the current society. which is why these slogans are raised. because they are not mere beliefs, but demands for something that doesn't exist, something that isn't just a given, yet. get it now?

leftists are not angry. we leftists are afraid. history is about recognizing patterns. and when our powerful politicians demonize maginalized communities, when our foreign minister praises majoritarianism in a country where hate crimes are surging, history would tell us that such happenings form the foundation for some really dark events. dark events like the ones that, well, you know. all of which were avoidable had these "neutral" bystanders hadn't been so neutral about literal hate crimes and discrimination.

you cannot look at the ram temple by ignoring the context in which it has been constructed. you cannot separate muslim suffering from the ram temple just so you as a hindu can enjoy your religion in a bubble. when you separate the two, you are undermining the former. temples should always have way less value than actual human life. if something i like has come at the cost of a whole community i'd be very appalled and disgusted. and ashamed of the people who weaponize my religion for political gains.

okay this was long um. but i hope this msg wasn't in vain.

to remind you the infamous quote by south african activist Desmond Tutu, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

First of all I'm neutral when it comes to lives, not when it comes to sides. Ik the quote very well "nobody is a bystander in a war of Dharma"

If I were born some time ago in history, I'd be against invaders and colonizers but today I'm against violent fascists (be it Hindu/Muslim like in Ram mandir's case it's some Hindus)

I never said karma is the "only solution" but isn't it your karma only when you fight for rights?

When I say neutrality I use it as a perspective for other Hindus to cast aside extremist religious sentiments for a moment and see for what's actually happening and thereby translating it into support

It is not question of religion/taking sides after a point but the question of humanity which can only be raised when people start asking like Arjun asked Krishna in the dilemma of war

I see Palestine and am horrified, no matter what the complicated history of a land is, nobody has the right to commit a genocide

I stand with the oppressed

[jordanianroyals]

2 May 2024: Queen Rania called on the international community to put urgent pressure on Israel to end the collective punishment of the people of Gaza, and to cease its violations against Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

“When you adopt starvation as a weapon of war, that is collective punishment; that is a war crime. When you displace an entire population, that is a war crime,” Her Majesty said. “It's very clear that Israel has no problem targeting civilians, and that they assign very little value to Palestinian life.”

In an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid in New York on her show ‘The ReidOut,’ Queen Rania explained that people in the Arab World and beyond have been “devastated” by the unprecedented human toll of Israel’s war on Gaza, noting that 35,000 Palestinians, 70% of whom are women and children, have been killed, and 1.7 million people have been displaced.

“As traumatic and devastating as the events of October 7th had been, we can't justify the way that this war is being fought. This is not a normal war. Humanitarian workers who have seen everything have said they've never seen anything like it,” Queen Rania said. “Just to put it in perspective, this war has killed more children in five months than all the conflicts in the world in the past four years.”

Commenting on the January ruling of the International Court of Justice, which deemed it plausible that Israel is committing acts of genocide against the Palestinians, the Queen noted that it might take years for the Court to issue its final ruling.

“We cannot wait. People are being killed today. History is being written today. We're already very late, and the longer we wait, the larger the stain on our global consciousness,” she said. “The fact that we're even debating that should be sending shockwaves in our international community. Who wants to err on the side of a genocide?”

Her Majesty also highlighted the “dangerous precedent” of the unequal application of international humanitarian law and the subsequent “sense of impunity” among Israeli officials.

“When international law is broken with no consequence, when UN resolutions are ignored or dismissed, what does it mean? What does it mean when international humanitarian law is applied selectively? Or when certain countries are punished for poor human rights records, while Israel, which is accused of possibly committing genocide is rewarded with more arms? Where's the fairness here?”

The Queen went on to note that it can be very difficult for others wrap their head around the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation, and having every aspect of their lives policed and controlled.

”It's about nightly raids, military incursions, lands being confiscated, children being taken from their beds in the middle of the night…” she said. “Israel is the only country that that prosecutes children in military courts. And then they are subjected to a lot of abuse in the prison system, where they are held under solitary confinement, strip searches, beatings of course, deprived of their medicine, hardly fed... This is the reality of Palestinians.”

The Queen explained that, alongside its war against Gaza, Israel has been taking punitive measures against Palestinians in the West Bank. About 500 Palestinians, including 124 children, have been killed and 8,000 have been arrested in the West Bank, Her Majesty said.

“We've seen the largest land grab in 30 years take place in March – 800 hectares of Palestinian land. Armed settler attacks are at a record high. They're attacking Palestinian homes, burning crops, attacking their solar panels, water tanks, cars… This is happening every day, and it's under full view, if not participation, of the army.”

Queen Rania stressed the importance of achieving a just peace, noting that the pre-war status quo was not sustainable for either Israelis or Palestinians. “That status quo has been broken forever. And it is a status quo that was based on an illegal occupation that fueled fear and insecurity on both sides. It's a status quo that has no political horizons, and therefore made the option of violence more attractive,” she said.

Calling on the international community to “put its weight behind” peace efforts, Her Majesty underscored that both sides of the conflict must be held accountable. “Having a just peace cannot just be about the stronger side implementing its will over the weaker side.”

“Palestinians have less resources, they have less influence, they have less leverage, but they don't have less rights,” Her Majesty said. “Disproportionate power should never result in unequal rights.”

The Queen also recalled the advice of her late father-in-law, His Majesty King Hussein, who signed a peace deal with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1994. “He's the one who once said to me, ‘Rania, you always have to put yourself in the other person's shoes.’

I've never forgotten those words. A simple thing to do – but very rarely are people doing that these days. And that is the door to empathy.”

“All I want is for people to just, for once, try to put themselves in the shoes of Palestinians,” she said.

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

What are your major views concerning the Israel Palestine war?

A good question.

I am assuming that you refer to Israel's current military retaliation in Gaza, which I will answer. However, I will also broaden your question to include the state of the conflict.

First of all, Israel's military retaliation in Gaza was entirely provoked by the Hamas terrorist organisation.

Despite international media scrutinising Israel's actions, nobody with a fair mind should downplay the scale of the crime that Hamas committed. The Jews have never suffered such an act of genocidal terrorism since the Holocaust, and some Israeli witnesses and survivors have testified that the some of crimes Hamas committed exceed those committed by Islamic State and the Nazis.

This is important to remember, as the actions of Israel and Hamas are not equal, no matter what the media, activists and the mob of empty-headed, allegedly "progressive" mouthpieces online (including on Tumblr) claim. Israel has acted in self-defence and to punish a terrorist organisation; Hamas acted to massacre the Jewish population.

Two important points are being missed by the international media and other groups:

1- Hamas' act of terror on October 7 was not motivated by politics. The claims made by student organisations at Harvard University and Columbia and co., asserting that the terrorist attack was motivated by the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, are a blatant attempt to rationalise the pure evil that Hamas committed. This despite the scale of Hamas' crimes: beheading babies, burning children alive. The sheer sadistic evil of these crimes already demonstrates that the motivation wasn't political: it was pure, Nazi Jew-hatred.

Since 2006, Hamas has stated clearly that it aims for the extermination of Jews worldwide. This charter has been available for public viewing for years, yet people who rationalise the evil of Hamas have either never heard of it because they don't speak Arabic (and can't be bothered to do any research), or they know of Hamas' genocidal aims against the Jews and are choosing to ignore this because they believe the Jews are responsible for attracting such hatred. I'll never forget the liberal commentator, Kyle Kulinski, rationalising Hamas' antisemitism by claiming that it's because 'they're pissed off'.

Imagine someone claiming that the KKK's hatred of black people was because they were 'pissed off'.

2- The October 7 attack was just the beginning of a series of murderous attacks on Jews worldwide. This fact utterly destroys the claims of student organisations and other rationalisers of evil, who insist that if the Israelis merely acceded to demands made by the Palestinians, then no such terrorist attacks would have occurred.

It's difficult to categorise just how pathetic, cowardly, and disgraceful such assertions are, yet they are usually unchallenged. Prior to October 7, there were many Zionists who said similar things (though they did not rationalise the terrorist attacks): yield to the Palestinians and the conflict will end.

This is a lie.

We have already established that Hamas has a target on the head of every Jew on this planet. And intelligence agencies in European countries have already uncovered plots by Hamas agents in Denmark and the Netherlands, planning murderous attacks on Jews and synagogues.

And to be honest, Hamas doesn't even need such agents. Shortly after their heinous crime, Hamas terrorists called on Muslims to start a day of rage in their defence, a request that thousands, if not millions, of Muslims agreed to do. Since the massacre, people on the pro-Palestinian side, many of them Muslim and Arabic, have been seen celebrating the massacre and calling for the murder of Jews. The infamous video taken in Sydney, in which a crowd calls for the Jews to be gassed, is just one example of such hatred.

Given the scale of Hamas' hatred of Jews and the active danger that Hamas poses to Jews across the world, you can now begin to see why Israel has retaliated in this way.

This is not a decision that Israel took for the pleasure of seeking revenge. For years, Israeli politicians such as Binyamin Netanyahu and much of the elites in Israel's military and intelligence thought that a combination of firefighting and appeasement of Hamas would deal with the security threat to Israel in Gaza. Every time Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel, the Israeli military would wait until the barrage became intolerable, then seek to eliminate Hamas terrorists and destroy buildings where they stored weaponry-- a claim that Israel has proven over and over again.

October 7 has proven that those measures were utterly misguided, to say the very least. When the dust has settled, many Israeli politicians and military top brass will have to explain how security could have failed so dramatically on October 7, leading to Hamas terrorists slaughtering IDF soldiers in their beds.

Israel cannot exist with Hamas on its border. I don't know whether the international media is underlining the fact that Hamas is not the only Palestinian terrorist organisation operating in Gaza; Islamic Jihad, known as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, is there as well. This terrorist organisation undoubtedly assisted with the October 7 massacre.

Hamas also operates in the West Bank, and since October 7, it has become even more popular with Palestinians there.

Such information isn't being acknowledged in the international media, or by the cottage industry of so-called activists, either. This undermines the popular claim that Hamas is entirely separate from the Palestinian civilian population.

We know that:

1- Palestinian civilians with work permits from Gaza collected information on Israeli families and passed it to Hamas before October 7

2- Palestinian civilians are seen wildly celebrating the attack, including when the near-naked body of Shani Louk was paraded in Gaza and Palestinian men spat on her; when an Israeli boy was kidnapped and is pictured being pushed around and bullied by Palestinian boys; when an Israeli woman who was violently raped (her trousers are drenched in blood) was dragged out of a car and the Palestinian crowd cheered; when an Israeli mother and her child were pushed and shoved by Palestinian terrorists, again with a crowd cheering

3- We know that some Palestinian civilians entered Israel on October 7 and assisted with the massacres and probably with other war crimes as well

4- Hamas uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, and as assistants to spy on IDF positions and signal to Hamas to release booby traps. The death toll of IDF soldiers, largely ignored by the international media, is often because of them entering booby-trapped buildings

This information is crucial, yet being largely ignored. Many don't even know these facts. But this information helps demonstrate why Israel is targeting buildings in Gaza with unprecedented force. These buildings are often booby-trapped by Hamas terrorists, and civilian collaborators with terrorists are using the rooftops as a vantage point to help Hamas murder IDF soldiers.

In addition to this, Israel has to contend with Hamas' underground tunnel network, which it uses for stockpiling weaponry and now, for keeping hostages.

Israel is in the extremely difficult position of needing to destroy Hamas bases above and below ground and kill Hamas terrorists and collaborators, while also wanting to save the innocent Israelis kidnapped by this evil organisation. It's tragically unsurprising, therefore, that Israel's retaliation campaign puts the Israeli hostages in serious and even mortal danger (although Hamas terrorists already subjected such hostages to unspeakable crimes against humanity).

Again, these are all crucial facts and pieces of context all missing from the wild-eyed, pseudo-moralistic deluge of hatred against Israel that features so prominently among the uneducated (including and especially university students) and the bigoted.

So far, we can see that Hamas is motivated by hatred of Jews, not dissatisfaction with the allocation of land. A further piece of proof is that Hamas came to power with a mandate to murder Jews worldwide, despite the fact that Israel completely withdrew from Gaza in 2005, believing that this would please the Arabs and lead to peace. Not many people realise that Jews have lived in Gaza for centuries (there were synagogues in Gaza, if you can picture it), and they are now the only ethnic group forbidden from entering. This is real ethnic cleansing, but that doesn't produce any outrage from the so-called "moral majority" worldwide.

The obvious, Nazi ideology that fuels Hamas is present in Palestinians who support Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and the original terrorist organisation, the PLO. For years, right under the nose of the feckless United Nations, the Palestinians have been thoroughly indoctrinated into Nazi-style Jew-hatred. In Gaza, the UNRWA has distributed books calling for the murder of Jews. Such books are handed to Palestinian children. The UN has done nothing to cut off UNRWA's funding as a punishment. The European Union has condemned UNRWA for these materials, but hasn't done much more beyond that.

Unsurprisingly, members of UNRWA were caught celebrating Hamas Nazi attack on the Jews. (So were Arabic journalists for the BBC's Arabic-language news service. You can see that this Nazi fervour for murdering Jews is an enormous problem across the Arab and Muslim world, not just in Palestinian-controlled territories.)

This brings us to a central issue. If the Palestinians were really just concerned about the division of land, then why is there a nuclear cloud of Jew-hatred hanging over the West Bank and Gaza? Why are the only Palestinian leaders terrorists, rather than real leaders? (Abbas is the chairman of the PLO, a terrorist organisation, and was possibly involved in the 1972 Münich massacre.) Why does the savage murder of Jews produce celebration in Palestinian territories, if, as Western pro-Palestinian activists claim, their cause supports human rights? Why does the Arab and Muslim world, currently silent about anti-Muslim atrocities in China, turn out in rage against Israel, rather than against Hamas' Nazi terrorism?

These are questions that you won't hear many people asking. But they need to be asked, because the Palestinians could have had their state decades ago, if they wanted it. The popular claim that Israel is obstructing this is a pure lie.

Here are some facts you simply won't hear mentioned:

1)- Most of the original Mandate for Palestine is now modern-day Jordan. The map often shown by pro-Palestinian activists is (deliberately) misleading, as it doesn't show the original size of territory. If it did, people would easily see that the Arabs received the overwhelming majority of it.

2)- Most Jordanians are Palestinian Arabs, a fact clearly resented by the Hashemite rulers, who have in the past driven the PLO out of Jordan, arbitrarily revoked the citizenship of Palestinian Jordanians, and continue to deny Arab descendants of refugees from 1947 to 1949 citizenship. (Something Queen Rania doesn't want to discuss; she's too busy attacking Israel.)

3)- The British Empire heavily restricted Jewish land purchases and later immigration to the remainder of the Mandate, while permitting Arab purchases and immigration

4)- Other Arabic countries were formed by imperial powers based on arbitrary mandatory territories

5)- Some Arab leaders, such as Prince Faisal, recognised that Jewish immigration to Palestine was entirely legitimate and would be beneficial for the Arabs

6)- Many, if not most, Arabs in the early 20th century, considered themselves Syrian, including during the Ottoman Turk Empire

7)- The Ottoman Turk empire had to collapse before the Arabs had a chance at national sovereignty in any part of the later Mandate for Palestine; as it is, they received over 80% of the Mandate; 8)- The Jews were willing to accept a far smaller portion of what is now modern-day Israel back in 1947, but the Arabs refused, with Arab leaders calling for jihad against the Jews.

This is a summary of my main views on this conflict. I am firmly on the side of Israel's right to exist in peace and, like Israel's Charter of 1948, I call on the Arab and Muslim world to abandon its decades-long campaign of genocidal jihad against the Jewish population. A campaign that saw the Arabs align themselves with Adolf Hitler during the Second World War, another fact that the Western pro-Palestinian faction (including on this site) doesn't want to discuss.

There's simply no justification for this conflict. As David Ben Gurion said, the Jews didn't come to dispossess the Arabs, but to live alongside them and cultivate the land together. There is more than enough land there for the Jews and Arabs to live together peacefully. This can still be the case, but it won't come about through blindly forcing a two-state "solution" that ignores Israel's security concerns and doesn't hold the Palestinians responsible for their own share of wrongdoing.

It will come about when the Palestinians reject terrorism and Nazi Jew-hatred, and embrace reasonable dialogue and peace. This is the precondition to any talks about a two-state solution, and this precondition, especially after the crime of October 7, is nonnegotiable.