#israeli defense spending

[workersolidarity]

🇮🇱 📈💶🏦 🚨

ISRAELI OCCUPATION'S GENOCIDE IN GAZA PUSHES UP DEFENSE SPENDING BY 24%

A report published this month by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows the Israeli occupation's defense spending is up 24% for 2023, to a massive $27.5 billion. This for an entity with a GDP of just $531 billion.

Israeli defense spending was second in the region only to Saudi Arabia with its far larger $2.3 trillion GDP, with a defense spending of $75.8 billion and change in defense spending of just 4.3% in 2023.

The United States, for its own part, had a change in 2023 of 2.3%, to an astounding $916 Billion.

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[yahya-abu-zour]

Hello my friends...

🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨

Iam YehiaAbu Zor 33 years old ,my wife is pregnant and iam father of 3 childrens.

My story begin at 21 Oct when isrealian defense forces destroy my house and excude my dreams of living as all humans.

I spend 9 months in hills "north of Gaza strip "

and the attacks by IDF never been stopped even one day, our lives become unbelievable .

There's no food to eat, no clean water,no house and no safe place to escape from war, hospitals and schools are destroyed .

My children live in dangerous environment, they suffered from panic attacks for several times and from gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases due to pollution result from waste, garbage and poor sanitation.

Please help me to buy new home

and evacuate my family to safe place that provides safety and security.

"small donations can make big💔🙏

difference "

👇

In a war-torn village, a baby was born under harsh conditions. He had no healthcare and insufficient food to satisfy his hunger. His mother tried her best to provide for him, but the war had taken everything from them.At night, they slept on the cold ground in a makeshift shelter, with no blankets to keep them warm. The baby's constant crying reflected the pain of hunger and fear. Without medicine or enough food, the future seemed bleak.Yet despite all the suffering, the mother continued to fight, believing that hope would come someday, and that the war would end, bringing peace and a better life for her little one.

This child is in Gaza, and he is crying because there is no food, milk, or diapers for him. His parents are asking for help from everyone to provide these essential supplies for the child. I don’t have money, and the child’s father is also struggling. We need donations to help provide for our baby.

We need your help to support our family and provide the basics of a decent life. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a big difference in our lives.😭🇵🇸🙏💔

A child is suffering from severe rashes and infections in sensitive areas of his body due to the use of unsuitable cloth diapers. His condition is getting worse, and his family is desperately seeking treatment for his skin and relief for the sensitive areas affected. They are in urgent need of help to provide the necessary care and medications for their baby. They are pleading for assistance to help give their child the relief and comfort he desperately needs.💔

We are struggling to find clean water, and the available water does not meet safety standards. With no access to clean water in our homes, we are facing a serious crisis. We are making an urgent plea for help, as the lack of water is putting our lives and health at risk.💔🙏

We are forced to cook our🇵🇸 food over firewood, and as a result, the food is often unhealthy and harmful. The lack of proper cooking resources is making it difficult to provide safe and nutritious meals, putting our health at risk.😭

Our home was destroyed by the Israeli occupation, and we no longer have a safe place to live. We are left without shelter or access to proper healthcare, struggling to find safety and basic care for our family.💔

🚨🚨🚨

We are a simple family from Gaza, and we have suffered greatly from the difficult circumstances we live in here. The difficult economic conditions and the unstable security situation have made daily life very difficult. We need your help to support our family and provide the basics of a decent life. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a big difference in our lives. Thank you for your generosity and solidarity. Our prayers for peace and well-being for you and your families.

Vetted by @gazavetters my number verified on the list is ( #30 )

@irhabiya @commissions4aid-international @wellwaterhysteria @junglejim4322 @kibumkimxap @kibumkimxap @kibumkims @neechees @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @heritageposts @heritagepostsbot @heritagepostswithjax @toiletpotato @fromjannah @omegaversereloaded @vague-humanoidot @evillesbianvillainarchive @ot3-old @ot3-old @ot3showdown @ot3showdown @ot3showdown @amygdalae @amygdalaemotions @amygdalaenigma @amygdalaedamage-blog @amygdalaexploration-blog @ankle-beez @ankle @anklebanger @anklesdown @anklexbiters @anklexbiters @dykesbat @stuckinaprill @stuckinaprill @violentrevolution-blog @mar64ds @lacecap @lacecappedhydrangeas @watermotif @socalgal @socalgal69 @socalgall @socalgal9900-blog @socalgal76-blog

[opencommunion]

h. clinton said there can’t be a ceasefire because “hamas would spend that time preparing to be able to fend off an eventual assault by the israelis.” so she admits that the occupation would break the ceasefire first and that hamas would be in the defensive position

(obligatory counterpropaganda reminder that palestinians in gaza are calling for a ceasefire so they can bury their dead, get basic supplies, and stop the spread of disease)

[centrally-unplanned]

The trick on the whole "Israel banning UNRWA" thing is that most militaries - like say the US in Afghanistan for example - directly provision aid. American soldiers would often be handing out food packages themselves, and even if they weren't the aid organizations would be directly contracting with the US government and the Department of Defense. You have a group in the military and the government that is like, okay, how do we feed people, let's hit those targets.

So if Congress decided to ban the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in 2006 from operating in the country or whatever, that bill would say like "we hand over its mission to USAID, which has been allocated $2.1 billion dollars in FY-2005 to do X Y Z". It would probably be a dumb move that would create unnecessary friction and cost lives for political bullshit, but that is also life, people dying for political bullshit is a universal constant. It would probably be pretty small bore in the scale of things, like switching over contractors.

That isn't how Israel does things. I might be wrong about this, Israel is deliberately opaque about these things and I just gave this the ol' half hour of googling, I am open to being contradicted here. But my current understanding of net spending by the government of Israel itself on aid to Gaza is...$0. They do not provide aid. They permit aid from other organizations, funded by other countries, to be provided! But they don't take responsibility for the provision; meeting targets, outcomes, etc, none of that is their job. (I am sure it isn't literally zero btw, but I think you get my point)

It is really telling that when you look up pro-Israel statements by say AIPAC on aid, their headlines are:

Israel Facilitates Humanitarian Aid to Gaza as Hamas Continues to Attack

And they criticize the UN because the UN trucks aren't being delivered:

The United Nations and other international agencies are largely responsible for the existing delays in aid deliveries into Gaza. The U.N. has not been able to distribute aid at the rate that Israel is processing it, causing back-ups at the border crossings after Israeli inspections are completed. On March 3, the U.N. received 234 trucks in Gaza but only distributed 131 trucks of aid to civilians in the enclave.

If this was the US military, and the UN was getting aid trucks and failing to send them, we would send more of our own trucks? That we have? Because aid is part of the military operation. But Israel doesn't do that - because it doesn't have any trucks. Because aid isn't part of the military operation.

Which is why the bill banning UNRWA that is being passed does not mention aid provision to Gaza:

The international community has raised alarm over the legislation, which was passed without a plan in place for a humanitarian agency to replace UNRWA.

Again going off news sources here, link for the actual bill is currently down, if I am wrong will correct here, but I think it all tracks. So in the article above, you get statements from the government when people ask about aid, they reply, oh yeah these other aid organizations will fill the gap.

Then you ask the aid organizations themselves and they go, no, we won't fill the gap! We don't have the resources to do that! Which is logical when you realize Israel isn't funding those orgs. They don't know or care about their funding status. Hopefully someone else will figure that out - aid is someone else's problem. Those government remarks are just off the cuff, they aren't a plan.

Which I want to loop back around to the casus belli for the ban - UNRWA having ties to Hamas. That, to me, is one of those "uh duh, and?" things - Hamas is the government of Gaza. UNRWA runs schools there? And medical clinics? You think they do that...without contact with the government? This is just silly, the UN Mission in Afghanistan obviously had connections to the US Government! Government officials, working in both, par for the course.

But, and this is far more important, it is irrelevant. I completely agree that UNRWA has many people who are sympathetic to Hamas in it, because obviously they do. You want to ban it, dumb but okay. You propose a bill outlining the $2 billion dollars and the 5 partnered aid organizations and the 400 IDF trucks that will deliver aid to replace their work, sure. Whatever man, do your small bore politics bullshit.

That is not what they are doing.

Now, Israel has in fact allowed a bunch of aid in Gaza, I don't doubt that like USAID and the non-profit community and the governments of the UK and Japan and so on are gonna pivot funding to a bunch of organizations that will do herculean work stepping up operations and interfacing with the IDF checkpoint system and get aid in. Maybe they will do such a bang-up job that the cost in suffering won't be that high. Israel did give 3 months after all, they aren't the literal worst they could be.

But I do think at a certain point, the line between indifference and malice just ceases to matter. The UNRWA bill isn't some breaking point or big policy shift - it is just a highly revealing moment in the Israeli approach, why the war there has gone the way that it has. And it is, as the kids say, not a good look.

(h/t @loving-n0t-heyting as this was initially a reblog of their post, but they mentioned getting drama in the notes so I split it off; sorry to deny you the precious +1 internet point)

[palestinegenocide]

Key Developments: 

Hamas’ military wing says Israeli bombing kills two Israeli captives and wounds of eight others, it is unclear where the attacks took place.

CENTCOM: US carries out “self-defense strikes” in Yemen.

UNICEF: Civilians in Rafah must be protected as they have nowhere to go.

UN: At least 395 displaced people killed in UNRWA shelters since October 7

100 Palestinian bodies recovered from Gaza City after Israeli troops withdrew, most killed by sniper bullets.

Israel says two captives rescued from Rafah in southern Gaza, claims they are in good medical condition. 

In the last 24 hours, Israeli forces killed 164 people and injured 200 in Gaza, a ministry statement on Telegram said.

At least 67 Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, says the Palestinian Ministry of Health. 

Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in occupied West Bank

In four months, 17 settlement plans for over 8,400 housing units were advanced in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel spends at least 7 million dollars on zionist Super Bowl advertisement. 

Dutch court orders Netherlands to halt delivery of F-35 jet parts to Israel.

US Senator Bernie Sanders: “No one in Congress” should support the Biden administration sending military aid to Israel, Netanyahu’s “war machine” is responsible for an “unprecedented humanitarian disaster.”

Military expert: Israeli army invasion of Rafah would lead to genocide, considering over a million Palestinians are living in 60 square kilometers, reported Al Jazeera

Dutch court orders government to halt delivery of F-35 fighter jet parts used by Israel in its attacks on Gaza, saying there is a “clear risk” that the parts being exported by the Netherlands are being used in “serious violations of international humanitarian law”.

Israel ‘deports’ 51-year-old Palestinian journalist from occupied West Bank to Gaza Strip.

[sayruq]

[beguines]

Whereas the election of Modi had already demonstrated that this new India was prepared to sacrifice Muslims and others for the purported chance to economically transform the country (read: corporatize it), it was only natural that Palestinians too would be discarded if it meant getting closer to Israel and the boon of global capital. By refusing to allow parliament to pass a resolution against Israeli aggression in Gaza and by abstaining from the resolution endorsing the 2015 UN report that called for accountability for Israeli crimes, India had shown that it was no longer prepared to provide Palestinians even performative support. Moreover, equivocating that both sides had an "equal responsibility" to lower tensions and prevent unnecessary loss of life, Modi's government had already amended the substantive nature of its foreign policy on the question of Palestine.

India had normalized relations with Israel in 1992 without Palestinians achieving statehood or self-determination. In 2014, New Delhi went one step further. It upgraded its public appreciation for Zionism and Israel and reduced its foreign policy to a contorted and performative "sympathy" for the Palestinian cause. It also began to illustrate a respect and intention to emulate Israeli policy at home. In 2014, the Punjab Police traveled to Israel for training on "security and anti-terror operations." A year later, the Indian Police Service (IPS) began an annual program in which recent graduates would spend one week studying "best practices in counterinsurgency, managing low intensity warfare and use of technology in policing and countering terror" with the Israel National Police Academy. In 2015, the Indian government began the implementation of a "smart border" along the Line of Control. These partnerships with Israel did little to deter the Indian foreign ministry from insisting that its commitment to the Palestinians remained unchanged. But the changes had arrived. And it had been a long time coming. India's decision to abstain from holding Israel accountable to the UNHCR resolution in 2015, was the surest sign that India believed in Israel's fundamental right to self-defense, and therefore, its right to exist as a settler-colonial state, unconditionally.

Azad Essa, Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel

[zahraaziza]

a call to action for everyone who is passionate about palestine:

i have no idea who this message is going to reach, but for the little time i am on this platform, i will amplify the importance of partaking in raising awareness for the palestinian cause.

since i haven't been on here for a long time, i was honestly shocked to return to a ton of informative posts, reblogged in high numbers by my mutuals, on what is happening in palestine.

this current movement on social media, the fact that people across generations are, slowly but surely, waking up to the 76 years of torment, land theft, occupation and genocide the palestinian people are subjected to, has never happened before.

it was about damn time.

everyone, let it be a die heart zionist, a willingly ignorant person or the "people" that are in charge and have all the buttons below their fingertips that could get them to put an end to all of this-

they are never ever going to stop at making you feel insignificant. they are going to downplay your efforts as an activist. they are going to make you question your integrity. they are going to bring up seemingly unrelated issues, in a deplorable effort to make you feel like the "load" that we, as activists and people that are trying to raise awareness about palestine, carry is too much of a burden, to keep going.

they'll tell you things like:

"what is my contribution going to change? we're all doomed to die anyways with how things are going"

"what could a singular dollar/ euro, that i spend, possibly do to support israel? i don't wanna miss out on (xyz item)"

"well if you're so adamant about saving the world, then why don't you go to gaza yourself?"

"yeah right, if that's the case then i would have to also care about (xyz historically oppressed group of people) and i would have to do this, this and that to raise awareness on (xyz historically oppressed group)"

never ever let these individuals in. never ever let them see you doubting your own self or your efforts as an activist.

when i tell you that standing on business has never been more crucial, you can take my word for it.

as someone who, due to the communities i belong to, has practically grown up defending this cause, i can tell you that the tides have not once started to turn the slightest bit in favor for the palestinian cause in the publics perception. most especially in the west.

now is the time to get up on our feet and make room for palestinian voices, not the seeds of doubt planted by zionists.

anyone that still genuinely believes that one, they can't do anything to bring about any change

two, believes there is any legitimacy in the existence of an "israeli state",

or three, denounces and dares to critique the forms of resistance coming from the oppressed palestinians, after five whole months of the ongoing israeli operation to annihilate them to move closer to the achievement of the "greater israel" project, is immediately disqualified in any discussions on the palestinian fight for freedom.

don't ever give your time to zionist apologists or people that try to infiltrate the pro watermelon movement, in order to gain an outlet, in which they can voice their sympathy for core ideas of the zionist movement (a right to israels existence, pseudo self defense argument, pseudo the people are not the state argument, pseudo not all israelis are settlers argument) without further notice.

now is the time of focus. partake in all the activities you can. do your part. do what is achievable.

palestinians, whether it be in the diaspora or on the ground in gaza and the west bank, don't have time for our inconsistencies.

try to control your spending habits as much as you can, try to control the pop culture (tv, music, film) you consume as much as you can. that is the very least we can do.

also, a teeny tiny, but crucial note, we all need to internalize is the fact that we need to decenter ourselves from the end goal, which is the liberation of palestine and land back to the palestinian people.

the people that are going to free palestine aren't us.

palestinians are going to free palestine. the palestinian resistance is going to free palestine.

our obligation is to facilitate that to happen. we partake in the bds boycott, put pressure on representatives of our countries and take to the streets and social media to make the voices of palestine heard.

looking inward and coming to that realization is utmost important for us as non palestinians to know our place in the bigger picture, so we can move on, organize and operate from there.

by no means am i a representative of this cause. but i am human. so i hope that you could all take something from my message.

from the river to the see, palestine will be free!!!

[vacuouslyfalse]

I was sent this by @metamatar on my thread about the material reasons why the US is not materially incentivized to back Israel. I'll be honest - I do not find it very convincing. Let's dive in.

The recent period has seen the bloom of two falsehoods, stemming from the same root of irrationality, glibly ahistorical narratives, and disinterest in understanding struggles for national liberation against imperialism. One: Benjamin Netanyahu more-or-less conspired with Hamas to maintain the Palestinian national division and empowered the movement in Gaza. Two: Israel and its parasitic lobby drive America into irrational warmongering.

The first is a slight overstatement of my position - there is no conspiracy, merely shared interests. The second is very far from my position - the US needs no external sources to drive it into irrational warmongering, but in this specific case, domestic support for Israel (both popular and elite) is what drives US support.

The ‘Netanyahu courted Hamas’ fairy-tale is newer, an odd chimera of the older truth that Israel and the US preferred Hamas – but, seldom mentioned, also Fatah – to Marxist-led Palestinian forces in the 1980s, and the newer truth that Netanyahu made deals that had allowed Hamas some financial manoeuvring space since 2014.

I think this basically concedes to my position on the first "falsehood," though it fails to mention Netanyahu's statements arguing that Hamas was a bulwark against Palestinian statehood.

From here on, the article spends several paragraphs summarizing the history of the Israeli-US relationship. While riveting, this does not directly relate to the question of US interests in this current war, so we'll skip ahead a bit.

The ‘Netanyahu enabled Hamas’ distortion rests on the correct statement that Netanyahu dealt indirectly with Hamas via Qatar and allowed the formation of a permit regime for Palestinian Gaza guest workers. This was meant to ensure relative quiet in the South. Far from Hamas collaborating with Netanyahu, or policing the ceasefire, this set-up was an achievement of the Palestinian resistance, allowing it the appearance of political stillness on its surface waters while underneath it moved fast and built up a deep defensive infrastructure. The lie is meant to suggest that Hamas’ strength is due to conspiracy with Israel, when Hamas simply expresses the nationalist aspirations of the Palestinian people. 

This is another, further distortion of the argument being made in "falsehood" one - that Israel's interests were served by Hamas. The idea that Hamas' strength emerges from conspiracy with Israel is absurd. It is, however, true that Israel has been willing to bolster Hamas and prefers it to a unified Palestine under the PA. Speaking of which:

This tall tale has also suggested that Netanyahu wished to avoid direct talks with the PA in Ramallah towards a peace agreement. The lie is the implication that the neo-colonial PA is a force for state building and Palestinian sovereignty. In fact, it is the velvet – more often these days, mailed – gauntlet of neo-colonial collaboration in the West Bank, amidst PA coordination with Israel and the murder of anti-collaborationist cadre like Nizar Banat in 2021.

This is, imo, completely correct - the PA is collaborationist. What this misses is that modern Israeli maximalists like Netanyahu reject the line pursued by the US, that of a collaborationist state governed by the PA. Even this shell of a state, along the lines of what was offered during the prior peace process, is now outside the bounds of what the ultranationalist Israeli far right is willing to accept.

Amidst closure and de-development, the popular resistance has been able to consolidate an arsenal and bring 1.5% of its population into a guerrilla force of 30,000-40,000 men that can – man for man – outmatch nearly any in the world.

This is where the article starts to go off the rails a bit. Can Hamas, man to man, outmatch nearly any army in the world? How would we know? Does this read like someone trying to do analysis or trying to write a PR piece?

The concrete is their mountains. From there they have imperiled an enemy with orders of magnitude higher GDP per capita – Israeli GDP is at $52,000 a year, with arsenals worth billions.

Fifth, through these achievements, the Palestinian resistance has been able to present an acute threat to the settler-capitalist property structures called Israel,

Here, we continue into mythmaking. How has Israel been imperiled? What acute threat has been presented? Certainly, over a thousand people were killed, but this does not constitute a threat to a nationstate. The article does not attempt to justify these statements further.

It is unimaginable that the neocolonial authoritarian states nor their US benefactor would remotely tolerate massive working-class militia which speak a language of justice and republicanism and raise arms against those states’ sponsors. In turn, it is as natural as the sun rising in the East that the US, the UK, Germany, France, and their Gulf and Arab satraps would converge on support for Israel as the spear’s tip of the assault on the surrounding Arab popular militia. 

Much of the "analysis" in this article takes this form - broad, sweeping statements with little attempt at justification.

Interestingly enough, this article actually links a far more lucid and well-reasoned analysis of the situation, with this funny aside:

(When did Marxists decide it is their job to whisper to the exterminationist class that their calculus is off?)

Good analysis is its own reward!

This article contains sentences like this one:

To contemplate any real reduction in its presence, though, it first needs a security settlement that would strengthen friendly regimes and constrain the influence of nonconforming ones. The 2020 Abraham Accords advanced this agenda, as Bahrain and the UAE, by agreeing to normalize relations with Israel, joined a wider ‘reactionary axis’ spanning the Saudi Kingdom and Egyptian autocracy. Trump expanded arms sales to these states and cultivated connections between them – military, commercial, diplomatic – with the aim of creating a reliable phalanx of allies who would tilt towards the US in the New Cold War while acting as a bulwark against Iran.

Which was really a breath of fresh air after the previous article. Directly citing US policy from the last ten years - incredible!

While it would be flattening a very nuanced article to claim that it takes my point of view, this is one of its core arguments:

Second, in pinning its imperial strategy on the Israeli normalization process, the US became especially reliant on this settler-colonial project just before it was captured by its most extreme and volatile elements: Smotrich, Ben-Gvir, Galant. If American support for Israel has historically exceeded any reasonable political calculus, under Trump and Biden it acquired a coherent rationale: to place its ally at the centre of a stable Middle Eastern security framework. Yet the Israeli cabinet that came to power in 2022 – addled by eliminationist fantasies, and determined to draw the US into war with Iran – proved least able to play that role.

It makes the argument that recent US support for Israel was part of a larger strategy to disengage from the region, but one that made mistaken assumptions about the ability of Israel to maintain stability, and that the eliminationist actions of the Israeli state have undermined the realpolitik rationale for US support.

I am not going to go through the second article because it would mostly consist of me nodding along, but I think we see two distinct ways in which leftists write on display here.

The first article makes very broad assumptions about US goals and motivations and cites actual events only sparingly and selectively to support its thesis. The second puts the focus on the events themselves and draws out the motivations from them. The former is useful for writing fluff for people who are already convinced of your point of view, but it does not pass very convincingly for analysis. The latter reads like someone who is actually trying to understand the world.

[transmutationisms]

also the idea that military spending is just inherently wrong or to be avoided is often framed from such an imperial core perspective... like i do understand the urge to be like "the us spends a kajillion trillion dollars on its military and doesn't provide basic services to people or develop its infrastructure" or whatever but in addition to the obvious point that you're talking about the distribution of imperial riches instead of an actual end to imperialism, it's also just like, kind of inherently a useless mode of argument for anything other than scoring a few rhetorical points. like even within the us it doesn't really apply because usually there are numerous factors as to why something is shit, like for example because car companies and manufacturing interests have significantly moulded infrastructure and urban development for the last century, or because many welfare programs are funded and de-funded in explicit eugenic attempts to policy-engineer a whiter population.

and then when people try to just apply the military spending argument elsewhere it becomes particularly absurd because most countries don't spend nearly as much on their militaries in the first place, and also people will try to make this argument about military forces that exist in direct response to imperial and colonial aggression and occupation. like you can't just interpret every military force or armed struggle as though it is also the us military. what makes imperial powers' militaries bad isn't some abstract badness of violence but the fact that these forces exist to advance imperial interests. arming hamas fighters to resist israeli occupation and arming usamerican drones to bomb iraqis are not comparable acts in any way except on the most ahistorical and idealist conception of what war is and what it does. like even if hamas's resources were fungible in the way this line of thinking presumes it would still be defensible to spend them on arms, whereas even if us military money came out of a magic funnel in the sky it would still be an imperial force.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Michael Goodwin

As the nominee, a nervous Biden reacted by turning the screws on Israel, and later had Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who has zero military experience, dictate which targets in Gaza Israel could strike. 

Now, as the election draws close and Harris is the nervous nominee, the White House is tightening the screws again.

This time, it’s taking a multifront approach, with Washington simultaneously demanding our ally show restraint in Lebanon and Iran, and allow increased amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

In other words, Israel should raise the white flag until the American election is over. 

If it doesn’t, the US threatens to join France and others in imposing an arms embargo on the beleaguered Jewish state. 

The urge to protect Israel’s enemies is doubly bizarre when they also happen to be America’s enemies. 

Yet that is the impact of the positions America is taking and the demands it’s making.

Notice that Biden and Harris are not making a single demand of any other party, and no one else faces ultimatums. 

Israel alone is being held responsible for the care and feeding of Gaza’s civilians even though Hamas uses them as human shields. 

Why aren’t Jordan and Egypt pushed to help care for their fellow Arabs?

And in what previous war was the country that had been attacked required to risk the lives of its military to care for the enemy’s civilians? 

Hamas could end the war in Gaza immediately.

Yet there are no White House demands for the terror group’s leaders to come out of their tunnels, surrender and release all the hostages, including the Americans still being held. 

Similarly, there is no demand that Hezbollah stop firing into Israel.

Instead, Lebanon’s prime minister said he has “received American guarantees” that Israeli strikes in Beirut, Hezbollah’s stronghold, will be reduced, according to Al Jazeera. 

Neither the Arab outlet nor Israeli media say who made the guarantee, but suspicion falls on Blinken, the errand boy who has led the charge against Israel all along. 

Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin even wrote a Sunday letter threatening to withhold arms shipments if Israel doesn’t increase the humanitarian aid to Gaza within 30 days. 

Dictating aid to Gaza 

The micromanaging jumps off the page, with the letter insisting that Israel allow at least 350 aid trucks a day to enter Gaza through four crossings and open a fifth. 

It also says Israel must implement “humanitarian pauses” throughout Gaza as necessary to enable vaccinations and aid distribution for at least four months. 

Harris echoed the letter from the campaign trail, writing on X that “Civilians must be protected and must have access to food, water, and medicine. International humanitarian law must be respected.” 

She said that while planning to spend several days in Michigan, a battleground state which is home to an estimated 200,000 registered Muslim-American voters. 

Most reflexively vote Democrat, but anger over the war has led many to say they will stay home or vote for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who is Jewish and yet a harsh critic of Israel.

[edenfenixblogs]

Heads up that the following post discusses the poster photographed at this link. The link shows an antisemitic poster (this post will discuss why and how it is antisemitic as well as why everything about it is done in bad faith from a shady organization that should not be trusted).

You do not need to click the link to understand the content of this post, but you can choose to do so for context.

TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THE POSTER:

Child death, child endangerment, starvation, war zones, body horror, graphic imagery

Link: https://www.tumblr.com/edenfenixblogs/750494095702704128/trigger-warnings-child-death-starvation-war

Ok, let’s get into it.

Part 1: Why Is It Antisemitic?

1. It starts by putting Jews on the defensive

This poster instantly puts any Jew who takes issue with the phrasing or rhetoric on this poster as a lying villain falsely accusing good people of bigotry in order to support a genocide. What about people who disagree with Israel’s bombardment of Palestine, but who also think this poster is antisemitic? Where will they be heard? How will their concerns be addressed?

2. It only addresses the needs of non-Jews

The goal to disarm people in a conflict is a good one! Why is it only Israel that must be disarmed when Israel is also receiving incoming bombs on a daily basis? Is that peace? Or is that a call for one side to be murdered? How does this address the stochastic threat that Jews outside of Israel are facing?

3. It offers no solutions for peace

After Israel is disarmed, what is the goal for the Israeli people and state? How will Israelis be protected? Should they have any protection? How will the defend against bombs from Hamas and Lebanon? What treaties will be negotiated to enable peace? How will antisemitic extremists be deradicalized? What policy-based or judicial systems or safeguards will be put in place to guarantee safety for both Palestinians and Israelis? Taking weapons away from one side of an armed conflict doesn’t create peace. It creates an unarmed target. I am a pacifist and against all war. But I am also against taking weapons away solely from the side that popular OR unpopular opinion deems “wrong.” Stopping destruction in Palestine—especially on the scale in which it is occurring—is vital. But that alone does not ensure peace or even encourage peace. All it does is disarm people. Peace is a negotiated state of existence not a lack of weaponry.

4. It mispells antisemitism

I am not inclined to believe that a person or organization who cannot spell antisemitism has a clear or complete understanding of what antisemitism entails or how it expresses itself in society.

Part 2: Source Evaluation (TL;DR: Abject failure across the board)

1. Not on charity navigator

Taxpayers for peace does not appear on charity navigator at all. I must question whether or not it is in fact a charity or simply a lobby. I also have no way of assessing the companies funding, spending, or transparency—because they do not provide information on the website.

2. No funding information on the website itself

I touched on this in the above bullet point. But it is really important in this conflict to know exactly where the money you give is going and where an organization is getting most of its money from. Hamas got its start from the charities associated with the terrorist organization, The Muslim Brotherhood. (^^I will be Reblogging this post with more info on this but don’t have time to address this all with photos and links in this post. For now, here are the linked Wikipedia sources and a screenshot of the info in question. As always with Wikipedia, consider it a starting point and read the sources the page cites, not just the wiki article)

3. Several source links are dead.

Not many sources are available on the taxpayersforpeace website, and they certainly do not have a tab specifically devoted to sources.

Here is the list of sources.

The two Badil links are dead:

4. Available sources are sparse

Of the few sources there are, there are only three actual organizations responsible for them: B’Tselem, Badil, and Architect and Academic Malkit Shoshan’s seminal work, Atlas of a Conflict.

The sources from Badil lead to dead links, leaving only Shoshan and B’Tselem. Two sources are not enough to support an entire website. Two sources are not even enough to support an academic paper.

5. Available sources are outdated

None of the sources of this constantly evolving and ongoing conflict were written within the last decade. Even if these sources are considered legitimate, it is odd that more recent ones were not included.

6. The available sources are used manipulatively

So, we have two sources. Let’s look at them.

Source 1: Malkit Shoshan

By all accounts, she is a highly respected and credible source on architecture, spacial design and planning, and the way that the small space shared between Israel and Palestine has shifted to be dominated by Israel over the past several decades. She has been continually critical of Israeli settlements in the West Bank (as have I) and has been extremely consistent in including Palestinian voices and struggles in her advocacy for peace (as have I).

She also supports BDS (which I do not).

Her work has explores the relationship between architecture, urban planning, and human rights.

She is respected but also controversial source on the conflict. She has signed her name to a Harvard faculty letter (as a member of the faculty) endorsing BDS and Palestinian Solidarity. Her work is sure to ruffle some feathers. (The letters to which this one responded are also linked within the above link, providing several perspectives on the matter during a previous flare of the ongoing conflict—from before 10/7)

However, while she very well might be anti-Zionist, I have not been able to find any statements by her to the affirmative in this case. If anyone has such statements I welcome them in order to provide a more thorough analysis of her as a source. But from what I could gather, she views herself as a progressive seeking peace between Israel and Palestine.

And while she would characterize many aspects of Israeli treatment of Palestine as colonial in nature (a statement which I do not agree with as a blanket statement about Israel as a whole, but for which she provides compelling evidence in certain instances, especially in the West Bank), I have yet to see her call the whole of Israel as a colonial project. In fact, she views Israel as a whole as post-colonial, according to her most recent interview with Haaretz. In fact, she seems to reject the idea that violence from either side is appropriate or necessary in order to attain peace—and on this matter, I occur wholeheartedly:

She states that she prefers to engage in discourse rather than violence. She discusses European colonialism as a decades-bygone problem because of which we are still dealing with tremendous fallout internationally. Additionally, she goes on to say that other nations are using the conflict in Israel and Palestine to suit their own geopolitical ends. And she does not isolate American, European, or Middle Eastern nations as uniquely manipulative in this matter. She acknowledges that every side has an agenda.

Her work seeks to humanize Palestinians. Not dehumanize Israelis. I have found no evidence that she would sign her name to a statement condemning Israel and the US of collaborating to commit genocide—let alone a billboard with graphic, triggering imagery. Her work focuses on building a better future—helping internally displaced Palestinians speak with their governments and organizations on their own behalf to obtain equal access to civic resources—in a shared homeland that prioritizes humanity, cohabitation, mutual acknowledgment and respect, and a peace. As controversial as her work is, she makes sure to participate in what she calls “productive disagreement,” including bringing together frequently opposing Israeli and Palestinian voices.

She has written award winning books and been involved with thought-provoking art installations, yet all of her work focuses on improving Palestinian welfare and recognition, not tearing Israel or Israelis down or telling the US to unilaterally disarm Israel entirely. She focuses primarily on how life within the Levant can be improved, not on international military relations.

Her own personal Twitter account acknowledges the pain of all involved, including Israelis’. And she seeks an end to the conflict, not a victor.

One thing is clear: She does not want her name associated with poorly sourced information, inflammatory rhetoric, or “counterproductive rage” that dehumanizes anyone.

(SOURCE EVAL TL;DR: AN INTERESTING AND COMPELLING SOURCE PROVIDED WITHOUT ADEQUATE CONTEXT AND MANIPULATED FURTHER A ONE-SIDED AGENDA)

Source 2: B’Tselem

This is certainly a more interesting source than I have seen cited by anti-Israel folks than most others. First of all, the source seems to originate from within Israel.

Encouragingly, they do actually appear on charity navigator with a 94% rating.

Despite this, I have a few problems related to this rating.

This rating is based on data from no later than 2021

The charity has not posted tax documents on its site

They have not provided access to board meeting minutes.

Its entire score is calculated based only on financial data that is three years out of date. There is not data on its impact as an organization, measurement of data, internal culture and community, or analysis of its leadership. It’s essentially a stamp of approval that the financial documentation sent to charity navigator 3 years ago was in order.

It is harshly critical of Israel’s allowing settlements in the West Bank as well as of many of its policies toward Palestine and treatment of Palestinians. In large letters near the bottom of its page, it states:

“Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”

Given that the organization claims to want equality for Palestinians and Israelis, I doubt they would support a unilateral disarmament. Even though the site itself is tremendously biased against Israel in general (having an article on Israeli use of human shields, but not an extant or equally visible source on Hamas’ use of human shields, which is also well documented). Even this organization acknowledges that crimes against Israeli civilians are indefensible and violate international law and the goal of peace.

(Link to full article found in the text above the image)

Additionally, the organization admits that 50% of its funding comes specifically from outside of Israel. This is intriguing on its own, but I am also suspect of the accusatory manner in which they declare that the law requiring that they disclose this information is meant to “equate their funding with disloyalty.”

To me it is not even the admission that the funding comes from outside of Israel that troubles me. Rather, it is the admission that the funding comes specifically from state sources outside of Israel. Given the relevance of the aforementioned historical precedence that Muslim Brotherhood affiliated “charities” gave rise to Hamas, I would consider the source of funding in charities related to the conflict to be uniquely relevant. The antagonistic tone of the declaration as well as the small text with which it is declared and its placement at the very bottom of the website makes me suspect of the funders in question.

Relatedly, I could not find any financial documents or materials providing transparency in their funding or organization.

Another suspicious bit of information I found is that their Fatalities Statistics database only includes fatalities in the West Bank up to October 31. But it does not include any fatalities in the Gaza Strip OR ISRAEL past 10/6/2023–a day that might alter their data about the Israeli death toll a little.

To be very clear: this does not and will never justify the bombing of Gaza and Rafah. But it fully erases the attack by Hamas against Israel on 10/7/2023. I find this omission highly suspect. And the lack of acknowledgment of Hamas’ attacks on 10/7 or the ongoing incoming missile attacks from Hamas and Lebanon by B’Tselem in its statistics section to be a glaring omission on an organization that supposedly wants peace for all.

I also don’t see a list of sources from which they collect their data or any attempt to differentiate Palestinian citizens from Hamas combatants.

Finally, as I typically champion interfaith and intercultural organizations devoted to peace and relief within Israel and Palestine, I looked for B’Tselem on the Alliance for Middle East Peace website. B’Tselem did not appear on their list of 160+ affiliated/member-charities.

However, you can find those 160+ charities here: https://www.allmep.org

SOURCE EVALUATION TL;DR: Even though the source is flawed and would not pass muster on a full source evaluation in general, even this source itself claims to want violence against Israel to stop, leading me to believe it too would stop short of calling the current situation a genocide—although it would definitely call what is happening to Palestinian civilians in Gaza and Rafah a war crime, indefensible, and untenable (with which I am inclined to generally agree). I was unable to find a search function on the website, so I can’t be 100% certain that they didn’t use the word genocide, but that word seems at odds with their general mission statement, despite their bias. The site also calls for a release of Israeli hostages as well as acknowledging the attack by Hamas on 10/7 as horrific. Based on this information, despite my many problems with this source, even it does not call for unilateral disarmament. It calls for the expulsion of Israeli presence in the West Bank (in accordance with the law), an end to violence, and a release of Israeli hostages.

7. The sources are not provided by Taxpayersforpeace.

The few sources I was able to find for this website originate from VisualizePalestine—a tremendously problematic organization that also fails to appear on charity navigator.

I will included links on my next post about all this cuz I’m beat right now, but: It cites sources that insist on calling the IDF the IOF (tremendously inappropriate in an official document), legitimizing the Muslim Brotherhood, and reframing the intifadas as justifiable acts of resistance—something not even B’Tselem condemned. In general, VP’s entire goal seems to be to “change the narrative” from anti-Palestine to anti-Israel. And that will never support a peaceful future.

Despite my issues with the two sources listed in the graphic pictured above from VP—I find myself in full agreement with the statements at the heart of both Shoshan’s and B’Tselem’s arguments: The future must be geared toward attaining peace for all. Not casting one side or the other as the bad guy or good guy. Tremendous violence has shaped the lives of Israelis and Palestinians for my entire life and since long before I was born. We don’t need to swap our ideal victors. We need to end conflict for everyone. And not by just letting one side or the other be slaughtered, but by negotiating peace.

As always, please click my media analysis tag for more analysis of sources across the political and bias spectrum as well as for insight into how and why I evaluate as I do.

[azspot]

While it can be argued that war is good for the military-industrial complex, filling the coffers of arms manufacturers with billions and billions of dollars, we must ask whether this sort of spending is good for Americans as a whole. Taxpayers directly fund the U.S. military machine. The Israeli bombs falling on innocent Palestinians are bought and paid for by you and me. When we see gruesome pictures of war carnage and death, we must not avert our eyes from our handiwork. We are to blame. Until we force elected officials to change spending priorities, the U.S. government will continue to spend over a trillion dollars a year on defense and security. The total amount of money is limited, so what we fund reveals our priorities; our moral and ethical values.

Biden Continues to Preach Up the Myth that War is Good for the U.S. Economy

[opencommunion]

since zionists want to act obtuse about why we're criticizing a superbowl ad, here's an explanation from before the ad even aired. it was openly designed to act as pro-genocide propaganda. fighting antisemitism is a worthy goal but that's not what's happening here:

"The New England Patriots’ 81-year-old owner, Robert Kraft, writes seven-digit checks to the right-wing Israeli lobbying machine AIPAC, but his personal, political, and financial ties to Israel run deeper than the occasional donation. The multibillionaire married his late wife, Myra, in Israel in 1963 when Kraft, then 22, was older than the nation itself. Together they set up numerous business, athletic, and charitable ties to Israel, a record of which is proudly proclaimed on the Kraft company website. In particular, the Kraft Group boasts of its 'Touchdown in Israel' program, where NFL players are given free, highly organized vacations to see 'the holy land' and come back to spread the word about 'the only democracy in the Middle East.' (Not every NFL player has chosen to take part.) Kraft also attends fundraisers for the Israel Defense Forces, currently—and in open view of the world—committing war crimes in Gaza."

Now, as Israel wages war against the civilians of Gaza—more than 25,000 Palestinian have been killed with at least 10,000 of them children—Kraft is again flexing his financial and political muscles in order to defend the indefensible. His Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) will be spending an estimated $7 million to buy a Super Bowl ad titled 'Stop Jewish Hate' that will be seen by well over 100 million people. Under Kraft’s direction, the ad’s goal is to create a propaganda campaign to counter the reports and images from Gaza that young people are consuming on social media. 

... The content of the Super Bowl ad is not yet known, but FCAS has afforded Kraft the opportunity to make the rounds on cable news saying things like, 'It’s horrible to me that a group like Hamas can be respected and people in the United States of America can be carrying flags or supporting them.'

This is Kraft enacting the mission of FCAS: fostering disinformation. He is far from subtle: A Palestinian flag becomes a 'Hamas flag,' and people like the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets of Washington, D.C., last month to call for a cease-fire and end the violence are expressions of the 'rise in antisemitism.' Without a sense of irony or the horrors happening on the ground in Gaza, Kraft says he is giving $100 million of his own money to FCAS, because 'hate leads to violence.'

Let’s be clear: What Kraft is doing politically and what he will be using the Super Bowl as a platform to do is dangerous. He appears to think any criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic. For Kraft, it is Jews like myself, rabbis, and Holocaust survivors calling for a cease-fire and a Free Palestine that are part of the problem. Kraft seems to think that opposition to Israel, the IDF, and the AIPAC agenda is antisemitism.

... Right-wing Christian nationalists, with their belief in a Jewish state existing alongside their conviction that Jews are going to Hell, are welcome in Netanyahu’s Israel and Kraft’s coalition. Left-wing anti-Zionist Jews are not. The greatest foghorn of this evangelical right-wing 'love Israel, hate Jews' perspective is, of course, Donald Trump. Kraft, while speaking of being troubled by events like the Charlottesville Nazi march and the right-wing massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, counts Donald Trump as a close friend and even donated $1 million to his presidential inauguration.

No one who provides cover for the most powerful, public antisemite in the history of US politics should ever be taken seriously on how to best fight antisemitism. No one who funds AIPAC and the IDF and opposes a cease-fire amid the carnage should be allowed a commercial platform at the Super Bowl. But given that the big game is always an orgy of militarism, blind patriotism, and big budget commercials that lie through their teeth, perhaps that ad could not be more appropriate. We can do better than Kraft’s perspective on how to fight antisemitism. Morally, we don’t have a choice."

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Prem Thakker at Zeteo News:

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D) is being accused of antisemitism by elected officials and mainstream journalists for saying something she never said. 

Here’s how it happened:

Sept. 12: Earlier this month, the Michigan lawmaker called out her state’s Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, for announcing charges against 11 pro-Palestine protesters at the University of Michigan. “Instead of getting justice, not one criminal charge in the Flint Water Crisis, you're going to spend time in trying to use the power of your office to silence people's First Amendment right,” Tlaib said during a Black-Palestine solidarity panel, moderated by Zeteo’s Mehdi Hasan.

Sept. 13: “This is a move that’s going to set a precedent, and it’s unfortunate that a Democrat made that move,” Tlaib elaborated in an interview with the Detroit Metro Times. “You would expect that from a Republican, but not a Democrat, and it’s really unfortunate.” ”We’ve had the right to dissent, the right to protest,” she added. “We’ve done it for climate, the immigrant rights movement, for Black lives, and even around issues of injustice among water shutoffs. But it seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”  Nessel’s prosecutions were also criticized by groups including Michigan’s ACLU chapter. Sept. 20: Days later, Tlaib was the target of a racist editorial cartoon that implied she was part of Hezbollah. The cartoon depicted the only Palestinian member of Congress saying “Odd. My pager just exploded,” in reference to the Israeli military terrorist attacks on Lebanon.

[...]

Sometime Tuesday, Jewish Insider edited the original story, without adding a correction or clarification. “Tlaib has also claimed that Nessel is only charging the protesters because she’s Jewish” became “Tlaib has also suggested that Nessel is only charging the protesters because she’s Jewish.” 

Of course, this manufactured lie about Tlaib has wholly obscured that Tlaib was victim to a racist cartoon donning the pages of publications like the National Review; that she had actually begun garnering support and sympathy from her colleagues; and that Tlaib’s “original sin” was speaking out in defense of students protesting their tuition supporting a US-funded genocidal campaign in Palestine. Tlaib’s original remarks criticizing Nessel focused on the prosecution of pro-Palestine protestors, critiques shared by advocacy groups, including the Michigan chapter of the ACLU. Most of the charges are against students, including Jewish students, who refused to vacate a campus encampment after police ordered them to leave as they demanded the school divest from “weapons manufacturers and war profiteers complicit in the genocide in Palestine.” The arrests came as police allegedly used batons, and “Deep Freeze,” self-described as the “most intense, incapacitating agent available today,” to arrest the students.

Prem Thakker writes in Zeteo News debunking the ridiculous accusation that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is “antisemitic” because she criticized AG Dana Nessel (D) for prosecuting pro-Palestinian protesters.

[girlactionfigure]

US lawmakers block funding for Gaza reconstruction

The US House of Representatives on 12 June approved an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that prevents the Pentagon from allocating any of its ballooning budget for reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

“None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available to the Secretary of Defense for fiscal year 2025 may be made available to build in or rebuild the Gaza Strip on or after the date of the enactment of this Act,” the amendment reads.

The provision was introduced by Republican lawmakers Brian Mast, Claudia Tenney, and Eli Crane. Although House Democrats opposed the amendment, they did not request a recorded vote and allowed it to pass by a simple voice vote.

“[The Palestinians] are absolutely at war with one of our major and best allies anywhere across the globe,” Mast said during Wednesday’s session, adding that it is “nonsensical” to suggest the US should spend a fraction of its nearly $1 trillion defense budget on rebuilding a place that has been razed to the ground by US-made weapons and with direct support from the Pentagon.

“The House advancing anti-Palestinian amendments into legislation at this stage reaffirms that many in Congress do not value the lives of their Palestinian constituents,” Mohammed Khader, a policy manager at US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Action, told reporters.

“Blocking funds to rebuild Gaza while actively providing taxpayer dollars, weapons, and intelligence to destroy Gaza and Palestinian society reaffirms that lawmakers intend for the US to be an active participant in Israel’s atrocities,” he added.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, the US has delivered hundreds of arms shipments to the country and has provided persistent political cover for Israeli authorities.

US lawmakers have gone as far as to threaten sanctioning officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and cutting funding for UN agencies due to their support for an end to the genocide of Palestinians.