#like when they lied about October 7th

[chewwytwee]

Okay wow the US state department really stomping down hard on the fear mongering about ‘foreign terrorists’ in the run up to pride month. If you haven’t seen it yet, the US state department issued a travel advisory for queer Americans abroad because of ‘terrorrists’ who might ‘hijack’ pride. It’s completely absurd and about as bad as Operation Pridefall

There’s no (abnormal) increase in risk for queer people because its pride month, they’re using homophobic violence as a wedge to keep people reluctant or uncertain about the occupation and genocide of Palestine. Don’t let it fool you, you are not immune to propaganda

[aichabouchareb]

Did you see the video where Israeli soldiers dressed up like Muslim women and doctors and stormed the hospital in the West Bank and assassinated 3 young Palestinians?⁣

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Did you see the bloody pillow with the bullet hole in it?⁣

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THIS IS WHO THEY MURDERED IN THAT BED. A paralyzed CHILD named Bassel. ⁣

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This video was taken just one day before Israel literally shot him in the face in his bed. ⁣

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Just when you think they can’t get any lower, they do. I don’t care what lies they tell about this child, it is illegal EVERYWHERE to do what they did. ⁣

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This kid had nothing to do with October 7th. And anything else he did, you simply aren’t allowed to go into a hospital and murder a paralyzed child. ⁣

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It’s CRAZY that we even have to say this. ⁣

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And the White House actually defended this today, but it was before this video was released. ⁣

[arabian-batboy]

This is why Zionists spent months spreading lies and propaganda about rabid Palestinian men going on a raping spree against any innocent Jewish woman they could see on October 7th, to perpetuate this narrative that sexual violence committed by Palestinians against Israelis is a serious wide-spread issue because Palestinian men (or just brown men in general) are savage animals who breath and live solely for raping women, when in reality its the other way around.

By doing so, they embedded this caricature about Palestinian/Arab men into people's mind that makes them view them inherently as rapists, but never in a million year as a rape victim and that if they don't quickly rush to "condemn" these fake evidence-less rape allegations (not a single of each have been proven to happen by any reliable sources) then they're terrible people and rape-supporting anti-semites. Needless to say, those same people are definitely NOT in any rush to condemn these actually proven and verified rape cases by Israeli settlers.

All of which makes it easier for Zionists to continue their decades long history of sexual violence against Palestinians by having these concentration camps where Palestinian men and boys, just like Palestinian women and girls, regularly go through horrendous forms of torture and sexual abuse that don't receive a fraction of the attention, disclosure, sympathy and condemnation as all of those fake and already-debunked cases of Israeli women being brutally raped by Palestinian men, because everyone has decided that rape is something that's always committed by (brown) men and its victims are always (white) women.

This isn't anything new or exclusive to only Palestinian men, on top of the Israeli concentration camps, many innocent Muslim and Middle Eastern men over the years who have been subjugated through demeaning torture and sexual assault in other concentration camps such as Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo with no consequences for the perpetuators. Not even when we have real documented footage of those sexual crimes, that are literally posted online by the American or Israeli rapist-soldiers (often female soldiers) where they're shown smiling and laughing with their faces clearly seen as they torture the prisoners, because they know that as long as the victim is a Palestinian/Arab/Muslim man, there will be no consequences for them or any justice for their victims.

And people will just go on believing the notion that all Middle Eastern men are sexually-deprived raping machines who can't control themselves when they see a woman showing her ankle, when in reality foreigners occupiers and soldiers target them as much as they do to Middle Eastern women and subjugate them to the same level of sexual crimes, yet those foreigner occupiers and soldiers are never the ones who get associated with the words "rapist" or "terrorist" despite their long documented history of rape and other sexual crimes.

Find a protest near you here: X, X, X, X & X

Donate or join Palestine action here: PALESTINE ACTION

[starlightomatic]

Someone sent me an ask about how to avoid antisemitism when talking about what's happening in Palestine, but Tumblr ate it. This is a really important question, because we don't want to fight one oppression while enabling another; we don't want to accidentally foment the conditions that lead to antisemitic violence, and we also don't want to shy away from speaking about Gaza for fear that we're doing so.

Here are my thoughts.

There are a lot of unconscious antisemitic beliefs that people hold, that they may not be consciously aware of. They may have learned these from parents, peers, or society at large. Like any bigotry, a huge part of not being harmful in bigoted ways comes down to learning what unconscious bigotry looks like within you and learning how it is expressed.

Antisemitism is very old, and there are a lot of tropes and beliefs that have developed through the years. Many of these are alive and well, though they may be subtle enough that people don't realize they're carrying them. However, they show up in the way that people speak, especially about Israel and Palestine. Here are some:

1. Jews are overwhelmingly wealthy

2. Jews control the world

3. Jews control a given country (eg the US)

4. Jews are not oppressed

5. Jews are some of the most privileged people in society; more than non-Jewish white people. Jews are white people but even more so.

6. Jews are whiny and complain about their nonexistent oppression too much

7. Jews are sneaky, deceptive, and untrustworthy. They don't speak sincerely or plainly; they have an ulterior motive and are trying to get one over on you.

8. Jews are greedy

9. Jews are really powerful

10. Jews undermine and destabilize movements and countries. (This one connects to 3, 7, and 8).

11. Jews are inherently guilty; a good Jew needs to apologize for being Jewish

12. Jews are bloodthirsty and desire violence against non-Jews

13. A Jew is from somewhere else, and does not belong in the place that they are.

14. Jews sap resources from the country they are in and funnel them into their own communities/interests. They are a vampire-like parasite on the societies they live in.

How do these get expressed in the movement? Here are some examples (these are paraphrases and combinations of various things I've seen):

Example A:

"American Jews are complaining about oppression while living in their NYC apartments and taking Ubers. It's ridiculous, so much privilege and entitlement." This one's got 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

1: Assumes wealth. Plenty of us can't afford NYC apartments or Ubers!

4, 5, and 6: self-explanatory.

7: Belief that on some level, fear of antisemitism can't really be sincere; we must be talking about it for some other purpose, eg to distract from "real" issues.

Example B:

"The US is funding this genocide because of the influence of Israel and Israel's interests, and the Jewish lobbyists." Employs 3 and 9.

3: The US is doing this because of its own interests; if anything, the US wants to be able to use Israel as a pawn.

9: Imagines Jewish lobbyists as powerful enough to drive US policy. Also forgets how dramatically the US dwarfs Israel in size, money, and power; imagines it's the other way around.

Example C:

"These Israeli first responders are lying about finding mutilated and sexually abused bodies after October 7th. This Israeli girl who was held hostage is lying about having talked to fellow hostages who were sexually assaulted. This Israeli first responder is lying about children having been killed on October 7th."

This is 4, 6, and mainly 7.

7 because it assumes that these people are telling these lies for some nefarious purpose: to garner false sympathy, or worse, to manufacture support for genocide. It cannot be because they are actually telling the truth.

Example D:

"It's suspect if someone talks too much about antisemitism. Or if they correct my misinformation. They are probably a crypto-Zionist. In fact, all of these Jewish tumblr bloggers are crypto-Zionists."

(The first part of this I haven't heard said; but rather it's the unspoken attitude I'm frequently presented with.)

This one has 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10. Mostly 7 and 10.

Beliefs that our goal is to derail pro-Palestine organizing by sewing Zionist beliefs in the movement. That we would be capable of such (9). That it's impossible that we're sincere and we're concerned both about what's happening in Gaza and the everpresent, intangible potent threat of imminent antisemitic violence.

Example E:

"What everpresent threat of imminent antisemitic violence? You're either delusional, too privileged to understand how oppressed you aren't, or lying to some sinister purpose."

The first two (delusional and too privileged) often comes from other Jews, who, yes, can be antisemitic too.

This one has: 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9.

Example F:

"As a Jew I know I am responsible for what's happening in Gaza, and I need to call in my people who deny our privilege and who think they're unsafe."

1, 4, 5, 6, 11. Shades of 10.

Example G:

"Israel is invading Gaza for oil."

8. Also this isn't true.

Example H:

"No Israeli is a civilian. All settlers are guilty, and need to leave."

Technically, it is possible for someone to hold this belief consistently for all settlers worldwide due to stringent decolonial beliefs. However, it frequently is applied only to Israelis. In such an iteration, I think it contains 10, 11, 12, and 13.

Which leads to my next point: Double standards. If something doesn't invoke a particular trope, but views Jewish or Israeli actions more harshly than we'd view the equivalent in any other place or people, to me that's suspect.

For example, relating to the above, if we believe that Truth and Reconciliation is the answer in the US and Canada, but in Israel the answer would be forced displacement of the Jewish population, that would be antisemitic.

Also, if we're able to hold nuance around the idea of refugees to the US and Canada, and understand that they're simultaneously taking part in colonialism while also arriving under duress because they need a place to live, we can extend the same nuance to the idea of Jewish refugees (Holocaust survivors, SWANA Jews, Ethiopian Jews, etc) who have come to Israel.

And, going back to example A, is there any other marginalized group we would say is not actually oppressed because members of it live in NYC and take Ubers? No? Then, it's antisemitic when you say it about Jews.

I also think misinformation about Jewish history and identity is antisemitic. For example, lines of thought that deny our ancestral, historical, cultural, and liturgical connections to the land of Israel/Palestine. One false belief I see a lot is Khazar Theory, popularized by the quack Shlomo Sand. This states that Ashkenazi Jews do not have ancestral origins in what's now Israel/Palestine, but rather descend from a mass conversion of Turkic peoples in the Kingdom of Kazaria. It is not, in fact, true.

Something else along these lines is back-defining origins and land-connection through current events. For example, a white gentile ex-friend of mine shared a post stating that because the IDF, as well as settler extremists, destroy Palestinian olive trees (an egregious act, in my opinion, as well as against Jewish law), this means we are not native to the land. While I understand the term native is complex and this might have been an attempt to denote our positionality as colonizer in a colonizer-indigenous dynamic, the framing of the post led me to believe that, actually, the post was using these actions to prove that we do not actually originate from the land.

Destroying Palestinian olive trees is an act of great violence against the land, against the Palestinian people, and against our own history, culture, and religious traditions. However, it does not change the historical fact of our origins or ancestry, nor the fact the our religious traditions are deeply intertwined with the seasons, climate, and agriculture of Israel-Palestine, even when that puts them out of sync with the seasons and climate of wherever we live in Diaspora.

I hope this is helpful. This is a really hard time for so many of us, and I know it can feel like derailing to focus on antisemitism right now, and to focus on the potential of future violence when the people of Gaza are experiencing actual extreme levels of violence right now. But if we truly believe that none of us are free until all of us are free, then fighting antisemitism has to be part of our collective liberation. We cannot and should not fight genocide by engaging in oppression. Speaking up for Gaza and Palestine does not have to mean fomenting conditions that put Jews in danger of bigotry and violence. The world we're building is one where seeing your trees destroyed, or your family killed, or your home receding into the distance as you are forced to leave is but a distant memory. For Palestinians, and for Jews, and for everybody on this Earth.

[no-passaran]

Spain lied about not selling weapons to Israel.

Even after October 7th, Spain has sold more than 1 million € of weapons to Israel. Norway and Finland make it possible.

In January, Spain made headlines word-wide when the government's Minister of Exteriors, José Manuel Albares (PSOE), claimed in Congress and later again in a radio interview that Spain had stopped selling weapons to Israel ever since October 7th. Israel's intensification of violence in Gaza following October 7th meant that, on top of decades of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, between October 7th and January 23rd Israel had already killed 28,000 people and forced 2 million out of their home. In this context, many people were demanding their governments stop arming and funding the genocide of the Palestinian people, and here on Tumblr and other social media sites like Twitter I think we all saw the many posts praising the Spanish government for this.

Well, it turns out it was a lie.

According to Albares, "Since October 7th there are no more weapons exportations [from Spain] to Israel". But in November alone, Spain exported weapons to Israel for 987,000€, as was published on the Spanish Government's official website dedicated to exterior commerce (Comex). A researcher from Centre Delàs (an independent centre for peace studies) found it and published it, and it has also been verified by newspapers such as elDiario.es.

This 987,000€ worth of weapons in November was not the only ammunition that Spain has sent to Israel in 2023. In 2023, Spain exported a total of 1.48 million € in war material to Israel.

All of the weapons sent in November come from the factory of Nammo Palencia (Castilla y León), a corporation that is 50% property of the Government of Norway and 50% owned by a public Finnish business. However, even if the owners are foreigners, the ammunition was sent from Spain and thus it had to be authorized by the an organism of the Spanish Government named Junta Interministerial de Defensa y Doble Uso, whose deliberations on whether a weapons exportation is accepted or denied are kept secret. The only cases where they have denied exporting weapons to Israel have been when they thought that Israel would re-sell these weapons to the Philippines.

Spain has had a close relation with Israel for years. As published by the Spanish Government, Spain has sold 20 million € of weapons to Israel between 2012 and 2022. Spain also buys weapons and military software from Israel (for example, the Spanish Intelligence Service has been using the Israeli software Pegasus to illegally spy on Catalan activists, journalists, politicians and civil society members and their relatives to attack the Catalan independence movement), and Spain has continued buying from Israel and allocating defense contracts to Israel even after the October 7th attacks. It is very difficult to track the concessions of public contracts such as buying weapons, but some contracts have been known. For example, on November 24th 2023, Spain bought 287.5 million € of missiles from Israel. This is not unusual: between 2011 and 2021, it is publicly known that Spain bought war material from Israel for at least 268 million €, but experts say that the real number could be two or three times as much.

Spain has also continued allocating concessions to Israel. For example, on December 15th 2023 Spain allocated a contract worth over 576 million € to Israel for a rocket launcher programme. On November 22nd, Spain allocated another another Israeli company to provide missiles for 237 million € at the same time as the Spanish army bought Israeli inhibitors for 1.4 million €. The very next day, November 23rd, Spain signed another military allocation to Israel for 82,600€. The following week, Spain signed yet another allocation with a different Israeli military corporation for 3.7 million €.

Spain also allows Israeli weapon manufacturing companies to produce weapons through their branches located in Spain. This way, Israeli weapons make their way to markets with which Israel doesn't have diplomatic ties but Spain does, like Saudi Arabia. And since Spain is a member of NATO, Israeli weapons produced in Spain are approved according to NATO standards and access it easily. In the same way, these Israeli weapons manufacturers also access European Union defense funds through their branches in Spain. (source).

As I said, I saw a lot of positive posts around when Albares said Spain was going to embargo, but I haven't seen any post about how they didn't do it. I also (personally) haven't seen anything on international media, and barely anything on Spanish media, which is already busy with the PSOE covid material corruption scandal. So I share this in the hope of helping put pressure on Spain to cut all ties with Israel immediately.

SHAME ON EVERYONE WHO GIVES ISRAEL THE MATERIAL AND MONEY THAT WILL BE USED TO MASSACRE THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE. SHAME ON SPAIN, NORWAY, AND FINLAND.

[moonlayl]

To the people who follow me, you’ll recall I predicted they would suddenly release images of dead unidentified bodies and claim it was from October 7th (which they for some reason decided to not release until 45 days later? Like they could at least try and be smart about it) and I made that prediction right after Palestinians started saying that the Israelis stole Palestinian bodies. Israel certainly doesn’t disappoint when it comes to their lies and propaganda.

[no-144444]

FIC-TOBER

Hey everyone! I've decided to participate in the regualr kink-tober stuff (in my own way) :)

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I have a fic fr every day, I'll try and get them out at roughly the smae time but with work and school I'm a little busy so please be mindful of that and also enjoy! Some of these are requests, so thank you to the people that requested and please enjoy!

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October 1st: Making moves  Enemies to lovers -> Lando Norris x publicist  reader  Why did your client have to be such a pain in the ass? 

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October 2nd: The grid: Meet-cutes! 

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October 3rd: Brother’s teammate Brother’s teammate -> Jack Doohan x Gasly reader  It’s not your fault his new teammate is hot (smau)

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October 4th: Married man Private, but not secret -> Lewis Hamilton  Married? Maybe. But why does everyone else need to know? 

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October 5th: (smut): misguided mishaps One bed trope -> Lando Norris x Fewtrell reader  One bed… what could go wrong? 

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October 6th: Love and lies Fake relationship -> Alex Albon x reader “We don’t love each other, right?”

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October 7th: mi señora Everyone else ships you -> Franco Colapinto x Williams reader  “We’ve barely ever spoken!” “He’s in love with you!” 

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October 8th: Presenting y/n y/l/n! Our fav commentator Y/n Y/l/n! Tweets about our favourite F1 commentator!

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October 9th: Judgy McJudgy Pants or Osc? You decide! Things heating up between you and Judgy McJudgy pants...

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October 10th: Losing Battle Marriage of convenience -> Lance Stroll “Children?” “No way.”

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October 11th: Temptations (semi-smut 18+) Skinny dipping-> Max Verstappen god forbid a girl has hobbies tmz. 

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October 11th: Accidental injury Injury causer-> Logan Sargeant x engineer! reader “Watch where you’re going please?!” 

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October 12th: a story for a dinner party (smut 18+) Trapped in an elevator -> Liam Lawson x driver! reader “Don’t move!” “I’m not moving!”

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October 13th: Persistent Pestering Sworn off relationships and ‘I’m in love with you’ -> Charles LeClerc  Ferrari drivers are persistent. You’re not looking for love. Too bad he is. 

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October 14th:  The grid: wedding shenanigans! ୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ⋅୨ৎ

October 15th: smile, even though it’s breaking. Sunshine vs. Grumpy -> Daniel Riccarrdo x RB mechanic! reader “Do you even stop smiling?” “Only when you’re not around.”

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October 16th: Listening ears on Matchmaking gone wrong -> Zhou Guanyo x Bottas reader  How come when you try to set Zhou up, it always ends badly? (smau)

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October 17th: Admin looking for love! Secret pining -> Carlos Sainz x williams admin! reader  Why did Alex Albon feel the need to post you on his story as a ‘lonely woman looking for love’? And why did Carlos Sainz dm you after it? 

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October 18th: Creepy guy who isn't all that creepy Coffee mix up -> Ollie Bearman  Why does your cappuccino taste like shit? And why are you being followed by a random 6 foot man? 

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October 19th: Opposites attract, right? Forgetful-> George Russell  “Where’s my-” “Babe, stop leaving things lying around!” 

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October 20th: Happy accident! Accidentally married -> Max Verstappen  Good night, right? 

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October 21st: Stoic much? Secret baby -> Oscar Piastri  “You have a wife?” “You have a kid?!” 

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October 22nd: The grid: Time for a hot lap! 

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October 23rd: All grown up! Childhood crush -> Arthur Leclerc  “I had a crush on you as a kid.” “Same.” “What?!”

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October 24th: Breaking up (not making up) The one that got away -> Kimi Antonelli  “So we’re done?” “yeah.”

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October 25th: Wallflowers like flowers too Friends to lovers -> Oscar Piastri  “I got you some flowers.” “Why?” “Because they’re pretty, like you.”

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October 26th: Thoughtless love Best friends to lovers -> Paul Aron Being with him is just easy.

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October 27th:Lovers in denial Won't admit it-> Logan Sargeant  “I don’t like her!” “Exactly, you love her!” 

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October 28th: Was it casual? Scared to commit -> Lando Norris  Aren't we just casual?

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October 29th: The Grid: Late for a date!

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October 30th:  The Grid: confesses! 

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October 31st: Chancer Halloween party -> Oscar Piastri Can he figure out who you are at the masquerade ball before you leave forever?

[infiniteglitterfall]

my all-time favorite Palestinian activist

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hamza Howidy (@hamzahowidyy)

"I think [reaching Greece in an overcrowded boat no one knew how to drive] was one of the happiest moments in my life, because I survived. And I stayed in Greece -- and I was supposed to stay there to apply for my asylum and get my life there.

"Unfortunately, with the atrocities of October the 7th and my activism, the threats I received when I was in Greece by some radical pro-Palestinian folks, I decided to leave.

"And based on a friend's recommendation, I decided to go to Germany because it's somehow considered safer than the other European countries and there is somehow enough space for a free speech here."

"Voicing dissent [in Gaza] was not an option. Hamas has a no tolerance policy for criticism or objections to any of its policies. Even discussion is forbidden.

"Any journalist who objects or criticizes a policy is suspended and investigated. Demonstrations are strictly prohibited. Freedom of speech in Gaza is a fantasy.

"The dirtiest tool Hamas uses to silence citizens is character assassination through online campaigns accusing dissenters of working for hostile bodies or committing immoral acts.

"Hamas also routinely breaks into the homes of people deemed disloyal and humiliates them in front of their family and neighbors.

"...A huge social gap opened between the wealthy elite who belong to Hamas and the rest of the population who were increasingly living in driving poverty. Public sector jobs were limited to Hamas members, and taxes were increasing on necessities day by day, even as the cost of living skyrocketed.

"Many of us could no longer bear it. I was one of them.

"Though we knew dissenters were subject to imprisonment, torture, and even murder, in 2019, a few of us decided to join forces and form a protest to voice our opposition to Hamas. We called it the 'We Want to Live' demonstration.

"Our demonstration elicited an extreme reaction by Hamas. They violently cracked down on the protests and we were all arrested.

"I will never forget my first day in jail—walking up the steps listening to screams of my colleagues, most of them fellow students, who had been arrested before me. I was held under arrest for 21 days and subjected to various types of torture. I was beaten with batons and sprayed with cold water in the late winter night hours.

"My friends didn't fare much better. A Christian friend was in the next cell and I could hear them screaming at him, 'You are a Christian and you don't like the situation? Then go to another country!'

"After we were released, most of those who participated in the demonstrations emigrated away from Gaza. There was no hope for any change in the current situation. We suffered ongoing harassment by Hamas members.

"Some died trying to leave, like Tamer Al-Sultan, a pharmacist whose crime was asking for a reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. [The political party of the Palestinian president, which Hamas violently kicked out of Gaza in a 2007 coup.]

"People's living conditions got worse. The wealth gap expanded even further. We protested again in 2023 and were crushed in the same manner as in 2019.

"I was arrested again by Hamas last year and held for 14 days, this time in a small cell with no bed, no window, and barely enough space to sit down. I was released on bail on the condition that I not take part in any further demonstrations.

"I still expressed my opinion occasionally on social media, but the arrest warrants after each post and the continuous threats from Hamas members and accusations of treason made me lose hope that I could make any kind of change.

"I left Gaza in August [2023] to seek a better future for myself and my family."

"I know firsthand that when ordinary Gazans like myself protested against Hamas, there was no media attention.

"No human rights organizations demanded the release of prisoners held for months in Hamas prisons, not to mention those who were tortured by Hamas, and even killed by Hamas—like Issam Al-Saaffein, who was killed under torture in Hamas's jails.

"This trend has continued during the present war. Since October 7, hundreds of Gazans have been killed by Hamas' failing rockets. Hamas has confiscated the food, fuel, and medicine sent to Gaza, and they did not stop here.

"13-year-old Ahmad Breka was shot in the head by Hamas in Rafah while attempting to collect humanitarian aid. Others were fortunate because they were merely shot in the legs by Hamas while attempting to grab humanitarian goods that Hamas stole and kept in their facilities.

"These inhumane acts, along with the agony that Gazans have undergone since October, prompted many to demonstrate anew during this war. They demonstrated in Khan-Younis in front of Yahya Sinwar's house; others protested in the north, asking that Hamas free the captives and cease the war.

"They received the same response from Hamas that I did: They were fired upon.

"And once again, the global media largely overlooked these crimes.

"Daring to take some food in the midst of a war or protesting Hamas isn't the only activity Hamas has persecuted us Gazans for; attempting to play any part of delivering this aid to those in need, or even considering playing any role the day after the war, is enough to get anybody the death penalty from Hamas.

"That's what happened to the Abu-Amro tribe leader, along with two members of his tribe who were killed by Hamas militants a few days ago.

"A couple of months ago, they beheaded the head of a clan leader in the north of Gaza and issued a statement on social media: 'We murdered him, and we will do so to anyone who stands against us and cooperates with Israel.'

"Others who publicly criticized Hamas during the war were reported missing."

[fairuzfan]

I have concern that I may still be technically zionist despite claiming to be pro-palestine. This is because I knew very little about Palestine when October 7th happened, so in the time since I have been reluctant to have a stance on a two-state or one-Palestinian-state solution. I know now that almost all of Isreal is stolen land and recognize Isreal only exists due to colonialism, it took me a long time to learn that but I know it now. Before I knew that, I knew that regardless of the prior history that in current day Palestine is being subjected to a genocide. However, I struggle with politics and therefore struggle with understanding how a one-Palestinian-state could be achieved and have concern about what would happen to any genuinely innocent people who live in Isreal. To be clear, Isreal as a whole is guilty and I just have concern about what will happen to the portion of people in Isreal who are just as horrified as the rest of the world at what their government is doing. I do not personally know any Palestinians, so I have not known who to talk to about this especially since I do not want to overstep in any way. Theres more context I could provide but I wont because this is roughly the gist of where I am currently at when it comes to my concerns about whether or not I am still zionist. Do you have any reccomendations as to what I can do about my concerns? I am not sure whether or not I am overstepping right now by asking you this, but I do not know any other Palestians on a personal level that I can go to.

hey thanks for sending this in. i think we all have zionist biases that we have to unlearn, even i catch myself falling for it sometimes. so it's not necessarily a moral failing if you're trying to undo the zionism you've been taught. thanks for trying to undo it!

i do want to correct you a bit thought, in that *all* of israel is stolen land because israel is a settler colonial society. until it is relabeled as "Palestine" it can't not be stolen land.

I guess my advice is that you read scholarship and perspectives on palestinian thought and heritage. i can't tell you what a free palestine will look like but i can tell you what i imagine it to be. but what i can tell you is that the state of israel is fully intent on erasing all traces of palestinian life no matter what.

i guess i can tell you why "two state solutions" don't really work because there is no.... prevention of settlement building in the west bank and they'll never really promote *not* settling in the west bank. like i really cannot imagine a world where there aren't settlers on palestinian land no matter the case. and that's even not allowing palestinians the right of return to their homes and expecting them to give up what they dedicated their lives to. many palestinians in the west bank and gaza are themselves refugees because they were displaced in '48. so no matter what, palestinians will always get the short end of the stick and told to "just deal with it."

plus, why are we concerned with the supposed future danger towards israelis when the current, very real danger towards palestinians exists? shouldn't we prioritize actual events over hypothetical ones? why should we concern ourselves with the future when for palestinians its not a guarantee? i have no idea what's going to happen to gaza, for example.... shouldn't we prioritize that gaza lives on today?

i think i would question why you think israelis are inherently in danger in a one state solution? like do you assume that palestinians will all universally commit violence on all israelis? is it because you believe that hamas wants to kill every single israeli jew no matter what? if so, i think that's where your problem lies — in the assumption that peace can only be achieved through segregation just in a lighter form (because the state of israel relies on segregation as a principal of its existence as a jewish state). what about the palestinians who fear living side by side with the same people who raped, tortured, and murdered them for 75 years, or advocated for their deaths? aren't they inherently in more danger?

i mean palestinians have consistently been painted as the villains for more than 75 years. like in every aspect. i think to really truly be antizionist you need to prioritize palestinian concerns and worries over israeli ones because of how.... unwilling much of the world is to even consider them.

approaching zionism from an idea of an inequality structure is also necessary — rather than assuming its a one off system, we examine it as a perpetuation of multiple types of systems of inequality embedded into one. i recommend the institute for the critical study of zionism (click) for more information on this. There's also this book by Ismail Zayid written in the 80's (click) about the longtime violence the ideology of zionism has done to multiple communities, not just palestinians.

Here's a great reading list by palipunk about different aspects of palestinian thought and culture (click). i suggest looking through them to help decolonize our way of thought.

i might add on to this later if i think of something else to say.

[mylight-png]

I refuse to be told to "move on" from October 7th. I simply refuse.

You know the thing about trauma? You don't really get the choice to move on. You may be living in the future, but at least a part of your mind is trapped in that horrible moment. Sometimes that part of you can never escape.

Right now, as I'm writing this, I am sitting at my desk in my room. But right now, as I am writing this a part, huge part, of me is still in that airport. That part of me is still staring at my phone, trying to catch its breath but failing. That part of me is still watching in shock as the death count rises, the videos of Hamas's atrocities are broadcasted everywhere I see, the celebration of my people being massacred is burning my eyes. My ears are hearing the wailing sirens from when I was last in Israel. My hands are still feeling the shaking of the walls as the Iron Dome intercepts attempts upon the lives of my family and me. My heart is hurting for each life lost and each family left broken.

My body is here, in January 10th. My mind is not. My mind, and the mind of nearly every Jew is still stuck in October 7th.

Do not think we chose this. If I could choose indifference, if I could choose apathy, if I could choose ignorance, I wouldn't feel so constantly triggered and in pain.

But nobody gets to choose trauma.

This wasn't a unique trauma, a first-time event. Pogroms are nothing new to us, genocides and attempts at such against us aren't anything new, hateful libel and lies are near-constants.

That's part of what made October 7th so much worse.

I grew up hearing about how my great-grandfather lost his entire family to the Holocaust, how my ancestors survived pogroms, how my parents faced systemic antisemitism in the USSR.

We all grew up hearing our parents and grandparents tell us about antisemitism.

And do not think we were ignorant of it. I was well aware that the world is not even close to shedding its deeply ingrained antisemitism.

I was aware of it when I wrote a speech about discussion of modern antisemitism and being told it was "well-written but controversial". I was aware of it when my teacher said I was responding "emotionally, not academically" to an author claiming antisemitism and the Holocaust weren't "that bad".

I was aware of it when a synagogue near me got shot up, a synagogue I've been to. I was aware of it because I had no other choice.

But it had always felt like it was "winding down" from what my parents had told me. Yes what my teacher did was bad but at least he didn't explicitly single me out for being a Jew and intentionally fail me. Yes the feedback for my speech was hurtful but it wasn't like I was being violently censored. Yes the shooting was awful but it wasn't a full-blown pogrom.

I'm not saying my logic was correct. Far from it. But that's how it felt before October 7th.

When October 7th happened I saw that nothing was "winding down" as I had previously thought. People were still just as keen to gleefully cheer on the killing of Jews as they had been. The world is just as slow to act when Jews are being forcibly held and tortured and killed. Blood libel and ideas of the "doctor's plot" are alive and well.

Oct 7th triggered old trauma, Oct 7th was traumatic in its own right, and for most of us, Oct 7th proved that antisemitism isn't going anywhere. It isn't winding down or getting better.

And that kind of pain? That kind of trauma? That sticks with you.

You wouldn't tell any other person to get over their trauma. So what makes it ok to say it to traumatized Jews as we are still processing the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust?

That behavior is horrible and inexcusable.

Trauma is trauma, you don't get to decide who does or doesn't have the right to be traumatized. You don't get to decide how people discuss their trauma.

[laineystein]

How do you make peace with the IDF storming into hospitals and UN schools? How do you make peace with the news that the IDF opened fire on Israeli citizens on October 7th? Why do the Palestinians deserve to be chased out of their homes since 1948? Do you know about Rachel Corrie? Do you know that the IDF has killed a record breaking amount of journalists? I don't understand how you can be so close to this tragedy and act like it is anything other than genocide.

You make peace when you understand international law and learn that the only war crimes being committed are being committed by Hamas. We’re not storming hospitals or schools. International law also states that as soon as a faction begins using an area for military purposes, it is no longer protected. It is no longer a “civilian” area, even if civilians still reside there. So many sources (that notably hate Israel and Jews) have come out confirming that Al Shifa is Hamas HQ. Many sources have come out confirming that Hamas is using schools to store weapons and indoctrinate children *and* that NGOs like the UN have turned a blind eye.

You make peace when you learn to educate yourself instead of falling victim to jihadist propaganda. The “Israelis killed their own people on October 7th” lie has been debunked. No sources could be found confirming that and the IDF and the Israel Police both came out saying that was factually inaccurate. If you know reporting out of those groups you know that when we’ve fucked up, we admit it. This was all a fabrication to excuse terrorism and continue to wrongfully demonize Israel.

You make peace when you deal with actual facts. There was a two-state solution planned before 1948 and then four countries attacked Israel and we defeated them all which lead to what y’all refer to as the Nakba. BUT!!! The Jewish population did not want their Arab neighbors to leave. Arab nations encouraged the Nakba. Arab nations have always used the plight of the Palestinian people to further their agenda of demonizing Israel in an attempt to eradicate it and kill Jews. But if we’re going to talk to about being expelled from your homes - Jewish families were expelled from Gaza in 2005 when we gave the land to the Palestinians. Do you care about that? Where are the Jews in Iraq? Yemen? Afghanistan? Syria? Sudan? Morocco? Feel free to talk about how those people were ethnically cleansed from those countries - but if that doesn’t interest you then your activism might be performative and you might just hate Jews.

I know it is not genocide because I’m so close to it. I spent all of last week ensuring the safe passage of Palestinians out of Gaza, into the South. I had Palestinians thank me. I administered aid to Palestinian children and the elderly. I watched them pray to Allah that Hamas would go away. What happened to my people on October 7th was an attempted genocide - something that Hamas has admitted to. What we are doing in Gaza is working to prevent a genocide, one of Hamas’ own doing.

Please read a book. Please get off social media. Please stop regurgitating lies fed to you by influencers and antisemites that did not care about this conflict before October 7th. You clearly need to be educated and messaging an IDF soldier on anon isn’t the way to do it. I have better shit to do. Yalla bye✌🏼

[ghost-1-y]

Kinktober 2023 / Monsterfucker Plans (Updated!)

Sea Serpent!Obanai x AFAB Mermaid!Reader – October 3rd @ 6pm PST

Your father had always warned you of the dangers of the deep ocean, demanding that you stay within the safe borders of the underwater kingdom. However, one day, you become curious and secretly travel into waters untraversed by any merperson still alive today – wishing to know what lies beyond the safe confines of your home, not realizing that the countless warnings from your father had been given to you for very good reason.

Incubus!Gojo x AFAB!Reader – October 7th @ 6pm PST

It’s been months since your husband had touched you in the way that you wished, and you’ve started to grow tired of the way he constantly flirts with other women. Completely fed up with both him and the never-ending dry spell you’ve been going through, you retire to the guest room’s bed to fall asleep without your husband, unaware of a shadow that’s been lurking in your home each night, waiting for the right moment to prey on his new victim.

Angel!Mitsuri x AFAB Succubus!Reader – October 10th @ 6pm PST

Mitsuri had always done what she was told to do, singing hymns and praying to her god every single day – ensuring that she fulfilled her duty of spreading the Good News to others far and wide. She never once thought about breaking the rules – much less her vow to chastity, until she found what initially appeared to be a human in a darkened alleyway in need of help, unknowingly falling into a trap that would corrupt her from holiness for the rest of eternity.

Human!Giyuu x AFAB Naiad!Reader – October 14th @ 6pm PST

As a water nymph, you never saw the world from beyond the spring you were born from, having only seen humans come to your spring bearing gifts and performing rituals for the sake of worship. However, one day, a beautiful human male stumbled his way into the domain of your sacred spring, and without offering nor sacrifice to give you, you thought of another way in which he could pay you worship.

Witch!Shinobu x AFAB!Reader – October 17th @ 6pm PST

Your girlfriend usually spends all day cooped up in her cabin brewing potions and studying spells, and, of course, placing the occasional hex on someone she doesn’t particularly like. One day, when you decide to visit her place deep in the woods, she has come up with a rather…interesting potion recipe, and wishes for both of you to try it out together.

True Form!Sukuna x AFAB Sorcerer!Reader – October 21st @ 6pm PST

Having been one of the sorcerers of the Heian Era to attempt to eradicate the King of Curses from the face of the earth, you were the least bit surprised to find yourself awaiting death within Sukuna’s domain. What you didn’t expect was that the Disgraced One had other plans awaiting you, to which you selfishly conceded if it meant you were allowed to live yet another day.

Surtr!Kyojuro x AFAB Worshipper!Reader – October 24th @ 6pm PST

The legends stated that the mighty fire giant would one day bring about the beginnings of Ragnarök and engulf the world in flames. You had been told of these prophecies since childhood and were a firm believer in appeasing the proclaimed Ruler of Fire through worship and sacrifice – just as you had been taught by the village elders since you were a mere child. What you didn’t expect, however, was for the village to turn their back on you and suggest that a human sacrifice would be needed to appease the giant once and for all.

Trickster!Sanemi x AFAB Tricked Princess!Reader – October 28th @ 6pm PST

As the Princess of your kingdom, you have been a voice of authority for all of your royal subjects. In fact, you had grown quite accustomed to your way of living – it was comfortable, and you rather enjoyed having others serve you – believing it was your divine right to have such privileges. That is, until one day you started to notice acts of mischief occurring around the castle – and with no one stepping up to take responsibility, you decided to seek out this imposter yourself, not realizing that was what he had wanted all along.

Vampire!CEO!Nanami x AFAB Secretary!Reader – October 31st @ 6pm PST

As the new secretary for a company, you find yourself excited about getting hired for your first job ever! You never thought to question why the position you’d applied for had been listed as vacant once every few months, nor did you wonder why all of the previous secretaries were female – all you wanted was to impress your new boss with your amazing work ethic. However, as you continue your weeks working for him, you start to notice rather…odd habits, and the more you observe, the more it becomes difficult to ignore – and why was it that the usually stoic man would seemingly become friendlier with you at the beginning of your menstrual cycles?

If you'd like to be tagged in any of these fics, please comment under this post with which ones you'd like to be tagged in! You must be 18+ (with your age in your bio) if you wish to be tagged! No age no entry!

divider credit: @/benkeibear

[astroa3h]

❤️‍🔥 asteroid valentine through the houses ❤️‍🔥

Asteroid Valentine (447) isn't just another mundane space rock orbiting the Sun 🌞; it was discovered on October 27, 1899, by the eagle-eyed French astronomer Auguste Charlois 👀🇫🇷. Standing out from the crowd of generic asteroids adrift in the cosmic expanse, this one boasts some serious pizzazz, seemingly nodding to Saint Valentine himself—the icon of all things mushy and romantic 💘, immortalized by legends and the gooey celebrations of Valentine's Day. Bearing the name Valentine, it's no shocker this asteroid has turned into the cosmic hotspot 🔥 for unraveling the enigmas of pulse racing obsession. It's like the universe's own twisted cupid 🏹💖, laying bare the types of swooners you magnetize and their lovestruck shenanigans when they're utterly smitten with you.

❤️‍🔥 1st House: In the 1st house, you attract the “Shadow Follower”. This individual is mesmerized by your very presence and seems to be wherever you are, blending into the background but always watching. They admire everything about you, from the way you walk to the way you talk, often mimicking your style or interests in an attempt to close the gap between you. Be aware you may attract narcissists.

❤️‍🔥 2nd House: When Valentine graces your 2nd house, it brings the “Lavish Obsessor” into your life. This person showers you with gifts and material symbols of affection, believing that the key to your heart is through extravagant displays of wealth. Their obsession lies in owning the best, and that includes their relationship with you. They see you as a prize to be won, a luxury to be possessed. You are the ultimate trophy.

❤️‍🔥 3rd House: In the 3rd house, the “Conversation Hacker” is drawn to you. This individual hangs on your every word, obsessively analyzing texts and conversations for hidden meanings. They're likely to deep dive into your social media history, bringing up topics or inside jokes you barely remember, demonstrating an unsettling level of interest in your thoughts and communications. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of weirdos in your DM’s.

❤️‍🔥 4th House: With Valentine in the 4th house, you attract the “Home Invasion Romantic”. This partner wants to be so involved in your life that they overstep boundaries, wanting to move in too soon or redecorate your space to suit what they believe is best for "us." They're fixated on creating a domestic bliss that you didn't sign up for, insisting on being your ultimate comfort but in a way that feels more invasive than nurturing. 

❤️‍🔥 5th House:  When Valentine visits your 5th house, it brings the “Jealous Admirer” into your love life. This type is intoxicated by your creativity and zest for life but is also fiercely envious of anyone else who shares your attention. They want to be your muse and your audience, the only one you perform for, often leading to dramatic displays of jealousy that can turn any romantic scene into a thriller. Fatal Attraction VIBES.

❤️‍🔥 6th House: In the 6th house, you draw the “Routine Stalker”. This individual is obsessed with your daily routines and habits, often rearranging their schedule to "coincidentally" bump into you. They take note of your likes, dislikes, and even your coffee order, using this information to craft themselves into the perfect partner, always just one step away from being too much in sync with your life. This placement can turn dangerous, watch your back.

❤️‍🔥 7th House: Valentine in the 7th house attracts the “Binding Contract Lover”. This person sees your relationship as a deal that's been sealed, treating every interaction like a contractual obligation forever. They're intensely committed to the idea of "us against the world," often pushing for commitments or declarations of love that feel more like chains than choices. Those with this placement are likely to cheat on long-term partners, unsure how to escape unhappy relationships.

❤️‍🔥 8th House: With Valentine in the 8th house, the “Soul Chain Romantic” is drawn to you. This lover believes in a connection that transcends the physical, claiming a depth of bond that feels more like a possession. They're drawn to your darkness and secrets, wanting to merge in ways that erase individual boundaries, but this is a placement that also draws sexually deviant partners your way.

❤️‍🔥 9th House: In the 9th house, you attract the “Obsessive Quester”. This partner is obsessed with the idea of you as their ultimate quest, an adventure to be conquered. They're drawn to your beliefs and philosophies but twist them to fit their narrative of a grand love story, often pushing you into roles and situations that feel more epic in their head than in reality. Expect a lot of love bombing followed by ghosting with this placement. 

❤️‍🔥 10th House: Valentine in the 10th house brings the “Public Claimer” into your orbit. This individual is obsessed with how the relationship looks to the outside world, constantly posting, tagging, and declaring their love for you in very public ways. They're more interested in the status of being with you than the actual connection, often putting on a show of affection that feels performative rather than genuine.

❤️‍🔥 11th House: In the 11th house, Valentine attracts the “Ideological Chameleon”, someone who obsessively aligns with your hopes, dreams, and social circles. They seamlessly adopt your interests and ideologies, aiming to become your perfect match. This partner integrates so deeply into your world that they begin to mirror you, losing their individuality in the process. They are harmless though, usually truly loving you. Just don’t break their heart, they might end up dating your BFF out of revenge.

❤️‍🔥 12th House: With Valentine in the 12th house, you draw in the “Phantom Soulmate”. This partner feels a deep, unseen connection to you, believing they knew you in a past life. They love from the shadows, perhaps through anonymous gestures or silent admiration, convinced of a spiritual link between you. This is actually my favorite Valentine placement, think of the Gomez Adams to Morticia.

xox astro ash

Get your own astrology reading @ astroash.net

TikTok - astroa3h

[misshorrorotaku]

So i been seeing your post recently and...well.....do you not think whats hapening in palestine is a genocide?

No, I don't.

Firstly, the numbers of how many have died comes from Hamas. And I refuse to believe they can name every dead kid but can't name how many hostages are alive. And even if we humor the idea they're telling the truth, 30k is an INCREDIBLY small number in terms of conflicts like this and most likely includes Hamas fighters, who are dressed as civilians and of whom Hamas does not differentiate when counting these numbers, so the civilian death toll is far more likely to be around 15k, and that's a generous high-roll. It's also not really possible they'd mostly be women and children. Cuz if they were, this would mean either every man in Gaza is a Hamas fighter (unlikely) or most men in Gaza has somehow avoided death. An incredibly unlikely option, especially given Pro-Pals insistence that Israel is "carpet bombing" Gaza. If you're carpet bombing an area, it's not possible that adult men could almost all avoid death. XD that's just not possible.

Secondly, Hamas has been proven to be lying. They lied about Israel bombing a hospital pretty early (they claimed Israel bombed the hospital and 500 people died, but in truth, one of their missile misfired and hit the parking lot of the hospital they claim was hit), and ever since I have either seen multiple lies from Hamas or Pro-Pals claiming this building or that was destroyed, but a quick Google search of the building either provided oodles of proof it was not destroyed or that it wasn't even in fucking Gaza. I refuse to believe the side lying their asses off will be accurate when calling something a genocide. This doesn't mean I think Israel has never lied, but they have not engaged in nearly the same level of manipulation that Hamas and the Pro-Pal side have.

Thirdly, Hamas has been launching unguided missiles into Israel for over 20 years. This necessitated the Iron Dome, and Israel in the areas that were bombed even has alarms in every neighborhood and a bomb shelter in every house. Even so they have killed thousands over the years in this campaign of slaughter. They then capped this off with October 7th, a terror attack that claimed almost exclusively civilian lives. They raped, butchered, and even recorded themselves doing these things (which is of course ignored by Pro-Pals). They had journalists involved who warned no one and even posed with Hamas leaders and took pictures of themselves with grenades. Apparently there were even members of the UNRWA involved, tho I haven't seen full proof of that bit yet. This was a terror attack that killed 1400 people, innocent people who were just taking part in a music festival. Then they kidnapped over 230 more innocent people, all civilians, many of which weren't even Israeli's, and while yes they gave SOME back during the ceasefire for hostage exchange, they kept a lot of infants (yes, INFANTS) they took, separating them from their mothers, and didn't give back all the hostages, rejecting the offer to keep the ceasefire going in exchange for them all. And now, they won't even name how many as still alive!

And after this terror attack they retreated to Gaza, even taking some corpses of the people they killed, and went into underground tunnels so any reprise against them would hit innocent civilians. They even said on live TV that they view Gaza as a country of martyrs they're happy to sacrifice. And yet despite all of that, we get to point 4.

Fourthly, Israel warns people before attacking. This is unprecedented. Militaries the world over call it a stupid move, cuz tactics-wise, it is very fucking stupid since inevitably Hamas gets the warnings too. But Israel does it anyway in an attempt to prevent civilian deaths, with Hamas refusing to let a lot of the civilians evacuate so they don't die. And the ones that did? They followed them to Rafah, bringing hostages with them, making Rafah, by law, a military target.

Fifthly, Hamas steals the aid that gets in, Palestinians have even testified to this, forcing Gazan civilians to starve and get desperate. The most recent consequence of this is the "flour massacre" in which starving Gazans swarmed an aid truck, and the aid workers inside ran a lot of them over in a bid to escape. Pro-Pals of course spread the lie that Israel butchered them all.

And finally point 6, having to do with the hostages: Hamas lies about the hostages. They claim they're treated well, even forged a thank you letter. But one interview with a released hostage demonstrates that this is a blatant lie, the family of the hostage the letter was from even said it was a lie!

I refuse to believe a genocide is happening when all of this is true. People facing genocide don't engage in this level of manipulation. They don't take innocents hostage, rape them and kill their families and neighbors.

Yeah, Gaza military-wise is weak compared to Israel. And their government has no interest in protecting them whatsoever. But one side being weak does not make a war a genocide. One side's government choosing to hide in underground tunnels, launch missiles from civilian buildings, hide weapons and hostages in hospitals, schools, and children's bedrooms does not make it a genocide.

What is happening is awful and it needs to stop. but it's a war, not a genocide.

[starlightomatic]

i want to ask that this post only be reblogged by jews, because this is an intracommunity conversation i want to have.

i recently made a post about october 7th, which i ended with acknowledging what's going on in gaza and a discussion of the bigger picture. a couple of people reblogged this with something like "in case the beginning made you want to scroll, read to the end."

my initial reaction here was being upset; the first half of the post would have been valid on its own, and it's fucked up to see a post about pain the OP is connected to and automatically assume it's propaganda.

so i added an addition about that, and here are some of the things i said:

if describing my multiple personal connections to a woman burned alive made you roll your eyes and want to ignore it, i urge you to sit with that response and strip it of the associations of other posts you've seen, and look at the bare truth: someone describing their personal connections to a woman burned alive made you want to roll your eyes and ignore it.

and:

and i'm not talking about folks with compassion fatigue who just didn't want to hear more about death and violence -- that is very understandable. it's for those ready to toss this in the "bad post" bin because they automatically assumed it was propaganda.

and:

a lot of you have been receiving significant amounts of propaganda for months that is training you to read anything that reference october 7th victims of death, rape, injury, or trauma, or reference hostages, as fake and a warning sign that someone is an Enemy. you are not immune to propaganda and you need to really reflect on how you evaluate information if this is where it's gotten to.

and

what brought you to the place where you're automatically suspicious, distrustful, and dismissive of people relating certain experiences? what messages have you received about who to listen to and who to dismiss, about what's true and what's probably lies?

and:

i know that in large part it's because october 7th is weaponized to silence palestinians and manufacture consent for genocide. what tools can you use to recognize when that is and isn't happening? can you seek out voices who don't do that, and are able to hold both truths?

and:

what would it look like to not either dismiss or weaponize?

writing this made me realize, we need to talk about something. we have needed to talk about it for a long time.

i have seen exactly this same dynamic occur when it comes to people discussing gaza.

i have seen folks in the jumblr community and in other jewish communities on and offline view any post or discussion about gaza as propaganda, as a way to dismiss october 7th. i have seen people view every claim about what is happening there through a lens of suspicion and distrust. i have seen people assuming ulterior motives, assuming that people could not have been genuinely motivated by care and concern but must have some other harmful purpose.

i've fallen into this too, unfortunately.

and i understand why this is happening. when you're dismissed, in mourning, and hurt, it's going to make you more reactive, and likely to assume worst intent.

so i want to use the things i asked in my post as a framework for recognizing when this is happening.

when is our instinct to ignore or scroll past posts about gaza and palestine? can we pause first before dismissing?

how often do we view something as propaganda and distrust it? what would it mean if it is propaganda; what would it mean if it's not? how useful is the term propaganda in the first place; can something have a political goal and still be true?

what messages have you received about palestinians and their goals that would lead you to dismiss the information they're sharing? if propaganda is a useful term, what propaganda has been aimed at you and played to your existing sympathies? what palestinian narratives have you been trained to dismiss, ignore, mistrust or suspect?

to what extent do you assume that discussion of gaza is intended to dismiss or deny october 7th, or is disingenous? can you recognize when that is or isn't happening? can you seek out voices who don't do that, and are able to hold both truths -- but actually both truths, not just lip service?

what would it look like not to dismiss gaza? what would it look like to speak up about gaza? what would it look like to be rooted in truths and our own experiences and values, and to speak up about gaza in that framework?

What would it look like to know and internalize that while someone like me might have eight confirmed second-degree connections to people killed on October 7th, a Palestinian in diaspora might have dozens, or more?

What would it look like to internalize that while I never got to visit Nahal Oz and a man once dropped me off at a bus stop on his way to Be'eri, a Palestinian in diaspora has many towns that were destroyed before they were even born.

Can we hold our own pain, and our own very valid anger at the ways we're mistrusted and dismissed, without slipping into mistrusting and dismissing the pain of others?

Can we reach out to our communities and ask them to take the crisis in Gaza seriously? Can we evaluate whether we and our communities are materially complicit in that crisis, and speak out against it if that is the case? Can we call in the people in our lives who dismiss or excuse this? Can we support the people of Gaza via donations? Can we reach out to our political leaders to put pressure on them to end this war?

[sjmvillainweek]

SJM Villain Week Prompts List (October 1st - 7th)

Day 1- Villain Origin Story/Sacrifice

Villain Origin Story:

There's always been a question of if evil is made or born. Were our Villains evil from their first breath, or did a forbidden Romance gone wrong create the bad guy? Or was it an abusive family, perhaps a curse?

Sacrifice:

What did our villains give up or lose to reach this point? Was it ripped from them or was it something they willingly gave? What did they gain from what they've lost?

Day 2- Planning/Weakness

Planning:

What went into making this happen? How did Maeve truly rise to power? Was it all warfare, or what shady deals were made and with who? Our villains can't be the origin of evil, so what happened beforehand to encourage this

Weakness:

Achilles had his heel, Percy Jackson has his loyalty, Aelin has self sacrifice. What is the villain's tragic Weakness? What would have brought them to their knees had the bad guys been able to find it out? How do they hide it? What have they done about it?

Day 3- Secret Skills/Deception

Secret Skills:

Is there a weapon they are skilled with? What does training look like for them? Do they have powerful magic? What does their spellbook collection look like? Do they have a hobby that has turned into an advantage for them? What is hiding in their arsenal?

Their Deception:

We got here somehow. Write that origin, that first lie that allowed our villains the position of power they've gained. Is there a lie they regret, or one they're proud of the most? Can anyone see through their lies?

Day 4- Their Reign/Behind Closed Doors

Their Reign:

We never truly see things from the villain's perspective. What did things look like Under the Mountain? What happened in Maeve’s throne room? What is the Eternal City like when just the Asteri are there? Was it all truly bad or was there fun? Did their Reign actually do anything potentially good?

Behind Closed Doors:

What's the villain like when they're truly alone? Are they lonely? Do they feel shame? Are they self righteous? Do they cuddle up with a glass of wine and their beloved secret pet? Do they have an odd habit that brings them joy?

Day 5- The Villain Wins AU/Aftermath

Villain wins AU:

Either in an AU world or the one we know and love, tragic news has broken: The hero has fallen (either by death or in love with our Villain) and hope has left the Maasverse. What happens now that no one stands in the way of evil? Will our hero and villain enjoy an unexpected mafia style romance, will they become the rulers or their world?

Aftermath:

What impact has the villain left? What will be their legacy, their infamy? What is the ancient story told about them to keep faelings from disobeying their parents? How has the world changed due to them?

Day 6- Afterlife/The Villains Sense Of Style

After life:

After the villain is gone, they've entered the world beyond their own. What does their fate look like? Is it filled with regret, punishment, finding peace? Was it worth all of this?

The villains sense of style: 

Most of SJM’s female villains are described as beautiful creatures. Maeve with her dark song and beauty, Amarantha is known as the “Never-Fading Flower.” We have even heard her refer to Beron as handsome in ACOTAR. What does our Villain do for their care routine? What's their fashion sense like? How high of a priority is their appearance?

Day 7- Free day

Self-explanatory, this is a day to go utterly wild. Write whatever your heart desires about our favorite villains. Their world is entirely in your hands.

Here is our list of Villains from across the SJM universe for reference.

And remember these prompts are just meant for inspiration, use them as loosely or as strictly as you want. With the Villains in the spotlight, who knows where they'll take you.

We'll see you in October.