#or every muslim person as arab
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There a lot of fantastic sources out there, many (many!) of them recommended by Palestinian and other MENA and/or Arab and/or Muslims users on here, but I wanted to share a list of what I have been taught/have read myself on contemporary MENA politics and history as a Westerner, and in the spirit of freedom of information and education for all, please DM if you cannot find any of the following:
The Square (2013), a documentary about the 2011 Egyptian revolution
-And as a follow-up, this article (Walter Armbrust, 2011, Al-Jazeera) about neoliberalism in Egypt and parallels to USAmerican neoliberal corruption
A History of the Modern Middle East, by William L. Cleveland and Martin Bunton. It is not perfect, as no history book will ever be, but it does give a very comprehensive overview of central Middle Eastern history in the modern period, from the Ottoman Empire to Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Iraq, and American (+Western) interventions leading up to and after 9/11. Chapter 17 in particular gives a solid overview of Israeli colonisation of Palestinian after the Nakba, but again it is definitely flawed in its own ways so keep that in mind
Margot Badran, Feminists, Islam, and nation: gender and the making of modern Egypt (1995)
Joseph A. Massad, Desiring Arabs (2007)
Lindsey Moore, Arab, Muslim, Woman: Voice and vision in postcolonial literature and film (2008)
Lisa Pollard and Mona L. Russell, History, Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East : From Orientalism to the Arab Spring (2018)
Mona Mikhail, Images of Arab Women: Fact and Fiction, Essays (1979)
And if anyone has any sources to add on, please do so! I love finding more to read
#please correct me if im using the wrong terminology i just dont want to generalise every middle eastern person as muslim#or every muslim person as arab#history#modern history#contemporary history#middle eastern history#resources#list#pls dm#i love talking about history i will talk about it with anyone#free palestine
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negative connotations to Arabic phrase ‘God is Great’ incorrect. average praying Muslim does takbir (says Allahu Akbar) a minimum 95 times a day and should have been counted.
#minimum#like MIMIMUM.#each day#like that’s just for the 5 prayers#only the obligatory ones it doesn’t include the additional voluntary ones most people also tend to do at some point#it doesn’t include regular use of the phrase in conversation#the phrase is literally used as an exclamation#like if you say ‘Allahu akbar my shift is over! I can go home alhumdulilah!’#like I don’t know what to tell you#western news-media connotations are so weird#you literally yell takbir to celebrate as well#saw a thing where everyone did takbir every time someone donated a huge amount to charity like brooooooooo#people be laughing so hard and getting Allahuakbar Allahuakbar out while wheezing#you score a goal? Allahu akbar alhumdulilah#this is very normal culturally transmitted info#Christian Arabs use the phrase as well like it's Arabic come on western media you’re not even trying#it’s such a joke#95 doesn't even include the 2 calls to prayer#it doesn't count people who do the extra allahu akbar (x33) after each prayer#doesn't include anything recited before bed#like. these are not uncommon things people choose to do. like...... BRO???#if you've ever seen Muslims praying in a group the person leading the prayer does the takbir out loud. that's literally how it's done#there are like 7 or 5 'Allahu akbar's in each round of prayer#you can't NOT say that part out loud it's literally THE part that has to be said out loud in each prayer#this information is very available online#you can say it before doing anything idk why it became a big deal in the west especially#it's some strange xenophobic Islamophobic normalise killings in those regions of the world mix#I’ve been getting recommended so many Arabic anime edits idk what to tell you#call everyone habibi it’s good for you#one of the most popular world languages fr
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so yesterday i had someone comment on a post i made on IG telling me how "offended" they were because i'd simply ended my post with the phrase "end the occupation and free palestine." so much of what they said was actually insane racist islamophobic bullshit and they managed to end their comment by calling all muslims terrorists and literally parroted the "they want to kill americans" fucking horseshit.
the person that made this comment was by someone i've literally known since grade school. i'm not close friends with them but i've gotten to know them over the years and never once thought they'd say anything like this. i actually thought it was a bot account for like a full minute.
i'm sadly not surprised at the rhetoric because that's where we are. we're right back to twenty years ago during the post 9/11 / war in iraq / war on terror fervor kicked off. i'm just. i had to fight this shit twenty years ago and here we are all over again, except this time with the added benefit of fucking social media.
if simply saying "free palestine" is so inflammatory for you, then that is your fucking problem to work through.
#this person commented a couple more times after i called them out on their racist remarks#including trying to pull the 'you support baby killers' bullshit#to which i said if you really condemn the murder of children#then by god you'd better be condemning israel who's been murdering them all fucking year. and last year. and every year.#and now this person has sent me multiple DMs trying to backtrack their fucking bullshit#and i haven't even read all of them because i don't have the energy for that. i just don't.#like until you retract your racist bullshit and apologize for it#then i am not giving you the time of day#i don't know you guys#i am not ready for this bullshit all over again; i mean i think all last week i was experiencing some trauma response to it#and by that i mean i dealt with this 20 years ago when i was in high school when i was one of maybe five out of 1500 that actively spoke ou#i don't remember any of my classmates ever saying anything to me; or if they did they certainly backed down if i challenged them on it#it came from the adults in my life – including teachers#when you're 15 years old and literally called a terrorist simply because you stand up and say 'hey this is a bad idea'#and when you are constantly bombarded with commentary about how all middle eastern people and all muslims are terrorists because ... ????#and when you are watching people get harassed and assaulted every single day simply because they *might* be arab because the government ...#... and the media said it was okay to do that#i don't know i guess i never realized it'd affected me until i started seeing the EXACT. SAME. RHETORIC. used *today*#and i'm just a white girl in montana like i can't even fathom the depths of pain this brings on POC who deal with this daily for years#it's just so devastating to see how quickly everyone has jumped on this 'let's kill all the muslims and arabs' train ALL OVER AGAIN#and seeing the horrifying responses by governments to shut down any pro-palestine speech or detain anyone who fucking looks palestinian#like this is just so so so so so so so so so so so so so bad#AND I'M ANGRY AND TIRED AND I NEED TO FUCKING SCREAM AND I'D LIKE TO SCREAM AT BIDEN FOR SUPPORTING GENOCIDE#sorry this is such a personal dump#i just needed to get it out there for my mental health ahahaha man i don't even know#i've already lost two close friends because they were upset that a palestinian on the news didn't condemn hamas in the way they wanted#like they're literally only qualifying palestinians by how they condemn others and not listening to what they're trying to fucking tell you#which is that the occupation and forced displacement of palestinian people is the root cause
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Ramadan is coming up and I can’t stress enough how much Palestinians have never got the chance to experience one normal Ramadan for 75years
You may not have been subjected to this, but as a person from an Arabic country, every Ramadan from every year there’s always headlines of Israeli iof soldiers or Israeli extremist settlers attacking Palestinians during Ramadan, especially Palestinian worshipers trying to pray in the al aqsa mosque
It’s happens almost every single year
Ramadan is suppoused to be Muslim people’s month of worship, of Baraka and it is very important to Muslim people
But Palestinians never ever experienced a normal Ramadan because Israel attacks them Viciously
Almost
Every
Single
Fucking
Year
And I will dare and say that Israel does it on purpose, it does it every Ramadan on purpose
And now, this year, with Ramadan being only a few weeks away, I doubt that they’ll have a normal Ramadan, not in the West Bank, and not in Gaza
All what I have to say here is that Israel will still follow this trend, something bad is gonna happen this Ramadan, keep an eye on Palestine during Ramadan
#palestine#news on gaza#israel#from the river to the sea palestine will be free#free gaza#free palestine
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I wanted to share something personal because I don't think a lot of you understand the influence of the West and its atrocities on an Arab child's upbringing. English is not my first language; I learnt it initially due to my interest in the language and Western cultures. However, seeing the true face of the West motivated me to continue learning the language to dismantle the false image of Arabs and Muslims which was portrayed by the West. I also talk about how this impacted my standing with the Palestinian cause. Bear with me as this post is long and a little messy, but I need to try and give everyone a clear and full image as much as I can.
I grew up consuming Western media due to my fascination with the English language. However I noticed the lack of Muslim and Arab representation.
When I started seeing representation later on, it was mostly Arabs and Muslims being depicted as 'terrorists' and 'barbarics'.
When a Muslim woman is depicted, she is depicted as 'oppressed' and in need of 'saving'.
I was on social media starting from a very young age. Seeing people online describe my people as 'terrorists' was not only scary, but also confusing. Why am I as an Arab Muslim child -who's living a normal childhood as everyone else- being labelled as a 'terrorist' by the West? Why are people claiming all Arab and Muslim children are trained to use guns by ISIS or/and Hamas? I remember asking my parents as a kid "Is this a real gun with the police officer?" Because I only saw weapons in movies.
I asked questions such as "Why do they think Arabs = Muslims?" The lack of acknowledgment of Christian and Jewish Arabs and non-Arab Muslims confused me.
Why were Muslim women always 'oppressed' in these movies and TV shows I saw? This is not as common as they make it seem. Why are they using the struggle of some Muslim women to demonize an entire religion? Why are they pretending to be saviours when they're actually contributing to further oppression of Muslim women? Why are they weaponizing the awful struggle of some Muslim women against the vast majority of Muslim women? (White feminism is not saving us. It's actually a form of oppression of Muslim women)
Misrepresentation bothered me and made me angry and disappointed. I couldn't finish watching a movie or an episode of a TV show if I saw any mentions of Muslims or/and Arabs, because I knew what would happen next.
When it comes to the Palestinian cause, every Arab grew up watching endless footage of Palestinians being brutally murdered LIVE. Everything and all the footage all of you are surprised to see during this genocide, were a part of our upbringing.
When I was a kid I stumbled upon a newspaper in the house with a headline about a Palestinian father who returned to his house and found all his children shot. And I remember the image very well. The father was holding a prayer mat with people holding him as he broke down on his knees. His dead children were on the floor next to each other. Seeing this image of children my age murdered by the Israeli occupation shocked me. I remember my parents having to hide the newspaper from me because of the impact this image had on me.
I had to start reading into politics at a young age, and I realized that everything that Western media was trying to portray about the West being 'civilized' was a lie. How can you be civilized if you're a murderer or/and contribute to the murder of the innocent?
When I learnt about the history of imperialism, colonialism, slavery,...etc. growing up, I recognized the pattern that colonialists use and I saw that the colonizers of yesterday, are the same as today, except Western media is doing a great job covering for them nowadays, and a lot of people only started noticing that recently.
The West seemed fascinating to me as a child, but after seeing the horrendous false images that're being portrayed of my people in the West, all of my fascination turned into anger and motivation to fight against it.
The real terrorists in the world are not the brown and bearded men, veiled women, or the innocent children. The real terrorists are the ones who set the stage for the murder of innocent people, the exploitation of their resources, using propaganda and painting an image of the innocent that cannot be more false and racist, and the fascists that put on a 'civilized' mask.
I will forever stand with my Palestinian brothers and sisters. I will forever defend my Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters, and I won't give room to any misrepresentation. Enough is enough.
Edit: I wanted to add that growing up, I was scared of telling people about where I'm from, my religion, and what language I speak due to the microaggression and discrimination I was subjected to. Not to mention the amount of times I saw on the news Arabs or/and Muslims getting killed in Western countries (aka hate crimes).
#free palestine#palestine#gaza#from the river to the sea palestine will be free#signal boost#social justice#palestine resources#colonialism#imperialism#jerusalem#the west bank#Arabs#Arabian#Muslim#Islam#tel aviv#yemen#hamas#us politics#apartheid
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The Power of a Name
With @next-pharaoh
The power of a name is something more influential than most people realize. It created an individual, maintained their identity that had been crafted from the womb up until that very point. It interacted with the world around them, choosing their friends, their enemies, their brothers and their lovers. Names decide brains or brawns, cools or fools, the ins and the outs of every living thing. If it was not for names, then who would we even be?
So imagine the power of a name when it is used for the good of a movement, one that has been silently expanding for hundreds of years. While other cultures were fighting wars and attempting to outscore one another, this particular movement stealthily expanded its ranks. Lineage and ancestry can be traced back through countless generations of the male line thanks to this work. Of course, we are speaking of Arabization.
There are obvious reasons as to why this movement is so strong and only has the potential to further dominate. First and most importantly, the Arab-Islamic culture exemplifies masculine ideals, creating stronger men after every new breed. Higher testosterone levels, unbreakable fraternal bonds, governing genetic codes. Their desert-bound history created more aggressive, competitive, and territorial behavior; their strict religious conviction maintain higher levels of confidence and, by right, superiority.
But if this movement is silent, then how are we able to visualize its effects? Consider the following facts: While numbers in almost all historically-dominant religions are dropping, the current Muslim population is predicted to grow more than twice in size by 2060. Islam, and the core values of Arabization along with it, will surpass Christianity as the largest religion in the world in just 25 years.
Reflecting on a local level will help illustrate these details. The branch of mathematics most widely practiced, taught, and respected is algebra, a rhetoric developed into what we use today by Muslim scholars. Arabic speakers have increased by 276% since 1910, with English speakers at 221%, Hindi speakers by 118%, and Mandarin Chinese speakers only by 96% over the same period. The Arabic name Muhammad has risen to become the top-reported baby name in the entire world when all its spellings are counted together, with Amir, Malik, Nasir, and Xavier following close behind.
With all this in mind, how has the Arabization movement utilized the power of a name? How about we make this more personal. Consider the average man, 25 years old, 5’9, and weighs roughly 197 pounds. He is flabby and balding, already considered past his prime at such a young age. Works a meaningless job, lives a meaningless life. His pale skin is a reflection of the blank resume representing his past, present, and future. All this, until a guiding Arab brother calls him by the wrong name.
“Omar!” Omar? But that was not his name. “Omar!” He hears it again, this time from a local. Eventually it seems to resonate with the people around him. At first, this average man was puzzled, but the constant repetition of the name gradually begins to rub softer, washing over his body and smoothing out his ridges. Every "Omar" scrubbed off a piece of his past, better aligning him with a brighter, browner future.
It could start somewhere as vulnerable as porn, the average man filtering through and discarding any videos that do not feature the Arab male. Perhaps his playlists begin to reformat with Arab music, its rhythms and verses constantly playing to further seep into his brain. This restructuring can appear in the home too with a space decorated by Arab imagery, and like a vine it delicately extends further inwards and invades the average man’s very place of rest.
Soon, his interactions with the world around him begin to change. A new Arabic word slips into his everyday language, his connections and role models shift to solely Islamic men, his clothing habits adapt to his beckoning lifestyle. Generic becomes expensive, branded athleisure wear, business becomes religious attire. Each time that new name is uttered, the “Omar” inside inches a little further out.
Eventually, that “Omar” has extended far enough that the results become visibly present. The average man grows taller, broader, his fat stretched against a burgeoning muscular glory. Arms bloat thicker, legs bulge wider. His skin bronzes into a shade of brown that can only be defined as perfection, his hair blackens and thickens across his entire body. The jaw stretches, the nose inflates, the brows and lips protrude. And so too does the average man’s package, its sole purpose to breed future Arabs with its potent seed.
And once "Omar" passes the point of resonation and reaches familiarity, the average man will vanish. The power of a name, his name, Omar, means “long-living, flourishing” in Arabic, his language. And he represents it. An alpha male, an Arab male, a purebred Muslim who understands his mission. So now, Omar takes out his phone and texts a complete stranger, another average man, and simply addresses him as "Ahmed". And the cycle begins once more, the power of a name exploited for the greater good of Arabization.
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The reason why I, as a jew, am very careful to highlight that the global rise in antisemitism will effect muslims and that everyone should try to separate Quran literalists/muslim extremists from moderate muslims and arabs, especially take care to not isolate future generations of muslims who grew up in the west, is not just that I feel it is a moral imperative. It is also that the reality in America and Europe generally is that at some point there will probably come an extreme form of expulsion or ethnic cleansing of muslims and arabs, most likely by force and excused through some kind of b.s. legal loophole and security reason.
That will effect me. it will effect me as a person generally, I will be horrified that my country lets that happen, but also as a jew. jew hate will get worse and I will be blamed for what far right christian groups do, and they get more power every day. Not only that, but the far right ALSO hate jews. Once they are done with muslims they will call all jews arabs in anything but name and that will fuck up my and my family's lives.
listen to moderate and liberal muslims who are from the countries leftists are falling over themselves to support but won't listen to. There is SERIOUS violence on the horizon, and it won't be a leftist revolution, it will be a conservative revolution. It might even make the racial views of 1940s America look kind.
remember to specify who "they" are when you talk in anger. specify governments and cultures aren't the whole of a population and try to identify what needs to change and how rather than call for burning it all down. this isn't a problem in most jewish spaces, but you goyim are playing with fire and can't seem to keep your hands away from the gas. imo
#jumblr#leftist antisemitism#islam#muslims#jewish history#immigration#idk#shits fucked#and it's getting worse unless someone says something honest
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Let’s put some numbers to Jewish fear right now.
In news that I’m sure will thrill all antisemites, it would take startlingly little effort to foment widespread violence against us and cause another genocide of the Jewish people.
I have had many fellow Jews express to me how overwhelming it is to see the rising antisemitism. I have seen many Jews express fear at being drowned out of public, online, and IRL spaces due to dangerously violent vitriol.
I have also seen people who claim to advocate for Palestine—especially western leftists—openly mock Jews who express this fear.
Finally, I and my fellow Jews have often expressed that, while we wholeheartedly support Palestinian freedom and self determination, it is exhausting to have to say so repeatedly, especially when we are trying to advocate for ourselves. This is not due to any latent or widespread hatred of Muslims, Arabs, or Palestinians. It is because we are an extremely maligned and marginalized minority that is fighting to be heard against strong, hostile forces that at best wish we’d shut up and at worst want us eradicated from the planet.
There is a disconnect about how much harm people can do to Jews by spreading antisemitism and refusing to dismantle their own internalized antisemitism—and everyone has internalized antisemitism. It is one of the oldest forms of prejudice in the world and is found in almost every single culture. It is as, if not more, pervasive than white privilege. Yes. You read that right. And if asked to elaborate, I will provide numbers on that to the best of my ability. For the purposes of this post, however, I want to focus on the global distribution of religious groups only.
Specifically, this disconnect is between Jews who are fully aware and feel the affects of this damage and goyim who simply do not comprehend our marginalization.
To help, let’s put some numbers to this. In this post, I’ll be using the Pew Research Center’s survey and findings on the Global Religious Landscape. This is the most recent data from a reputable source that I could find which surveyed every world religion at the same time. While the Jewish population has grown slightly in the intervening years, so have most (if not all) other religious populations around the globe. I wanted to use figures measured at the same time to avoid bias for or against any religious group.
For the purposes of this post, I will not be discussing folk religions or other religions. This is not because they are not important. This is because they are not a monolith and individual folk religions and other religions may have even fewer adherents per religion than Judaism. I am currently only focusing on religions and religious groups who have more adherents than Judaism.
In descending order of adherents, there number of people in the world belonging to these groups:
2,200,000,000 (2.2 Billion) Christians
1,600,000,000 (1.6 Billion) Muslims
1,100,000,000 (1.1 Billion) Religiously unaffiliated people
1,000,000,000 (1 Billion) Hindus
500,000,000 (500 Million) Buddhists
14,000,000 (14 Million) Jews
Reduced to the simplest fractions there are:
1100 Christians for every 7 Jews
800 Muslims for every 7 Jews
550 Religiously unaffiliated people for every 7 Jews
500 Hindus for every 7 Jews
250 Buddhists for every 7 Jews
Combined, there are 6,400,000,000 non-Jewish people in religions or religious groups (including religiously unaffiliated people).
This means that for every 7 Jews there are 3200 people in religious groups who outnumber us.
Jews are 0.2 % of the global population.
When we tell you that hate is dangerous, it is because…
It would only take 0.21% of 6.4 Billion people to hate us in order to completely overwhelm and outnumber every single Jewish person on the planet. In other words, only 67.2 out of every 3200 people.
And given how violent and aggressive people have become toward us in recent weeks, that doesn’t seem far off.
No, most Christians, Muslims, Atheists/Agnostics, Hindus, and Buddhists do NOT hate Jews.
But if even 0.21% of them do hate us, Jews are at a legitimate and terrifying risk of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
It is not possible for Jews alone to fight this rising tide of hate. There simply aren’t enough of us. And many of us are too scared to tell you the truth: if you don’t vocally and repeatedly stand up for Jews (and not just the ones you agree with) you will be complicit in the genocide that follows. Police your own communities.
Nobody acting in good faith is asking you to abandon Palestinians or their fight for self determination and equality in their homeland. All we are asking is for you to learn about antisemitism, deconstruct it in yourself, and loudly condemn it when it occurs in front of you. We are asking you to comfort us and not run away when we are scared or even angry at you. Because a lot of us are angry with you, because we are extremely scared right now and many of you are not helping us. Many of you are actively and carelessly spreading dogwhistles that further the global rise in hatred against us.
You can support Palestine AND avoid Islamophobia WITHOUT making antisemitism worse. But you can’t stop antisemitism by staying silent in the face of it. And if you don’t speak up, you will get us killed. Silence, in this case, is quite literally violence.
Many of us have armed guards posted at our synagogues and schools and community centers because of this. I certainly had times where my synagogue and school had to have armed security for our safety.
The only reason more of us haven’t died already is because we have millennia of experience in confronting this kind of hatred and guarding against it.
But in pure numbers, if you don’t speak up for us now, we don’t have a chance at survival without support.
So, what can you do, specifically?:
* Make a stand or public statement about condemning antisemitism without mentioning another group. Acknowledge Jewish fear, pain, and current danger without contextualizing it in someone else’s. It could literally be something as simple as “Antisemitism is bad. There’s never a reason for it. I won’t tolerate it in presence in real life or online.” If you cannot bring yourself to publicly make this statement, you should have a serious look at yourself to understand why you can’t.
* Learn about the six universal features of antisemitism and the many, various dog whistles affecting the global Jewish community
* Do not welcome people who espouse rhetoric that includes any features from the above bullet point in your community unless you are able to educate them and eliminate that behavior.
* Check in on your Jewish friends, regularly and repeatedly. Do not wait for them to reach out to you. They are scared of you. Even if you don’t have the emotional space to have conversations about antisemitism. Just send a message once in a while, unprompted, “Jfyi, antisemitism still sucks. I support you.”
* Redirect conversations about which “side” is “right” to how to attain peace. Do this by saying that this line of argument is not conducive to peace, and link to a well-respected organization not widely accused of either antisemitism or Islamophobia that is devoted to achieving a peaceful resolution, increasing education, or providing humanitarian aid to relevant affected groups—including Jews, Israelis, Palestinians, Muslims, and Arabs. You can find over 160 such organizations at the Alliance for Middle East Peace https://www.allmep.org/
* Look to support experienced groups without widespread and verifiable claims of prejudice against either Jews or Muslims or Arabs or Palestinians. Many of these organizations can also be found at the AllMEP link above. Avoid groups on the shit list as well as unproductive and harmful movements.
* Do not default to western methods of political demonstration. Specifically, protests are not useful in attaining peace in western nations at this time. Israelis and Palestinians can and should protest to the best of their abilities in Israel and Palestine so as to pressure their own governments. However, protests in western nations have proven to be poorly regulated and to further the spread of bigoted rhetoric and violence against Jews, Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians. Furthermore, there are nearly as many Palestinians in the world as there are Jews. It is extremely easy and common for the voices of bad actors and bigots on all sides to completely drown out Jewish and Palestinian voices and concerns at these events.
* Spend more time listening and learning than speaking and acting. Anyone who tells you this conflict is simple is someone who is lying to you. Take the time to learn the ways in which your actions and words can get people hurt before joining the fray.
* Stop demonizing Zionism as a concept, even if you disagree with it. Understand that it is a philosophy with many different movements that often conflict with each other. The Zionism practiced by Netanyahu and the Likud party is NOT representative of most Zionists or interpretations of Zionism. It is an extremist form of Zionism known as Revisionist Zionism.
* Don’t deny Jewish indigeneity to the levant. It doesn’t help Palestine and hurts Jews by erasing our physical and cultural history as well as erasing the Jews who remained in Israel even through widespread diaspora.
* KEEP THE HOLOCAUST OUT OF YOUR MOUTH
Things That Are Always OK
* Denouncing Antisemitism loudly and publicly
* Denouncing Islamophobia loudly and publicly
* Telling your Jewish and Muslim and Arab friends you support them and won't abandon them
* Elevating the work of respected, widely accepted people and organizations devoted to attaining peace for all, rather than just one group of people.
* Develop media literacy
* Understand what aspects of the current western leftist movements Jews are criticizing, rather than assuming our criticisms are motivated by hatred for Palestine or Palestinians.
* Expressing sorrow for civilian deaths regardless of religion or nationality.
* When you are not Jewish and you share a post about antisemitism from a Jewish person, please say you’re a goy. This isn’t because you’re not welcome to share. This is because it is indescribably comforting to know we aren’t just talking amongst ourselves and screaming into the void. Let us know you are supportive of us. It doesn’t mean that you or we hate Palestine or Palestinians or that we oppose their full and equal rights in our shared homeland.
#antisemitism#leftist antisemitism#israel#Palestine#Zionism#anti zionisim#jewish muslim solidarity#Jewish goyim solidarity#media literacy#responsible advocacy#direct action#life under stochastic threat#I dare a goy to reblog this challenge
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The other day, I went with my rl bff to the Jerusalem branch of the Museum of Tolerance for an exhibition on the Hamas massacre.
This is the sight that greeted us. "Esthers of the world, rise up!"
It's a poster celebrating two women whose families had lived in Iran, one is Jewish, the other is Muslim, and both women ended up being murdered due to the Islamic regime of that country, even though the Jewish woman's family had escaped Iran and fled to Israel after the Islamic revolution. The face of each girl is actually a composite, made from many smaller pictures of her people who have lost their lives because of the Islamist regime of Iran.
I knew this right away, because I have shared a piece that was done about the poster and how it came to be almost 2 months ago.
"You don't understand!" my bff (who works as a teacher) said, all emotional, "She," my friend points to the Jewish girl on the left side of the poster, Shirel Haim Pour, "is the cousin of one of my students."
There is zero distance in Israel between us and the Oct 7 atrocities.
We go in and join the tour of the exhibition. The guide tells us it was built jointly with Malki Shem Tov, who is a well known name in Israel, if you work at a museum. Malki founded a "creative visual solutions" company with his brother Assaf, through which among other things, they helped build many Israeli exhibitions over the years. "His son..." the tour guide starts to say and I don't need more than that for something to click in my head. I know so many of the names, faces and stories of the hostages, and so Omer Shem Tov pops right away into my mind. I didn't make the connection before, but now I can only imagine what it meant for this father to work on an exhibition that recounts, among other stories, how his son was victimized and robbed of his freedom during this massacre.
There is zero distance in Israel between us and the Oct 7 atrocities.
The opening wall has a huge time stamp, 6:29 in the morning.
The tour guide doesn't have to explain this number to Israelis, or why it's designed to look like an alarm clock display. We were all woken up on that fateful Saturday morning by the alarm clock of Hamas' rockets. And it doesn't matter what we thought or believed the day before, as the full scale and horror of the attack were starting to become known along Oct 7, we were all woken up.
There is zero distance in Israel between us and those atrocities. I know this, and still it strikes me, again and again.
There's an area dedicated to the pictures of one photographer who went to the south soon after the massacre. I knew some of them already, like the pic showing the bodies of 13 elderly Israelis, who were on their way to a tour of the Israeli south on that Saturday.
Some are new, like the pic of the door handle in one bomb shelter. I stop for a second, because now that I've moved into my new place, it hits me that the bomb shelter door was made by the same company. Suddenly, I feel like I'm inside the picture in a reality where the terrorists took a slightly different route on Oct 7. The door was photographed from inside the bomb shelter, and the bullets that pierced it, they had to have hit the personal holding it shut. The handle has blood stains on it, and it's broken off. I can only imagine how many hours this person held, and how much force they had to use, for that to happen. I know one thing, even without knowing exactly who this bomb shelter belonged to... If this person was on their own, they would have probably ended up surrendering rather than keep fighting to hold on to the handle this desperately. This was likely someone trying to keep their family safe.
One note retrieved from the body of a terrorist is on display. It says everything about the motivation of the monsters who committed these atrocities, and every word is purely motivated by antisemitism and religious zeal. The note is actually not in Arabic, as it may first appear, it's in Farsi, the language spoken in Iran, hinting at the source, the Islamist regime there, which doesn't care about the liberation of anyone, it aspires to create a global network of fanatic terrorism.
The translation: "You must sharpen the blades of your swords and be pure in your intentions before Allah. Know that the enemy is a disease that has no cure, except beheading and uprooting the hearts and livers. Attack them!"
There is a section dedicated to women's stories. The exhibition visitors spread out to watch the testimonies, each on a separate screen. It's a not like a forest, you can't really see it for the trees, and it's another moment of feeling overwhelmed because we can't truly get it. It's just not comprehensible, facing so many stories about intentional, face to face cruelty, brutality, sadism and joy in it. Mali Shoshana tells the story of how she tried to play dead while lying shot in a pool of her own blood, but her body wouldn't stop shaking, so she somehow turned on her side to the wall and knocked her injured knee against it, causing herself to pass out from the pain. It saved her life. Ricarda Louk tells the story of the last message they got from her daughter Shani, trusting she was right and there was nothing for them to worry about. Then Ricarda's son started screaming and crying, because he saw the same vid many of came across on that day, of his sister being dragged into Gaza stripped down, mutilated, abused, molested and humiliated, while Gazan civilians were celebrating the public degradation of her body. And there's more and more and more. "You can come back and continue to listen," the guide promises as he moves us to the next segment, but the truth is no matter how many stories I've listened to and absorbed, it still doesn't feel like enough.
There is a wall with the head shots of the victims in Israel who lost their lives due to this war, whether they were murdered on Oct 7 or since, but it's only been updated up until Mar 27 of this year. Even so, no matter what angle I tried, I couldn't fit in all of the pictures.
Interactive screens allow a geographic telling of the massacre's story. They show maps of Israel's south, with dots on them, red for the murdered, dark blue for hostages, bright blue for hostages who have been returned, grey for the injured. You can tap a dot and read a story. Or you can zoom out and try to comprehend how is it possible for there to be that many dots on the maps.
"From darkness to light," reads the exhibition title. That's the perception of time in Judaism. We always move from darkness to light. And there's a section for the light, for stories of resilience, of bravery, of rehabilitation, of mutual support and caring. Filmed interviews that do their best to summarize an incomprehensible amount of good we've seen in response to an incomprehensible amount of evil. It features people from every demographic in Israel, and in that way also serves as a reminder of just how diverse we are as a society.
This part, I think to myself, was included for visitors from abroad. We Israelis, we know.
There's one story I know already. Tomer Greenberg, an Israeli officer, rescued on Oct 7 baby twins from the carnage. He was later killed fighting in Gaza. Like a puzzle, I've heard this story from several angles, including from Tomer before he died. This movie features an interview I hadn't heard yet, with the volunteer paramedic that Tomer handed the twins to. Shalom, this medic, talks about how they clung to him desperately as they got to be fed and feel safe and cared for again for the first time in what's estimated to have been 14 hours. I'm sitting there, thinking of those babies crying, not understanding why their parents aren't coming to feed them, and I don't know how to deal with this.
Shalom shares that the experiences of Oct 7 have inspired him to try and become a combative soldier, something that wasn't on the cards for him before that. I wonder again at people who can act like subjecting an entire (already traumatized) society to a sadistic massacre can liberate anyone.
And I understand Shalom fully. When your family is in the pits of hell, there's nowhere you want to be other than there, with them, doing what you can, rather than sit and watch helpless from afar. Most people would say he did a lot on that day. Shalom must have felt like that still wasn't enough.
At the very end, visitors are invited to add their own little piece of light, through neon notes and pens on which they'd share their thoughts. Nothing feels like it can sum everything I'm thinking and feeling up, but not writing anything feels worse, so my bff and I add a few of our words to the notes.
I don't have any profound conclusions for this post anymore than I did for my note. I just know that this still hurts, that we're still losing people daily, that we can't begin to heal, because we're still in the middle of the wound being inflicted. But I also know that we WILL heal, that even if the wound can't be closed yet, our collective immune system kicked into action on Oct 7 already, that we will continue to share the pain and the comfort and the care, and this massacre and war will probably never stop hurting, that we'll never be the same, but eventually we will be alright. Where people choose to care, there's just no other option.
(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)
#israel#israeli#israel news#israel under attack#israel under fire#israelunderattack#terrorism#anti terrorism#antisemitism#hamas#antisemitic#antisemites#jews#jew#judaism#jumblr#frumblr#jewish#personal#photography
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n childhood, I was taught the importance of seeing Black faces in government positions and political power. At school, I learned how integral specific Black political leaders were to the Black Revolution—especially during the Reconstruction era and the Civil Rights Movement. I understood from a young age that the presence of Black faces in political institutions was necessary for community advancement.
I still remember learning about Hiram Revels, who in 1870 became the first Black elected official to serve in Congress. This was shortly after slavery was abolished, and Revels’ presence in U.S. politics was a watershed moment for Black American communities.
Our presence in these institutions that sought to exclude us did indeed make a difference. Now, even after witnessing the election of a Black president in 2008 and seeing more and more Black people in spaces of political power and privilege, I’m not so sure.
When Barack Obama became president in 2008, I remember the joy felt across my community and this understanding that if a Black person could reach the highest level of power in the U.S., change had certainly come.
That was the beginning of a harsh reality check for me. What good is Black political representation in a system meant to maintain the subjugation of marginalized people? What positive change does that representation bring when people with Black faces are complicit in the same oppression and violence that continue to devastate communities like ours?
Communities like Gaza, whose devastation we continue to see every day.
The death toll in Gaza is more than 37,000, and the U.S. has repeatedly vetoed a life-saving ceasefire for the Palestinian people and voted against the effort to recognize Palestinian statehood.
The U.S. has left Palestine and its people in the path of fire and destruction. The world has watched the U.S. ambassadors for the United Nations silently raise their hands to veto ceasefire resolutions. Their silence speaks volumes.
U.N. ambassadors Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Robert A. Wood are Black Americans in high-ranking government positions, two Black Americans who ostensibly represent our ability to overcome a history of slavery, genocide, and racism, the relics of which continue to plague our communities today. They are two Black Americans choosing to subject another group of oppressed people to genocide and displacement, not so different from what our ancestors faced when they were stolen from their lands, slaughtered, and enslaved.
Before you assume otherwise, let me say that I do understand nuance. Yes, Ambassadors Thomas-Greenfield and Wood do carry out Washington’s decisions, and they do not act on their own behalf; they are the voice of the U.S. government. But for me, the question remains: Why are you there? As Black Americans, why are you choosing to work as conduits for colonization, imperialism, and genocide? What does this do for Black people in America right now? Because existing in places of power and privilege does not inherently equate to uplifting and serving the Black community.
Another example is White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Jean-Pierre is the first Black and openly gay woman to hold her role in the White House. She is a Black woman I once looked up to—until I began to pay close attention to the way she speaks of Israel’s war on Gaza.
In one press conference, Jean-Pierre could not even acknowledge why Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab organizations rejected meetings with President Joe Biden. I’ve watched Jean-Pierre dismiss journalists’ questions regarding the safety and protection of Palestinians in Gaza. Of course, Jean-Pierre is the White House’s mouthpiece, and we do not know her thoughts on the genocide in Palestine. But again, I ask: Why is she there? What is she willing to co-sign to have proximity to power? What personal excuses are used to justify being complicit in oppression not so different from what our own people face?
How many times will we exempt Black political figures from accountability while holding up their representation as some sort of community good? Do we not realize the harm this does when we uplift Black leaders who merely act as conduits for white supremacy? As a Black woman, I find this hard to accept.
more at link
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The Gaza genocide is going exactly according to the US Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian agenda, with which they hope to wipe out all Jews and Muslims
To anyone raised in the US Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian Dominionist movement in the US, the horror and inhumanity, the genocide Israel is engaged in against Palestinians right now is not a surprise. We all KNEW this was coming, and those of us who got out of the movement we were raised in have been trying to raise the alarm for decades, mostly to either deaf ears, or accusation of antisemitism.
(Because, they would say, "if you don't support Zionism, and stand behind everything Israel does, you must hate all Jews!" Ignoring that many Jews all over the world--yes, including many Israeli Jews--do not support Israel's foreign policy.)
Because everything in the orbit of Israel is going exactly to the Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian Doomsday plan--a plan that has been OPENLY talked about in Fundie circles since I was a little kid being indoctrinated into it.
In case you're not familiar, let me break down the Fundie thinking here:
Their support of Israel and embrace of Zionism is based around their beliefs that:
a) the return of Jews to Israel, and then Israel/all "unconverted" Jews being completely wiped out in an apocalyptic war, is essential to Jesus' return.
b) but that any nation that DIRECTLY opposes Israel will fall even if they defeat Israel. So that in order to fulfill prophecy, they must
c) set someone ELSE up to wipe out Israel/the Jews.
(To go into more detail: They believe that "the Jews were God's original chosen people until Christians took their place in God's favor when the Jews denied Jesus." But that God is still attached to his former faves and will punish anyone who wipes them out--thus the entire fundie idea is to get someone ELSE to do it, then serve as "the instrument of God's vengeance" by genociding the genociders.)
So they support Israel's increasing violence intentionally to create greater and greater conflict and turn more of Israel's neighbor states against them, meanwhile fostering the idea that with the power of the US backing them, they cannot fail.
And here's their next planned phase--maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually
Once things reach a tipping point, the Fundies (currently the single most powerful force in US politics, thanks to ANOTHER multi-generational plan openly talked about in Fundie circles, which was specifically designed to put Fundies amd their allies in powerful positions) will force the US to pull support from Israel so that its neighbors can destroy it, then use that destruction as a pretext for their own genocide against remaining Muslim/Arab (there is little distinction between the two in their minds) peoples.
Christian Fundamentalist support of Zionism has always been about the elimination of both Jews and Muslims, and bringing about a Christian/Capitalist (aka fascist) world.
They emphasize that they LOVE Jews, and maybe don't even entirely HATE the "evil Muslims," but that this is "God's will," and that they have no choice but to obey. They'll even shed crocodile tears about how sad all this is, but believe me--they are CELEBRATING inside. They are OVERJOYED, because they think this will bring about the Rapture, the end of the world, the Thousand Year Reign, and all the other crap in their shitty Doomsday prophecy.
(This is also their excuse for every other group they are trying to destroy. "Oh, I personally have nothing against the gays, but I have to follow God's will. Plus our children need to be protected from their recruitment efforts." During slavery, then segregation, Black folks were often said to have "the mark of Ham, meaning God said they were DESTINED to be slaves because of Ham's sin. Oh, WE'RE not saying it; GOD is!" See also: child marriage, and lots of other talking points.)
Don't believe me? Ask around on the EXvangelical tags. Listen in at some of the more conservative churches in your area. There are a lot of us who were raised being brainwashed with these ideas and had to deprogram ourselves.
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For the past year we had to sit through an entire real pogrom in the UK that were incited by their right-wing politicians that lasted several months where racist mobs indiscriminately attacked any person who remotely looked "Muslim." These lynching mobs attacked people walking the streets, vandalized their places of worship and even tried to burn down a hotel that was housing refugees/migrants.
These pogroms were 100% not provoked and their victims were 100% innocent, yet you didn't hear a word of condemnation from the US or most western leaders and western media barely covered what was going on to the point where most of our source of information were the victims filming those attacks themselves.
But the moment one racist mob of Israeli hooligans that went to another country to chant "Death to Arabs" and attack random people got their ass handed to them by the local Arab community, the entire world stopped and every politician that was silent against real pogroms that were happening for several months had to crawl out of their cave to condemn these violent "pogroms" with every mainstream news-outlet making sure to specifically using that word in the title (but turn around and call Israeli strikes on hospitals and schools "clashes" or a "conflict".)
Literally no one is falling for it, everyone knows exactly what happened and that Israelis were the instigators not the victims, yet these politicians and news media continue to frame it as this great tragedy against the global Jewish community while paying dust to the Muslim victims of these racist Israeli mobs, the Muslim victims of the pogroms happening in the UK + other countries and all the Israeli soldiers who are already posting pictures/videos of themselves blowing up Palestinian houses and torturing Palestinian civilians as a "revenge" for what happened in Amsterdam, even though the people who stood up to those racist Israelis were mostly Moroccans.
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From a real Lebanese (Phoenician).
I realize that when I speak my mind as a free human being, there will be responses. I can handle that.
However, people who are of the opposite conviction (mostly from the medieval Middle East) always respond with the same modus operandi... Every single time someone disagrees with them, they answer by calling us names like Donkey, Pig, or Dog (حمار، خنزير، كلب hmar, khanzeer, or kaleb) which they intend as big insults. They also call us either 'Zionists' or 'traitors' or 'agents'.
They simply have no logical answer, and they are so pathetically childish.
My feelings are not hurt. Far from it. But seeing so many here in the US chanting "I am Hamas" causes me to see the need to enlighten those who don't know the detailed history of the past 50 years.
Why do we oppose terrorist and don’t agree with their terrorism and savagery?
Here is the long history recap, told from my personal perspective.
I grew up in Lebanon with friends from all faiths: Druze, Muslim, and various Christians. We laughed and played and got along. Lebanon was generally peaceful and safe.
We welcomed the Palestinians as refugees to Lebanon.
The border between Lebanon and Israel was generally quiet compared with other Arab nations. Many Lebanese did not want war. Instead, we desired to live in peace and tranquility. We wanted prosperity, trade, tourism, and banking. The Lebanese used to be known as having joie de vie and some of the most fun people to be around.
Lebanon was referred to as “the Switzerland of the Middle East” for its beauty and its desire to remain peaceful and neutral and a bridge between the east and west.
Lebanon was also called “the Riviera of the Middle East”, "California on the Eastern Mediterranean", and “Green Lebanon” because trees covered the hills and mountains and there was no desert.
Beirut was known as "the Paris of the Middle East". Lebanon's Golden Age was a period characterized by its natural beauty, including snow-capped mountains, warm beaches, and a pristine coastline. Beirut was a glamorous city with luxury hotels, nightclubs, and a vibrant cultural and intellectual life. It was a popular destination for movie stars.
Tourists flocked to Lebanon. They went snow skiing in the morning then drove 2 hours to Beirut to water ski in the Mediterranean the afternoon of the same day. It was on everyone’s bucket list.
Tourists were safe and they had so much fun that they did not want to leave. Many came back year after year.
Over time, the Palestinians created a state-within-a-state and there were areas where they prevented even the Lebanese army from entering. Which country would accept that? Knowing the trouble it will eventually cause, the Lebanese started to become bitter about the situation.
Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser wanted to make Lebanon part of the United Arab Republic, causing a civil war in 1958.
I was in Middle School when the six-day war erupted in June of 1967. School was nearing summer break. We went out for our lunch break and heard that war has started. I saw Israeli fighter jets dog fighting with Syrian jets overhead. the Syrian jets lost.
Because Lebanon is very small, we could catch AM radio stations from the surrounding countries. All the Arab stations repeated the same lie: "Our forces have destroyed the enemy's air force, and we have reached the outskirts of Jerusalem." All lies and propaganda from Radio Egypt, Radio Damascus, and Radio Amman. Same garbage from each station. Propaganda in the news continues to this day. If a radio station does not toe the line, the regime will shut it down.
To hear the truth, we turned to Radio Israel, Voice of America, and the BBC.
Three years later, the PLO started fighting against the King of Jordan. Their headquarters were in Amman, Jordan and even though they were refugees in Jordan, they tried to overthrow King Hussein. The king's forces surrounded them and almost killed every single fighter. The world called for a cease fire and forced King Hussein to relent. That was a major mistake. The same mistake is being repeated these days when the world asks Israel to stop firing. When the world does that, the problem never ends. It only becomes a bigger problem. The world had repeatedly made that mistake in the Middle East.
The PLO relocated to Beirut. They started firing at Israel from Lebanese territory, causing Israel to retaliate against Lebanese territory. Who would blame them for retaliating?
Again, we did not want war. We wanted peace.
Knowing that civil unrest was on the horizon, I went to America to study medicine hoping that by the time I completed my studies, the situation would have calmed down. Little did I know what the future held.
In 1975, the PLO caused the devastating civil war that engulfed Lebanon for 15 years. My parents were displaced and lost everything. So did many families. The toll was horrendous.
The town where I was born was located in the mountains outside Beirut, only about 30 minutes by car. My family could not go there because of the civil war and lost access to our house for over 10 years. Because it was a house owned by Christians, it was hit on more than one occasion while other homes nearby were OK. The roof had a hole in it from artillery shells. It was repaired, yet more shells hit it, sending the message not to return to town.
Our orchards used to have apple trees, peach trees, cherry trees, olive trees, sumac, artichoke, pine trees, mulberry trees, fig trees, and other trees. Not being tended to nor watered, they all died. Even the stones used for terracing our orchard were looted. Thus, our neatly terraced land became a worthless desolate wasteland.
My brother was kidnapped, other friends died. We had an apartment in Christian East Beirut. The area was besieged for a while and there were times when there was no bread. Artillery fired from Muslim west Beirut was so intense at times that even crossing the narrow street to the bomb shelter was incredibly dangerous. My mother developed heart disease and Parkinson's from the stress and fear.
My family were on the run from Beirut to the Metn district, then to the Bekaa, then to Cyprus, then back to various areas in Lebanon. The war had made them nomads.
There were so many other stories that my family endured, but I will omit them for brevity's sake.
The Syrian army entered Lebanon as ‘peacekeepers’ and destroyed Lebanon. For many years, the Syrian army occupied our house in the mountains and used it as their headquarters in the town. To remain warm and acting like uncivilized primitives, they lit fires inside the house on our ornate ceramic-tiled floor in the living room.
In the 1980's, Hezbollah came to existence and wanted Lebanon to be part of the Iranian Islamic caliphate.
Syria occupied Lebanon ruthlessly. Many Lebanese were taken to Syrian jails and tortured. Many never returned.
The war "ended", and all factions were disarmed except Hezbollah. Syria and the Shiites were in control and dictated that. Hezbollah kept getting stronger due to intense backing from Iran. For years, Lebanon remained an occupied country. Syria plundered Lebanon and became rich.
Syria and Iran, using Hezbollah and their own agents, began assassinating any leader who opposed them. They killed Christians and Sunnis alike. In 2005, Bashar Al Assad 'summoned' Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (a Sunni Muslim) to Damascus and 'ordered' him to do something, threatening that if he did not toe the line, Assad would 'break his head'. Hariri did not toe the line and was assassinated in February 2005. Hezbollah were the ones who committed the act.
The cowardly Iranian regime had established Hezbollah as a proxy to fight Israel. In essence, cowardly Iran used Lebanon to fight Israel, causing the destruction of Lebanon while Iranian territory remained safe.
So back to my first thought. The opposition cannot handle the truth. The only thing they can do is call us names.
I have thick skin. We have gone through a lot of trials and tribulations and adversity wreaked upon us by these savage terroristic animals.
Thank you, Israel, for Nasrallah's demise. It may create an opportunity for peace, but only if Lebanese leaders have the courage to seize the moment.
I will repeat what the terrorists and their supporters don’t want to hear: The Iranian Regime, The Syrian Regime, all proxies of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, ISIS, Al Qaeda, The PLO, Islamic Jihad, PJ, PFLP, Syrian Baathist Party, all the Communist parties, all of these and more have been CANCERS in the World. They oppress their own people and us alike. They are savage animals who are stuck in the seventh century with the mentality of brutal conquests and war.
Call me what you like. I was born a Phoenician, not an Arab. The terrorists took away my county, but God gave me America. I am grateful and I am blessed.
I'm going to have an awesome day, and the terrorists are going to get their rears kicked. Have a good night.
#israel#secular-jew#jewish#judaism#israeli#jerusalem#diaspora#secular jew#secularjew#islam#Lebanon#Jordan#Phoenician#Lebanese#Syria#Syrian#Iranian#Iran#Iran is a war criminal#Isis#Islamic jihad#no ceasefire#lion of judah#indigenous#hamas#gaza#antisemitism#islamism#hamas is isis#judea
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I was incredibly privileged to meet Ibrahim, one of the presenters of Unapologetic: The Third Narrative, the other week. Not only is he a fantastic speaker and an important ally and activist to work beside when pushing for a two state solution, he's also just a fantastic guy. He's so positive about the future while still being pragmatic about the difficulties of achieving peace.
Do I agree with everything he and Amira say on the podcast? No. But actually, disagreement isn't unhealthy and it's important to listen and understand people you don't agree with. I'm British and have never lived anywhere other than the UK so while I grew up with family in Israel and heavily invested in politics in the middle east, I simply do not have the same experience as he, a Palestinian-Israeli from Nazareth who lived in Tel Aviv before October 7th and then went back home to his family, feeling unsafe with the wave of racism he faced after October 7th happened.
Actually having the opportunity to go to talks by him, and sit down with the guy and have a face to face chat was absolutely fascinating. The co-option of the pro-palestine movement in the west by people who just want to spread hate and antisemitism has been watched with horror by Ibrahim and his co-activists. He is very open about the fact he believes two states is the only way out of the current, unbearable, status quo (and I agree with him) and I wish people would listen to more actual activists who are native to the Middle East instead of spoilt brats on tiktok who've never met a Jew, an Israeli or a Palestinian in their life.
I also had the chance to hear the testimony from a Gazan at the same time (not sharing their name for their own safety) and it's crushing to hear how horrific the situation is for them, someone who left Gaza six years ago, and their family who are still there. One thing I thought was particularly important was a question at the end about how their friends and families feel about them doing work with Jews and Israelis and basically, the view from friends and family was that they just want peace. They don't give a shit where the boarder goes, they just want peace and rights (as you may expect) and that they were very happy working to and knowing Israelis who are also pushing for peace and a lasting end to the violence.
I will never stop advocating for a two state solution (personally I don't think anyone should get Jerusalem as it's a bit of a hot topic that bad faith actors on both sides use to beat eachother) but frankly, a two state solution and a lasting peace has been needed for a vary, very long time and I hope we get there soon.
As they say at the end of every episode: Everyone, Jews, Arabs, Israelis, Palestinians and Muslims, we all deserve better
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Do Christians/Catholics and Jews in Muslim countries have to pay dhimmi nowadays? Or was that a medieval thing? (I know ISIS did it in the territories they occupied but obviously I'm not counting them)
First thing first Dhimmi is the name of men who had to pay the tax and it means “protected person” the tax itself was called Jizya.
No Muslim state currently apply it or wish to apply it right now.
That being said the Jizya is very often misunderstood so I will explain what it is. You have to put things in their historical context. People were very often at war and borders were not as secure as they are (mostly) nowadays. In Islam you can “draft” Muslim men if a war was to happen but you cannot “draft” non Muslim men they have to chose to join the army (some didn’t allow non muslim men in the army making them automatically dhimmi) So the Jizya was a way to participate to the protection of ALL the people (including non Muslims) for men who were physically able to take arms to defend the land but didn’t. Women, children, elderly and disabled people who were not Muslim didn’t have to pay it. Same with non Muslim abled men who wanted and were allowed to take arms instead to protect the land and its people. In the majority of cases but not all people who couldn’t afford it were also automatically forgiven. The Jizya was also a way to be allowed autonomy and freedom in their religious practices.
It’s also important to say that the amount was often based on existing taxes before the Islamic conquest in the area and that Muslims had to pay their own taxes that non Muslims didn’t have to pay. (For exemple I don’t even live in a Muslim country and I give 2.5% of my savings, value of my gold jewelry included, to someone in need or to charity every year because it’s an obligation for Muslims.).
In some cases Muslims also had to pay the Jizya. In what is today day Algeria and part of Libya for example the Imazighen were like “we’re okay with the whole religion thing we revert to Islam but Arabs (actual Arabs not Arabized Imazighen) can’t rule us we will rule ourselves”. Because of that the Arabs did not trust the Imazighen with weapons they didn’t allow them to serve in the military and made them pay the Jizya instead. Which was lived as an injustice (they also had to pay the Muslim specific taxes and making them pay the Jizya was implying that they were not Muslims) and led to revolts against actual Arabs not against Islam.
Lastly and this is not against anon at all as it seems to be a genuine question, people (again not anon) who mention the dhimmi status or the Jizya as a way to make Islam look oppressive and bad are stupid as fuck. Because it was at a time where Europeans gave you the option of conversion, exile or death. You can think the Jizya is wrong but it clearly was a HUGE improvement for a lot of the places where it was applied and it was better than what the white Christian neighbors were offering to religious minorities.
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hiiiii im rly enjoying ur occultist posting :3 i have a wuastion that it seems you might be in a position to answer: does it make sense in your opinion for him to be wearing a turban or is that just orientalism? and/or do you have a headcanon for him related to that? from what i understand it rly isn't that common for arab muslim men to be wearing them at all times, and while the characters' backgrounds/worldbuilding is ofc v vague, it kinda seems to me like they just went off a bunch of stereotypes without bothering to put further thought into it and that's why he's designed to be wearing one but if there's a way to adopt that design into sth that makes sense and deepens his character a little bit i wanna hear it :3
i finally get to talk about this
thank you for the question!
the turban style is less common today but it WAS a popular style in the middle ages. its believed to have originated in mesopotamia give or take 4000 years ago.
Golden Middle Age has a good video on this! we also have some examples in historical art (check out ibn sinna, the islamic golden age and also like almost every ottoman ruler)
i personally theorize that lovecraft's abdul al-hazred was inspired by ahmed al-buni (author of shams al-ma'arif/"knowledge of the sun") and other golden age scholars considering that al-hazred canonically lived sometime during that era. i like Lets Talk Religion's video on shams al-ma'arfi.
here are some of my headcanons for DD al-hazred and how he might wear his kufiyeh. while lovecraft's al-hazred is yemeni, i headcanon DD al-hazred to be from like. a fantasy al-andalus (with fantasy yemeni and syrian ancestry). (ive kind of always seen the DD world as Not earth)
so, for history's sake it's accurate headgear! there's many ways to wear a kufiyeh, and nowadays the turban is less popular among arabs but i think thats really recent and it could be dependent on the amnt of industrialization.
here's a photo of the omani sultan's family in the 1950s
(source, this site contains historical pictures of oman and includes pictures of prisoners and slaves. worth noting for educational and informative purposes, proceed at will)
i do have some things about the rest of his fit, that i mostly chalk up to the fact he went to school in fantasy england but still prefers to wear a robe and kufiyeh (i can relate except not the england part). the things that i can say are Really Delightful for me to see personally
the dagger
the waist wrap
robes
leather braces (im not sure if this is an arab thing to be honest. i think this might be a goth thing for me)
BUT i do have some critiques also
waist wrap should be UNDER the robes, over the tunic
that tunic also looks weird to me wrt that cordage. thats kinda giving me orientalism
the necklace??????
no opinions on the pants or the shoes. again chalking up some of the design choices to him adopting things from his time in fantasy england + i think he's fairly well traveled. im sure he has a sirwal and a pair of these bad boys that he will Not be wearing into the dungeon
i wouldnt want him to be wearing these in the dungeon either but they get an honorable mention because this evolved into a historical/cultural fashion post.
i like his DD1 design!
now DD2 on the otherhand..........
idk whats happening there, thats a whole different story. he shouldnt be an egg imo. i kind of dislike his dd2 design LOL. but he's otherwise a pretty solid design even with the critiques i have.
on topic of kufiyehs, i like kufiyehs that are tassled bc theyre so fun and fashionable. that's a personal preference and i have drawn him that way before (its somewhere on my blog)
i have the nablus kufiyeh from hirbawi and it's my favorite.
i hope this covers everything!
i'll be happy to answer any more questions if you have any :-)
also some research tips if you're curious to look more into it:
i highly recommend looking up archival / antique photos of different countries to get a sense of what that particular culture's fashion looks like. these countries also often have museum pages or heritage websites available in english (machine translate is also an option)
i would avoid french and british art. you can actually filter by place and time on most digital collections like the met, the british museum, or university of chicago (UC doesnt get specific though rifp)
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