what is there to say? thanks for bearing witness, toastyk.

Gaza is a ＆killing field＊ where people are being starved. How long will the world tolerate this? Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian
posted by lalochezia at 7:47 AM on April 14 [18 favorites]

Thank you for the links. Hope is a practice, and every day, I reach for hope that Palestine will be liberated within our lifetimes.

On October 25, 2023, three weeks after the bombardment of Gaza began, Omar El Akkad tweeted: ※One day, when it＊s safe, when there＊s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it＊s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.§ His book is on my TBR list.
posted by wicked_sassy at 8:21 AM on April 14 [17 favorites]

Omar＊s book is really good.

My Hirbawi kufiya arrived today.

Thank you for posting.
posted by lokta at 8:30 AM on April 14 [8 favorites]

Palestine, as ever, demonstrating what religious freedom is really about :)
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 8:52 AM on April 14 [2 favorites]

How phone footage exposed a massacre of Gaza paramedics 每 [Guardian] Full Story podcast
posted by cendawanita at 8:56 AM on April 14 [6 favorites]

Is that what Huckabee will be doing? Cementing the apocalyptofundie ties to Israel? Can't wait to see him open the U.S. Consulate on the plain of Megiddo.
posted by the sobsister at 9:20 AM on April 14 [3 favorites]

Excellent post, thank you.

Tim Snyder: The Trump people claim to be fighting antisemitism, and the media often accept that framing. I believe, on the contrary, that these actions are antisemitic in intention and in execution.

Fomenting antisemitism.
posted by subdee at 10:54 AM on April 14 [5 favorites]

Thank you for this post, toastyk. I just used often-recommended-here 5 Calls service (also an iPhone app) to call my two US Senators and begged them to take action against deportations of pro-Palestinian students (because I am not taken seriously if I describe them as anti-genocide and am probably not taken seriously in any case).

The ongoing mass murder of Palestinians surely must end some day. I am not optimistic but, like wicked_sassy, I do practice hope.

*
posted by Bella Donna at 11:57 AM on April 14 [4 favorites]

↙ My Hirbawi kufiya arrived today.

I'm very glad that they're still operating
posted by scruss at 2:15 PM on April 14 [5 favorites]

How is it possible for Jews to use the phrase "never again" without understanding how they are participating in a modern day atrocity?
posted by woman at 3:57 PM on April 14 [3 favorites]

Please be careful about talking about Jews as a uniform group. Many are not participating and do not support Israel and the Zionist project. Many are fighting for Palestinians.
posted by kokaku at 4:19 PM on April 14 [25 favorites]

How is it possible for Jews to use the phrase "never again" without understanding how they are participating in a modern day atrocity?

At the risk of becoming the least popular person on Metafilter, I would venture to say trauma. When you focus only on your own trauma (and there is certainly plenty to point to in the history of Jews around the world), you can become blind to the trauma of others. Add in an a nakedly opportunistic authoritarian like Bibi Netanyahu and the atrocity of October 7th, and you have the continuing horror we see today.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 5:00 PM on April 14 [4 favorites]

To echo Big Al's comment: hurt people hurt people. Besides the Israelis, another example is the Serbs and particularly the Bosnian Serbs: a cultural history of oppression and genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire leads to a culture of grievance and vengeance. Decades (or centuries) after the Ustashe or the Janissaries have done their deeds, demagogues then exploit the cultural memory to justify and even glorify counter-genocides.

See also: Russians v. Tartars and Mongols, Chinese v. Mongols and Uighurs, Real IRA v. Ulster Scot-Irish, Javanese v. ethnic Chinese, Hindus v. Punjabis.... there's probably a whole lot of other instances that I'm missing out on...
posted by LeRoienJaune at 6:49 PM on April 14 [6 favorites]

Which is why I have always emphasized the commonality and pushed back on the cultivated sense of uniqueness that I always encountered in western spaces, like here. (Not to mention it does an absolute disservice to other groups affected by western genocidal norms) Israel loves to appeal to other Western countries as fellows - unless deleted (idk) you can literally find comments here in earlier coverage threads that thought it's a reasonable thing to phrase as unfair that Israel is judged unfairly now when countries like the USA managed to "survive" what it did to its indigenous peoples fine. But the thing is, Israel is a bog standard and boring exemplar of a typical postcolonial disease, when that politics of grievance is both valid in its historicity and then fused with romantic European ethnonationalism.

I'm saying it again: Israel is not special in its psychosis, even in its formation (is Papua even Indonesian? Yet. Is Xinjiang? What business does Russian Slavic majority have to have borders as eastern as they do?) What's unique is the western coddling, because that's preferable than actual reparations and addressing the injustice from the Holocaust.

Coincidentally, in Jewish Currents: Against Zionist Realism -
Is ※Not In Our Name§ Jewish organizing around Palestine inflating our culpability as Jews〞and downplaying our complicity as Americans?
posted by cendawanita at 7:02 PM on April 14 [13 favorites]

One thing doing a little travel around the world has taught me is there are in/out groups everywhere. Prejudice is sadly a universal condition. My sister-in-law is from Borneo (she is ethnically Chinese/Kadazan) and when we went to the wedding reception in Kota Kinabalu, we met her entire family. Her paternal grandfather, who was a child during WW II, still harbored strong resentment to the Japanese. The pain of the occupation was still very evident to him. At the reception, he gave a really lovely speech welcoming my brother to his family and celebrating multiculturalism. But he also complained about the amount of Muslim immigrants from Indonesia. He believed it was tacitly encouraged by the Malay majority because it would weaken the nominally Christian minority in Malaysia (who I believe are a majority on Borneo). As an outsider, it was curious to see 〞 I＊m sure someone from somewhere else in the world could spot my blind spots if they were to visit me.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 7:31 PM on April 14 [2 favorites]

Since this thread is somewhat of an omnibus on these issues, I offer a well-thought-through article from a current college president who has been taking a principled view of how the current regime is using antisemitism for its own less-than-altruistic purposes.

This, for several weeks before a certain larger university has suddenly discovered its ****s: Trump Is Selling Jews a Dangerous Lie

And another thing: cendawanita, great thought-provoking article from Jewish Currents. An element raised not often enough in big/little power relationships is the lack of control that donor countries have once their weapons have left the dock. Last time I studied this stuff carefully (the 1970s, when Soviet sponsorship of Syria was at one of its peaks), I found a quote from a Soviet ambassador to Syria saying "Those damned Syrians will take anything but advice" (name available upon request).

It's easy to forget that these big/little arrangements are far from permanent. A good example: Israel's main supplier/supporter until the late 1960's was France. The U.S. only replaced France once Cold War dynamics, plus the withdrawal of France from North Africa, made France's committment wane, and the U.S's committment wax. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, then-President Nixon saw to it that Israel was instantly well-armed after Israel's original setbacks in the early days of the war. For most, this is ancient history. But the dynamics haven't changed since -- only the players.

(This is actually a totally separate issue from donor complicity, politics-motivated threats, and pot-stirring insane proposals).

End of rant :)
posted by Citizen Cane Juice at 7:42 PM on April 14 [1 favorite]

I think the impermanence might be behind the giant levels of energy being exerted to stay contrary to both public opinion and international law, never mind if it's taking down democratic institutions.

Re: that NYT opinion piece, I don't know if it's related to NYT's now infamous contribution of the Palestine Exception or himself, but: As for Mr. Trump, he declared that Senator Chuck Schumer is ※not Jewish anymore,§

And then what else, what else did he call him? NYT elided it by simply consigning it to a citation link: Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside Irish Prime Minister Miche芍l Martin, Trump attacked the Democrats over their response during his address to Congress on March 6 and targeted Schumer when he was asked about corporate taxes. ＆Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I＊m concerned. He＊s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He＊s not Jewish anymore. He＊s a Palestinian,＊ Trump said.

I fall into this trap too, but like white woman tears that emerge when feminist issues impacting BIPOC women are being discussed, I have to remind myself, the story here, by 2025, is primarily of Palestinian dispossession and dehumanization.

Anyway, ICYMI:
Israeli troops shot at medics from as close as 12 metres, audio analysis suggests -
Analysis shared with Sky News calls into question Israel's claim that there was "no firing from close distance" in the IDF attack which killed 15 aid workers last month.

For housekeeping, as shared in the latest Biden thread and in keeping with the current conversation + recollection on how his administration acted: Under Primacy, Weapons Sales Will Always Supersede Human Rights

And: Pew Research:
As Americans look at the Middle East, fewer say the Israel-Hamas war is important to them personally 每 or important to U.S. national interests 每 than felt that way early last year, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

In addition, the public＊s views of Israel have turned more negative over the past three years. More than half of U.S. adults (53%) now express an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from 42% in March 2022 每 before the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. (Pew Research Center regularly asks about attitudes toward countries like Russia, the U.S., China and others. Refer to the ※How we did this§ box for more details.)

Americans＊ confidence in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also remains relatively low (32%), according to the new survey. The survey was conducted March 24-30 每 just before Netanyahu＊s most recent visit 每 among a nationally representative sample of 3,605 U.S. adults.
posted by cendawanita at 8:33 PM on April 14 [5 favorites]

Thanks everyone.... I do want to point out that for every single discussion that has been had on this site about anti-semitism in relation to Palestinians, there has not really been an actual discussion of anti-Palestinian racism - its definitions, and how it manifests, what it entails, etc. This is as much my fault as it is anyone else's, but it was just something I was mulling over.

I just watched this Middle East Eye interview with Helena Cobban, who just authored a book with Rami G. Khouri on "Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters", and it's quite illuminating. It's about an hour long; I highly recommend it.

The latest abductee in the US is a Palestinian student and activist at Columbia University Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested by ICE when he showed up to take his citizenship test.

Anyway the latest from the ceasefire merry-go-round - Israel is demanding that Hamas disarms, with no commitment towards ending the war, and Hamas is rejecting disarmament as a condition of ceasefire, asserting that resistance is a right they have. Looks like another impasse.

I don't know if this is a sign, but several groups of Israeli soldiers have been circulating petitions calling for an end to the war on Gaza. In addition, NPR reports that fewer military reservists are willing to report for duty.
posted by toastyk at 9:28 PM on April 14 [12 favorites]

The best explanation for these perennial horrors is also the most succint. It's just two words. It was the title of Benny Morris' comprehensive history of the Zionist-Arab/Palestinian conflict: Righteous Victims.

The Zionists embrace a victimhood stemming from centuries of pogroms, persecution and the Holocaust. Hamas embraces a victimhood from Nakba and decades of oppression by successive Israeli governments.

When you see yourself as a victim, and a righteous one you can justify anything.
posted by storybored at 8:14 AM on April 15

I used to be active on Metafilter years ago (prior to and early in Trump＊s first term) and drifted away from the site for a variety of reasons. I will not be insulted if this thread gets deleted but I needed to say the following in case it earnestly helps someone here understand the site＊s current dynamic.

I can only say that it is truly too bad that Metafilter has become a place where the following happens:

1. Someone early in the thread says ※Jews§, (without any caveating, context, or qualifiers) are collectively ※participating in a modern day atrocity§.
2. Someone politely comments in reply to that user as though the user had accidentally posted a double link to the front page and not condemned an entire, globally dispersed people to conflation with the acts of a particular nation state.
3. Other users chime in (again politely!) psychoanalyzing The Jews. ※Perhaps this poor tribe is just universally traumatized!§
4. Cendwanita posts an excellent article that really, truly should, if read correctly, make everyone consider if the above conversation/framing about ※the special place for American Jews§ does anything to help the larger and more important issue of Palestinian dehumanization.


I know it is usually a big ※no§ these days to mentions users by name. But I mention Cendwanita because in my lurking I really do believe they are wrestling with the complexities of this topic in a way that, if emulated by other users, would likely mean that the various MetaTalk threads that crop up around this (here and here etc. ) wouldn＊t be needed. I say this as someone that has gotten actually mad at Cendwanita＊s posts but can still see that they put thought and work into them.

This is all to say that if folks on this site continue to wonder: ※hey, why do threads on this issue seem to always turn into conversations about antisemitism?§

Because, before anyone can make thoughtful points about racism directed at Palestinians or post thoughtful articles about ※Zionist Realism§ someone will post just the most plainly ignorant YouTube comment of a thought generalizing about Jews and Judaism. It should also be noted that even if one is Jewish it doesn＊t preclude one from posting such ignorant nonsense.

My expectation is that as long as Metafilter remains a place where one, plainly ignorant comment can sit like an anchor at the top of a thread for a full day, it will continue to drag down the rest of the threads like this and will continue to distract folks from more thoughtful posts on this thread and site.
posted by BobbyPullsAWilson at 8:34 AM on April 15 [5 favorites]

1. Someone early in the thread says ※Jews§, (without any caveating, context, or qualifiers) are collectively ※participating in a modern day atrocity§.

That's one reasonable interpretation of this comment.

A more sympathetic reading would interpret it as asking how it is possible for such Jews as are participating in a modern day atrocity to use the phrase "Never again" with a straight face.

Near as I can tell, the answer to that question is that for those Jews and those Jews only, "Never again" means "Never again to Jews".

The thinking seems to be that the most effective way to overcome irrational hatred is by replacing it with the kind of existential fear best induced via frequent demonstrations of mass killings with total impunity.

I don't see it, myself. Apart from being psychologically counterproductive, the current Israeli brand of Zionism looks like internalized victim-blaming - identifying the root cause for countless historical instances of Jews being targeted and killed as the inability of those killed to defend themselves, rather than the antisemitism of their murderers.

There's also the matter of treating antisemitism as in some way structurally different from hatred directed at any other minority group. The thinking seems to be that antisemitism has always existed and therefore will always pose the same degree of existential threat.

But "it wouldn't matter what we did, they'd hate us anyway" is fucking weak sauce as an excuse for doing things that would make anybody hate anybody who did those things exactly because they'd done those things. Israel's "they hate us because we're Jewish" is no more justifiable than W's "they hate us for our freedoms" and it's really no surprise to me that it's pretty much the same kind of conservatives who seem to be convinced by both.
posted by flabdablet at 7:23 PM on April 15 [4 favorites]

There actually is an interesting conversation to be had about 'never again' because it is used differently by Jewish people in Israel, where it tends to mean "never again TO US" - aka we won't let ourselves be victims again, we'll become oppressors first if that's what it takes.... Versus Jewish people of the disappora, who tend to interpret it as "never again means never again to anyone."

I can see where this is a derail from the thread about Palestinian genocide, though. It's just that for the ongoing atrocities in Palestine I don't know what else to say beyond that they are horrible. And the US government using 'antisemitism' as a cover to preemptively defang what they've identified as a threat to themselves - mass protests by student activists - I mean this isn't genocide, but it also makes me sick at heart.
posted by subdee at 7:38 PM on April 15 [2 favorites]

it is used differently by Jewish people in Israel, where it tends to mean "never again TO US"

Which is even more victim-blamey than "never again to Jews". Distinct whiff of "Your synagogue got burnt down? Well, what did you expect? I told you you should have moved to Tel Aviv."
posted by flabdablet at 7:45 PM on April 15 [2 favorites]

This is all to say that if folks on this site continue to wonder: ※hey, why do threads on this issue seem to always turn into conversations about antisemitism?§

Because, before anyone can make thoughtful points about racism directed at Palestinians or post thoughtful articles about ※Zionist Realism§ someone will post just the most plainly ignorant YouTube comment of a thought generalizing about Jews and Judaism

That has actually almost never happened in any of these threads going back to October of 2023; apart from the singular and obvious comment in this thread, I have to say I haven't seen a single instance of anyone (apart from avowed Zionists) conflating Jews as a people with Israel as a state.

There are two reasons that threads on this issue often turn into conversations about antisemitism: 1) bad-faith accusations of same by supporters of Israel directed at criticism of Israel; 2) the fact that those same bad-faith accusations have been weaponised against student protesters and used as grounds for revocation of permanent citizenship and deportation.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 10:47 PM on April 15 [3 favorites]

apart from the singular and obvious comment in this thread, I have to say I haven't seen a single instance of anyone (apart from avowed Zionists) conflating Jews as a people with Israel as a state

and unless and until that commenter actually says in so many words that they were indeed conflating those things as they wrote it, there's a defensible reading that excludes that comment as well.
posted by flabdablet at 11:40 PM on April 15

At this rate, just use "Zionist". It's more accurate and not limited to Jewish people. If you're not a Palestinian who's been so policed that most of them literally has never met a Jewish person who's 1) not part of the IDF and therefore Israeli; and 2) so terrorized and abused that they get the Star of David graffitied on their homes or burned onto their skin like cattle, and therefore 3) consistently molested with the cries that this is what "the Jews" are doing to them, "Zionist" remains the most instructive since this genocide is driven by political ideology.

/sympathies to anyone whose upbringing and sociopolitical environment conflated the religion and the political ideology tho. At least I got to run away from the Wahhabist brainwashing.

If you feel concerned about using it, ask yourself why. If you'd like to persist in the conflation I'm forced to continue marvelling at the multifaceted antisemitism of the Western mind. Countries are persistent structures - even the USA is still standing despite its many sins. Germany split for a bit and came back again. Invented countries like mine are still ticking. So Israel is not going away, but if you want it to stay being a cancer to its regional neighbours, well... That would make sense. It's not like there's not a lot of jobs left but the army.

---

Posted elsewhere:
Forward: Student protesters being deported are not ＆martyrs and heroes,＊ says former antisemitism envoy -
Former Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt supports parts of the Trump administration＊s visa crackdown, but said it must be done ＆thoughtfully＊ and with due process

As the Trump administration escalates its campaign to revoke the visas of hundreds of international students 〞 many for their involvement in pro-Palestinian activism 〞 Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration＊s antisemitism envoy, is offering support for some of the moves.

※To depict some of these people as martyrs and heroes is ludicrous,§ Lipstadt said in an interview, her words pointed and deliberate.

(...) Her remarks place her in a carefully calibrated position 〞 neither in full alignment with critics of the Trump administration＊s policy, nor with those who have championed mass deportations as a show of zero tolerance. ※I＊m not opposed to the administration rescinding the student visas of some of the people that they＊re rescinding the student visas of,§ she said. ※But I just think it should be done properly, according to the laws of the country.§

----

Journalist Ahmed Alnaouq: ＆It＊s our duty to make Gaza＊s stories immortal＊

The Gaza-born, UK-based journalist, who has lost more than 20 family members in Israeli airstrikes, has taken pieces from an online platform he co-created for young Palestinians and collated them in a new book

---

Did an Israeli Oct. 7 Witness Tell ＆Many Lies＊ About Rape and Sexual Violence? -
An Israeli reporter says Rami Davidian, a key source in Sheryl Sandberg＊s Oct. 7 documentary, told ＆hair-raising stories that never, ever occurred.＊
posted by cendawanita at 12:36 AM on April 16 [5 favorites]

At this rate, just use "Zionist".

Use of that term by people who are not themselves Zionist is already enough to put them on the current US Administration's social media surveillance radar. The most plausible explanation I can think of for that is that it does challenge the very conflation of Judaism with present-day Israeli Zionism that so much hasbara has been devoted to boosting.

The excuse is that Hamas and other designated terrorist groups frequently refer to Israel as "the Zionist entity". Anybody who reports that they've been made to feel unsafe on hearing "from the river to the sea" is almost certainly going to say the same thing about hearing non-Zionists criticise Zionism, on much the same basis.

Weirdly, I see far fewer complaints about being made to feel unsafe arising from criticism of Israel that's directed improperly at Jews rather than properly at Zionists. Perhaps this reflects the fact that criticism explicitly directed at Zionism tends to come from people who manifestly know more about current and historical conditions in Palestine than the typical casually antisemitic yobbo and whose opinions are therefore harder to dismiss.

Personally, I generally stick to "Likud" or "Likud and its enablers" when criticising the current wave of genocide, "the Israeli and US governments" when complaining about how nothing useful has made its way through the Security Council these sixty years, and "the governments of Israel and its allies" when talking about everything Israel has done from the Nakba to the present.
posted by flabdablet at 1:30 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

The excuse is that Hamas and other designated terrorist groups frequently refer to Israel as "the Zionist entity". Anybody who reports that they've been made to feel unsafe on hearing "from the river to the sea" is almost certainly going to say the same thing about hearing non-Zionists criticise Zionism, on much the same basis.

Weirdly, I see far fewer complaints about being made to feel unsafe arising from criticism of Israel that's directed improperly at Jews rather than properly at Zionists.

It's not weird - those who haven't deprogrammed themselves from being made ideological human shields that cause them to fall to pieces at the first feels validated by the antisemitism of the second. That's how minority fascism flourish because the persecution is real even if located extraterrestrially. (See also: India - what does Americans joking about pungent foods and JD Vance's wife have anything to do with Muslims eating beef in India? Or mine: what does Palestinians being killed and Muslim Westerners being violated has anything to with unilateral religious conversions in Malaysia? Just because UAE has zero income tax means f-all to hijabis in France, etc etc etc)

But Western-minded postcol majorities don't talk to other people who's not white-facing unless it can be done patronizingly. In that Israel finds something in common with Singapore. And that's how American Asians find Crazy Rich Asians soooo hashtag representation.
posted by cendawanita at 2:16 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

(I couldn't for the life of me figure why in that last comment I clearly phrased something lopsidedly and then I realized it's because I'm writing for Malaysians/Singaporeans and we'd put the nationality first before ethnicity)
posted by cendawanita at 2:31 AM on April 16 [1 favorite]

NYT opinion: The U.S. Must Now Reckon With a Hegemon in the Mideast: Israel

The Trump administration, assuming it still considers peace between Israel and the Palestinians a top priority, will find it harder than ever to persuade Israel to convert its newfound military dominance into enduring political agreements with its Arab and Palestinian neighbors. There are no deals on the cheap here, to be scribbled on the back of cocktail napkins. President Trump and his team will need to put in the time and effort and press key Arab states and the Palestinians to do their part and, in an even tougher task, push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to make concessions. Mr. Netanyahu＊s recent visit to Washington suggests that Mr. Trump isn＊t yet ready to try.

The Israeli leader and his far-right coalition are disinclined to strike deals, especially given that the Trump administration has imposed few constraints on Israel＊s actions in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon or Syria. Mr. Netanyahu is facing trial on various charges for which he can escape judgment only by remaining in office. He is not going to jeopardize his hold on power.

That means in Israel there＊s little significant domestic pressure to change course. Israel＊s renewed offensive in Gaza failed to galvanize the political left even though most Israelis say they want the cease-fire to continue. Meanwhile, the groundwork for annexing much of the West Bank is rapidly advancing. Rarely have the prospects for any negotiations toward a two-state solution been more remote.
posted by cendawanita at 3:44 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

Holy shit, they've lost Friedman. Never thought I'd see the day.

Trump＊s and Netanyahu＊s domestic strategies have truly merged with the weaponization of antisemitism as a way to silence or delegitimize critics. Readers of this column know that I have zero respect for any campus protesters who bash Israeli actions in Gaza without uttering a word of censure for Hamas 〞 let alone a word of support for Ukrainians whose democracy is being savaged by Vladimir Putin＊s Russia. But ours is, for now, still a free country, and if people aren＊t engaging in violent acts, or harassing other students in or out of class, they should be free to say whatever they want, including advocating a Palestinian state of whatever size they want.

※President Trump has taken a real phenomenon that needs to be addressed 〞 antisemitism that emerges out of debates on Israel 〞 and is using it to justify crackdowns on immigration, higher education and free speech on Israel,§ Jonathan Jacoby, national director of the Nexus Project, which works to fight antisemitism and uphold democracy, said to me.

As an American Jew, I neither need nor want Trump＊s cynical defense. He is still the man who, in 2017, defended the white nationalists and neo-Nazis who protested in Charlottesville, Va., as including ※some very fine people.§ Vance has also embraced Germany＊s Nazi-sympathizing, Holocaust-trivializing AfD party, whose leaders have called on Germans to stop atoning for Nazi crimes.

posted by flabdablet at 4:54 AM on April 16 [2 favorites]

Even when Friedman is coming around, he's still being a dick. Why are activists obligated to say a single thing about Ukraine? I tire of people trying to dictate what Palestinian activists/students need to do/say in order to be heard. Why aren't the horrors of the genocide itself enough to be its own condemnation? (Rhetorical q; I know why.)

Al-Jazeera provides a helpful video explainer of Betar USA, the Jewish supremacist group which claims credit for sending lists of US pro-Palestinian activists to the Trump admin. They also just released a list of Jews that they've asked the Israeli government not to admit into Israel, including people who've been dead for years, like Tony Judt and Adrienne Rich.

Leading US Jewish groups denounce federal crackdown "under guise of fighting antisemitism" - Signatories include the Union for Reform Judaism, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the National Council of Jewish Women, the American Conference of Cantors, HIAS, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

A swath of American Jewry, including leaders of the Reform community, is alarmed about the Trump administration＊s crackdown due to perceived threats to due process and free speech while acknowledging that action is needed to combat rampant antisemitism. The statement released today is another expression of those concerns.

The X account for DropSiteNews has ongoing updates for the Middle East that include direct communications from Hamas - among the many things happening - the IDF continues its assault on the Jenin camp, displacing 21,000, 600 homes destroyed, the US launching over 25 airstrikes in Yemen in 3 hours, Palestinian factions rejecting calls for disarmament, US beginning phased troop reduction in Syria, which worries Israelis that fear the loss of US presence would embolden Turkey. There is a possibility that the Israeli airstrikes might have resulted in the death of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander as Hamas claims they have lost contact with the group guarding him.
posted by toastyk at 6:20 AM on April 16 [6 favorites]

and unless and until that commenter actually says in so many words that they were indeed conflating those things as they wrote it, there's a defensible reading that excludes that comment as well.

The degree to which some people are giving benefit of the doubt and twisting themselves into knots to avoid calling a blatantly anti-Semitic comment anti-Semitic is bizarre to me, as if acknowledging that comment was phrased terribly causes someone to lose their anti-genocide bonafides or something.
posted by The Gooch at 7:21 AM on April 16 [4 favorites]

Even when Friedman is coming around, he's still being a dick.

Well, yeah. That's how you know it's actually Friedman.
posted by flabdablet at 2:44 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]

After Nonviolence: The end of peaceful resistance in Palestine - by Ben Ehrenreich -

All of this revealed a fundamental miscalculation. In colonial India, in the Jim Crow South, and in Palestine, the goal of nonviolent resistance was to leverage one＊s sacrifices, to use one＊s courage when faced with the repressive violence of the state as a tool for moral awakening, to move people of conscience to act. To that end, it had worked. Over the past decade, sympathy for Palestinians in the United States has grown steadily, particularly among the young, while support for Israel has plummeted. But last year＊s campus demonstrations were almost everywhere repressed by the police, and the fact that a majority of Americans supported putting conditions on military aid to Israel found no reflection in either party＊s platform.

Manal, Bilal, and others in Nabi Saleh had done everything they were supposed to do. The moral awakening occurred as planned. It just didn＊t make a difference. What they hadn＊t counted on was the utter lack of real democracy in the West.
posted by toastyk at 9:33 PM on April 16 [7 favorites]

A bit of a religious bent, this roundup, even if it's basically a land grab:

Israel allows groups of 180 Jews to pray at Al-Aqsa Mosque for first time -
Islamic authorities fear the status quo is under threat as Israel permits hundreds of Jewish worshippers at the site

＆They are trying to make it unbearable＊: Jerusalem Christians face Easter under Israeli crackdown -
Palestinians trying to access Christianity's holiest sites in the Old City of Jerusalem face restrictions and hostility

I stopped wearing the Star of David because it has become a symbol of supremacy and fascism -
In October 2023, I proudly wore my Star of David necklace to an emergency rally for Gaza, but a year later I could no longer wear it. Israel has made it impossible to divorce this symbol from the unfathomable devastation carried out under its banner.

Letter: As British Jews we can no longer stay silent on the war in Gaza (from The Board of Deputies of British Jews)
...The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out.

This is what we see: the last 18 months of heartbreaking war have shown us that the most successful way of bringing the hostages home and creating a lasting peace is through diplomacy. By the end of the first phase of the second ceasefire and hostage release deal, 135 hostages had been released through negotiation, just eight by military action, with at least three tragically killed by the Israel Defense Forces.

(...) Such incidents are too painful and shocking to take in, but we know in our hearts we cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent at this renewed loss of life and livelihoods, with hopes dwindling for a peaceful reconciliation and the return of the hostages.

This most extremist of Israeli governments is openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, strangling the Palestinian economy and building more new settlements than ever.

This extremism also targets Israeli democracy, with the independence of the judicial system again under fierce attack, the police increasingly resembling a militia and repressive laws are being advanced as provocative partisan populism is bitterly dividing Israeli society. Israel＊s soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to.

Silence is seen as support for policies and actions that run contrary to our Jewish values. Led by the families of the hostages, hundreds of thousands of Israelis are demonstrating on the streets against the return to war by an Israeli government that has not prioritised the return of the hostages.

We stand with them. We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life. We yearn for the ※day after§ this conflict when reconciliation can start. As we mark the festival of freedom with so many hostages still in captivity, it is our duty, as Jews, to speak out.

'New Kind of Antisemitism': Jewish Students Slam Trump's Detention of Mohsen Mahdawi -
The Columbia student, a green card holder, was detained by ICE at his citizenship interview on Monday.

Anyway, just another day of supporting a genocidal regime at the cost of your own democratic institutions and norms. I'm familiar with the experience.
posted by cendawanita at 3:55 AM on April 18 [9 favorites]

Deadline: Palestinian Photojournalist & Protagonist Of Cannes-Selected Doc Killed In Israeli Gaza Strike

※She was such a light, so talented. When you see the film you＊ll understand,§ Farsi told Deadline. ※I had talked to her a few hours before to tell her that the film was in Cannes and to invite her.§

Farsi recounts that Hassouna was open to the idea of attending the screening, as long as she could return to Gaza afterwards.

※She said, ＆I＊ll come, but I have to go back to Gaza. I don＊t want to leave Gaza,§ said Farsi. ※I was already in touch with the French Embassy. We＊d just started the process. I was worried about how to get her out and back in safely. I didn＊t want to have the responsibility of separating her from her family.§

※Now the whole family is dead. I＊m trying to find out if her parents are dead but for sure Fatima and her sisters and brothers are dead. One of the sisters was pregnant. On a video call two days ago, she showed me her belly. It＊s so horrible and devastating. Fatima herself had gotten engaged a few months ago.§

Guardian: ＆If I die, I want a loud death＊: Gaza photojournalist killed by Israeli airstrike -
Fatima Hassouna, who had been documenting war in Gaza for 18 months and was subject of new documentary, killed along with 10 members of her family

Hey hey hey, is Israel winning yet? Are the hostages back?
posted by cendawanita at 8:36 PM on April 18 [5 favorites]

The Pope died; in his final Easter address, he reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for Hamas to release the remaining hostages.

The Israeli military has completed its internal investigation on their soldiers massacre of 15 Red Crescent ambulance workers, and have concluded that it was a ※professional failure§. They fired one guy. Another guy will be reprimanded. The paramedic who survived appears to be in Israeli custody but there are no further details.

Within Israel, return of the hostages is no longer the most important goal - taking control of Gaza is, and forced population transfer of the Palestinians is more important. Ungated.

I＊m pretty sure we knew that though.

Meanwhile Israeli Air Force veterans and other reservists have signed letters calling for an end to the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu wants to bomb Iran despite Iran＊s ongoing talks with the US. The Atlantic wants the US to also get involved with Israel＊s conflict with Turkey. Ungated.
posted by toastyk at 7:03 AM on April 21 [7 favorites]

Workshops4Gaza says that the SameerProject shared that there's about 2 weeks away from there being no food or medicine left to buy.

DropSiteNews says the Gaza Health Ministry is recording deaths from hunger and famine separately from deaths from attacks, which are still ongoing.

Mahmoud Khalil was denied his request by ICE to go see his wife give birth to their child.

I just learned today that apparently the El Salvadoran president is of Palestinian descent.

What a cursed timeline.
posted by toastyk at 9:37 PM on April 21 [8 favorites]

Good job - got OTHER countries to ruin their democratic institutions to carry water for you, and for what?

Drop Site News:
NEW | Israeli Army Fabricated Gaza Tunnel Discovery to Stall Ceasefire Talks

Israel＊s public broadcaster KAN 11 reports the Israeli military fabricated claims of discovering a tunnel in Gaza＊s Philadelphi Corridor to stall ceasefire negotiations and delay a hostage deal.

? The structure, presented last August by the army as a ※sophisticated underground tunnel,§ was revealed by KAN＊s Zman Emet (Time of Truth) program to be ※a shallow channel barely covered with soil.§ The military staged vehicles to make the trench appear more substantial.

? Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed the deception, admitting: ※This is not 20 or 30 meters underground. It＊s just a meter below the surface. It＊s like a channel you drive under sometimes, beneath a highway.§

? Gallant further admitted: ※It was not a tunnel, but rather an attempt to prevent a ceasefire agreement ＃ At the end of the matter, weapons did not pass under the Philadelphi Corridor."

? The report concludes the fabricated tunnel was used to ※exaggerate the importance of the Philadelphi Corridor and delay a hostage deal.§

Ah well, at least now that it's actual Republicans in the White House benefiting from that ruin, maybe we'd have some mainstream western journalism.
posted by cendawanita at 9:20 PM on April 22 [7 favorites]

Given the sheer consistency with which the IDF and its political masters have been shown to lie and lie and lie and lie and lie, it should be a lot harder than it is to find any media outlet continuing to report anything they say as if it might be in some way factual or illuminating.

The regime's pronouncements should be reflexively laughed to scorn the same way Comical Ali's were back in the day, and yet they continue to get treated as credible until shown otherwise. It's infuriating.
posted by flabdablet at 11:07 PM on April 22 [4 favorites]

The paramedic who survived appears to be in Israeli custody

presumably pending being charged with the dreadful crime of Seeing The IDF Do A Thing.
posted by flabdablet at 11:10 PM on April 22 [5 favorites]

Unfortunately I haven't seen any further updates on the missing paramedic Assad Al-Nsasrah. I hope he is released soon.

The Biden envoy for antisemitism and Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt did an interview with Isaac Chotiner. ungated. It went about as well as can be expected:

You can judge him about, say, tweeting happily about people being sent to a horrific prison in El Salvador, right?

Look, there＊s no reason . . . Look, when you take someone off the street who＊s not supposed to be taken off the street, and you deport them, you make a mistake. I come from a tradition and a personal belief that when you make a mistake, you say, I made a mistake, and we＊re gonna fix it. And that＊s disturbing.

They may not care that they made a mistake. That＊s the issue.

Off the record and not for quotation: [Goes off record.]

Is there a reason you don＊t want to say that on the record?

Yeah, I don＊t, because I＊m still, you know . . . I don＊t want to give people the chance. You know, there＊s some people I know, including good friends of mine, who suffer from what the Republicans would call, what is it, ※Trump Derangement Syndrome§? You know, anything he does is bad. Look, he moved the Embassy to Jerusalem. So I give him credit for that. I do give him credit for that. I＊m not gonna say just because it＊s the Trump Administration it＊s bad.

According to Hussam Abu Safiya's lawyer, he and other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers are facing "inhumane conditions" and "torture".

There's a new ceasefire plan proposed, according to a Hamas source.

Fox News shocked that Kneecap said "Fuck Israel" at Coachella.

Yale students and alumni resurrected encampments as Israeli National Security Minister Ben Givir is coming to Yale to give a speech to Shabthai, a Jewish society group not officially affiliated with the school.

Barnard College apparently provided the Trump admin with personal contact information, which they used to text professors to ask if they were Jewish/Israeli and if they had been subjected to antisemitism.

A Congressional delegation met with Mahmoud Khalil and R邦meysa ?zt邦rk in Louisiana, where they were met with reports of inadequate conditions and being denied medicine. Notably, NY Sen Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have not met with Khalil.

Israel continues to bomb Gaza.
posted by toastyk at 4:00 PM on April 23 [7 favorites]

I honestly don't know what there is to say anymore.

World Food Programme runs out of food stocks in Gaza as aid block persists.
posted by toastyk at 8:46 AM on April 25 [5 favorites]

For the record, my now-removed comment wasn't suicidal, it was just very angry.
posted by adrienneleigh at 3:28 PM on April 25 [4 favorites]

Keep destroying your institutions for this sort of behaviour -

IDF admits responsibility for deadly attack on UN building last month

Agents Didn't Have Warrant To Arrest Activist Mahmoud Khalil, Documents Show

Head of Trump＊s antisemitism task force says one on ＆anti-white bias＊ may be next -
Leo Terrell said he wants equal protection for whites and Christians in addition to ＆Blacks, browns, yellow＊

Training for NYPD Officers Categorized the Keffiyeh and Watermelon as Antisemitic Symbols -
Experts say the training reinforced a police culture that treats Palestinians and their supporters with suspicion and brutality.

(This was out before this weekend's news that involved Zionist violence on protestors in NYC, including a Jewish Israeli woman who posted a photo of her aftermath)
----
'Very, very toxic': The risk of asbestos in Gaza's rubble

The haredi journalist urging Palestinians to fight back -
Yisrael Frey is an anomaly in Israel: both deeply orthodox and loudly left-wing. His advocacy for Palestinians has him fighting accusations of ＆incitement to terrorism＊.

Hebrew media summaries/translations things:
So Israel has 1660 bags of body parts from Oct 7 in, Sdeh Teiman, that it generally assesses are Palestinian but suspects about 200 of them might be Israeli.
archive.md/9nnoH

alt text justpaste.it/exka1

The Israeli Air Force is increasingly upset with the strike requests it is receiving from the IDF Southern Command. The reason are the high rate of uninvolved Palestinian casualties in the bombings, and the failure to investigate the causes. The feeling is that the attacks are more aggressive, and that the consideration of the deaths of civilians has decreased - and that the operational results are not improving as a result.

When pilots complete an attack, after they have been given certain estimates of collateral damage, about the possibility of uninvolved civilians dying with the military target. And then they open their phones and discover completely different numbers. Much higher. Last Saturday, for example, the Palestinians reported 52 deaths in Gaza (until seven in the evening). When they want to check why, and the Air Force tries to investigate afterwards - and this is a body that investigates at the most reliable level in the IDF - it does not receive adequate cooperation

The tension is so high that, as of this week, Air Force Commander Bar personally approves every strike that the Air Force carries out in the Strip. But the tension is unresolved.

There is no way around it, the IDF is not taking adequate steps to protect Palestinian civilian lives.

The leading genocide scholar, an Isareli with an extraordinary book on the Holocaust, says Israel is conducting a war on children and that what he sees in Gaza reminds him of the darkest hours of the Holocaust 〞 Everyone shrugs - the article

---

Ramy Abdu: The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas＊s military wing, have released footage showing an operation to rescue Israeli hostages from a tunnel that was bombed by the [Israeli forces] a few days ago.

This video could significantly shift Israeli public opinion regarding the fate of the hostages.

It probably won't though. Self-described good people are the same anywhere.
posted by cendawanita at 8:39 PM on April 27 [3 favorites]

UN Program Out of Food in Gaza as Israel Maintains Blockade

As Israel continues to bomb and impose a total blockade on the Gaza Strip, the United Nations World Food Program announced Friday that "WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meals kitchens" in the Palestinian enclave, which "are expected to fully run out of food in the coming days."

"For weeks, hot meal kitchens have been the only consistent source of food assistance for people in Gaza. Despite reaching just half the population with only 25% of daily food needs, they have provided a critical lifeline," the U.N. program said in a statement. "WFP is also deeply concerned about the severe lack of safe water and fuel for cooking〞forcing people to scavenge for items to burn to cook a meal."

This is just the latest troubling update from the group since Israel began its total blockade on March 2〞following months of severely restricting aid and commercial goods〞and then ditched a fragile cease-fire with Gaza-based Hamas that had been in effect since mid-January. Last month, all 25 WFP-supported bakeries closed due to lack of wheat flour and cooking fuel, and program parcels with two weeks of rations for families were exhausted.
posted by away for regrooving at 1:48 AM on April 28 [3 favorites]

Times of Israel: Top Biden aide: Israel missed opportunity for Saudi deal; hopefully it won＊t do so again -
In interviews with Israeli investigative TV program, nine senior officials from previous US administration vent their frustrations in dealing with Netanyahu during Gaza war

Oh sure, now you're talking. You have all these regular (and establishment) Americans carrying water for you, losing their tempers at each other, providing cover for genocide, equivocating war crimes with bread-and-butter disagreements, but now you're talking.

Despite his animosity toward Netanyahu, Biden stood by Israel through the end of his term.

※This was the most significant political peril of Joe Biden＊s political career. The easiest thing for Joe Biden＃ to do if he was worried about the votes in Michigan, is to basically get a little soft. He refused to do it,§ Nides said.

※There was an enormous pressure on [Biden] inside the White House to change his position. So, when I hear comments about [how] he wasn＊t good enough, or he didn＊t have Israel＊s back, am I disgusted by it? 100%. Is it true? 100% no.§

(...) "Can you imagine the [backlash] if it was Amos meeting with Hamas and negotiating with Hamas. Do you understand the level of anger that would come out of this?§ said the former US ambassador, referring to the unprecedented direct talks that Trump＊s hostage envoy Adam Boehler held with Hamas officials last month. Israel fumed over the negotiations but has avoided criticizing them publicly.

Herzog, too, made a point of summarizing Biden＊s perilous term positively.

※God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period, because it could have been much worse. We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ＆ceasefire now.＊ It never did. And that＊s not to be taken for granted,§ the former Israeli ambassador said.

※Hamakor§ anchor Raviv Drucker mused on whether that was the Biden administration＊s flaw 〞 that it was too loyal and pro-Israel to ever fully pressure Netanyahu. The Israeli premier, he posited, understood this and chose to drag his feet on making key decisions throughout the war, to buy time until Trump returned to office.

Maybe that's Israeli English for "working tirelessly towards a ceasefire".

-----

New bill seeks to extend U.S. military benefits to Americans serving in the Israeli army -
A new bill in Congress would extend some U.S. military benefits to the estimated 20,000 Americans currently carrying out the Gaza genocide as members of the Israeli military.

---

The English version of the Haaretz article referred to yesterday: Invoking Never Again in Israel, as More Children Die -
I have been engaged in researching the Holocaust for about 40 years. I never imagined in my worst nightmares that the Jewish state would bomb starving children to death (ungated)

----

The Settlers review 每 this vital film forces Louis Theroux to do something he＊s never done before -
The documentarian manages to stay calm and polite as guns are repeatedly pointed at him in the West Bank. Then someone shoves him ＃

The Settlers lays all those worries to rest in an instant. By travelling to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Theroux is revisiting the subject matter of a documentary he made in 2011. That film, The Ultra Zionists, concerned a clutch of Jewish people who 每 propelled by religious nationalism 每 were infringing on international law by building their homes in Palestinian territory. But, 14 years on, he has returned to find that the settlements have accelerated. The settler ideology has found itself gaining political traction. What was fringe has now become mainstream.

As such, The Settlers requires Theroux to alter his approach. Ever since Weird Weekends, his stock in trade has been the faux-na?f, lulling his subjects into a false sense of security with his bumbling charm. With everyone from Jimmy Savile to the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, he was able to lay traps they simply didn＊t see coming.

But the situation in the West Bank is so dire that the kid gloves have to come off. This is partly because he and his crew repeatedly find themselves subject to many of the confrontations and intimidations that blight the lives of Palestinians on a daily basis. During a visit to a Palestinian home, settlers drive up and point guns with laser sights through the windows at him. More than once, he has to politely ask people to lower their guns while talking to him. In one especially tense encounter, he has to bark ※Don＊t touch me§ at a pair of balaclava-wearing Israeli soldiers.

In the early years, Theroux would gently attempt to convince his subjects that their worldview might not be the only one around. In the later, more serious films, he would leave long silences on which the viewer could project scorn on his behalf, saving his true feelings for the voiceover afterwards. In truth, there is some of this in The Settlers. When he meets Ari Abramowitz, a Texas settler in the West Bank who refuses to even use the word ※Palestinian§, he holds his tongue. When he meets a rabbi who calls Palestinians ※savages§ and ※camel riders§, he manages to do the same.

Then comes Daniella Weiss. A key member of the Israeli settler movement for 50 years, Weiss is Theroux＊s prime target. She is able to hide her extreme views behind a friendly smile, no matter how aggressively he plays cat and mouse with her. But, at the end of the episode, they both get to each other like never before. Theroux corners Weiss and presses her on settler violence against Palestinians. She says none exists. He says he has witnessed it, notably in a video of a Palestinian being shot. She claims the Israeli shooter was acting in retaliation, then physically shoves Theroux in the hope that he＊ll push her back. Instead, he does something he＊s never done before. He calls her a sociopath.
posted by cendawanita at 6:21 PM on April 28 [5 favorites]

Get Louis
posted by flabdablet at 2:09 AM on April 29 [1 favorite]

So I just watched that documentary, and for the record, Theroux stopped short of actually calling Weiss a sociopath. Transcript:

Theroux (voiceover): In the north of the West Bank, I was heading back to the settlement of Evyatar, where I'd been hosted by Malkiel, the horse-wrangler. Since my visit, I'd learned a little more about the settlement's relations with its neighbouring Palestinian town of Beita. How Beita had been subject to settler attacks and how it, in turn, had organised regular protests of the settlement. Demonstrators had been killed and others wounded during the clashes. One of the deaths of a Turkish-American volunteer, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, made headlines. Now the settlement was holding a festival to celebrate its recent recognition by the Israeli State. Entertainments had been laid on and families from settlements from around the West Bank had converged for a day of music and activities. One of those speaking was Daniella.

Announcer (translation): Please applaud one of the mothers of the settlement movement.

Weiss (translation): Since October 7th until now. I have never stopped, not for a single moment, promoting more and more Evyatars, more and more settlements. Happy holiday!

(cheering and applause)

Theroux (approaches Weiss): How are you?

Weiss: You want to go there?

Theroux: Yeah, it's a bit quieter.

Theroux (voiceover): As the festivities wound down, I had a moment to speak to Daniella on a hilltop overlooking the Palestinian town of Beita.

Theroux: So you've been talking about settling, you've talked about displacing, wanting the Palestinians to go, you said, to Africa, to Canada, to England, you don't care where.

Weiss: Turkey.

Theroux: Mm-hm. What would be wrong with either a two-state solution or a one-state solution where everyone had the same rights?

Weiss: We want to have a Jewish state based on Jewish rules, on Jewish values. It's not a relationship of neighbours.

Theroux: Why not?

Weiss: Because we are two different nations. Different.

Theroux: I just wonder whether you feel, or you're aware that, um... you know, they're really suffering. And there's been settlers rampaging through the area of the West Bank, so there's all this...

Weiss: Agitation.

Theroux: ...death. Tragedy. Right?

Weiss: Tragedy.

Theroux: When a people is invaded, right? And then put under a military occupation, deprived of their rights, that anger seems to be an understandable response, an appropriate response.

Weiss: There is no such thing as settler violence.

Did I speak... I don't know if... I don't mind saying it again.

Theroux: Mm-hm.

Weiss: And I don't mind... I will be glad to explain.

Theroux: You don't believe it's real? There are videos. You can see them.

Weiss: You see what? OK. Let's say...

Theroux: Mm-hm.

Weiss: ...we have a camera here.

Theroux: Yes.

Weiss: And I do this. (steps toward Theroux, delivers a solid two-handed shove to the chest)

Theroux: (steps backward to regain balance, grins) Yeah.

Weiss: Do something. You don't mind what I did to you? You don't...

Theroux: Well, I won't do that to you.

Weiss: You won't do that.

Theroux: No.

Weiss: And then the camera takes just part.

Theroux: Mm-hm.

Weiss: You don't have the full picture. Then I say you're violent! You're violent against a woman. This is exactly what is going on all the time with what you call, er...

Theroux: Settler violence.

Weiss: Settler violence. Settlers do not wake up in the morning, or do not go and wait for sundown to attack. No, no, no, no. (heatedly) Why should we wake up in the morning and think about violence? Why? Our life is good!

Theroux: Because you want the Palestinians to leave.

Weiss: No! No, no, no!

Theroux: You've said so.

Weiss: I said that what is on my mind all the time... is how to bring more people to settle the land. (points) This is a new development by Jews. This is Yitzhar, this we can... Here we can develop. Here we cannot develop. I never think in terms of... I know this is Beita.

Theroux: Mm-hm.

Weiss: I don't think in... I don't think about Beita.

Theroux: Why not?

Weiss: Because I think about... I am a Jew.

Theroux: They're people.

Weiss: I'm a settler.

Theroux: They're people.

Weiss: I'm a human being.

Theroux: Yes you are. And so are they.

Weiss: So I do not think about this.

Theroux: You're thinking about tribalism. Thinking of your own people to the exclusion... It would be understandable to think of your own people or your own children first. But to think about other people, other children not at all? That seems sociopathic.

Weiss: (chuckles) I can, uh...

Theroux: Doesn't it?

Weiss: No, not at all. This is normal. To my children, I give everything, because I... The normal thing, normal thing for me, is to pray for my own people. That's it. So now I continue. (grinning under lowered eyebrows) I hoped you'd push me back. (departs)

Haunt her dreams, Louis.
posted by flabdablet at 2:59 AM on April 29 [4 favorites]

Hat tip to the writers for naming the supremacist Weiss.
posted by flabdablet at 10:56 PM on April 29 [2 favorites]

I am undecided on whether to actually watch The Settlers. I recently went to go see The Encampments, and what I was not prepared for was the inclusion of the audio of Hind Rajab's last moments. That was just brutal. Everything seems so much worse than last year, and things are accelerating so much, that it's difficult to see a way out for Palestinians.

In liberal CA, Dems are pushing for an "educational gag order" on Palestine lessons for ethnic studies over concerns of antisemitism.

In the US Congress, GOP altered the antisemitism bill that is based on the IHRA definition to include a "Jews killed Jesus" exception. Because "religious liberty".

Anyway, Israel is now launching strikes in Syria, supposedly to "protect the Druze community".
posted by toastyk at 8:12 AM on April 30 [6 favorites]

I am undecided on whether to actually watch The Settlers.

It's Louis Theroux, so if you can stomach the spectacle of a BBC big dog reacting to unmitigated monstrousness by looking vaguely pained and disapproving, go right ahead.
posted by flabdablet at 6:32 PM on April 30 [2 favorites]

Israel appears to have struck a humanitarian aid ship bound for Gaza off the coast of Malta in international waters in a drone attack, according to activists.

There's a NYMag profile out on John Fetterman ungated, and his apparent declining mental state - of note - the way anti-Palestinian racism is so explicit without anyone, including the journalist, bothering to condemn it: ※You can＊t reform a carton of sour milk,§ Fetterman told Ben-Ami, according to notes from the meeting, referring to the Palestinians. Fetterman said he did not believe in a two-state solution and claimed he had never met an Arab person who would condemn Hamas. ※Correction,§ the notes from the meeting stated. ※Only a single Arab he has met with that staff was present for wouldn＊t outright condemn Hamas.§
Fetterman went on to make statements that shocked people. In opposing a cease-fire, he said, ※Let＊s get back to killing.§ A person who heard the conversation told me, ※He said, ＆Kill them all.＊§ In a statement, Fetterman denied the account, adding, ※Any reference to killing was solely about Hamas, and I do support the destruction of that organization, down to its last member.§

The wildfires in Israel are starting to come under control, after Israel received assistance from seven other countries.
posted by toastyk at 8:36 AM on May 2 [7 favorites]

Europe should have let it burn.
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:14 AM on May 2 [3 favorites]

(Remember that a big chunk of Israel is a tinderbox because of settlers planting European trees to erase Bedouin and Palestinian communities. Most of the trees are Aleppo pines; they're very resinous. They destroyed Palestine's biodiversity on purpose, trying to erase the land's memory, and now they're crying about the results.)
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:26 AM on May 2 [5 favorites]

Israel appears to have struck a humanitarian aid ship bound for Gaza off the coast of Malta in international waters

same as it ever was
posted by flabdablet at 6:28 PM on May 2 [3 favorites]

The House is set to vote on HR 867 on Monday, which would impose harsh penalties, including fines/jail on Americans who boycott Israel/settlements.

Also as if people are not suffering enough, now armed gangs are looting food warehouses, and Israeli drones are targeting police and volunteers trying to stop them according to DropSiteNews.
posted by toastyk at 7:35 PM on May 2 [5 favorites]

HR 867 has been pulled from this week's House schedule, after vocal opposition from House Rep Marjorie Taylor Green and Thomas Massie, both Republicans. Opposition was also supported by Matt Gaetz.

Meanwhile liberal journalists are asking pro-Palestinian activists if they have any regrets since Trump's in power now.

USF divests from defense companies tied to Israel after pressure from students.

Do you guys remember Mike Waltz, the guy who leaked bombing plans to the Atlantic? Anyway he's now an ambassador and no longer in the national security gig, supposedly because he was trying to go behind Trump's back on Israel and Iran. So I guess he wasn't actually using Signal, but rather an Israeli version called TeleMessage that is sold to the US govt with archiving features - and anyway, this got hacked. Interesting times we're living in these days.

Meanwhile, the Houthis are working on imposing a "comprehensive air blockade" by targeting Israel's airports, after a missile fired by them evaded the country's missile defense system and struck Ben-Gurion airport. Predictably, Netanyahu said he will respond to the Houthis' "Iranian masters" after the attack.
posted by toastyk at 9:56 PM on May 4 [5 favorites]

a children's clinic Popemobile and its staff blown up by an IDF attack is going to be a hell of a thing

maybe that's part of his point

Vatican News: Pope Francis requests that his popemobile be turned into a health clinic for the children of Gaza

In photos released from the project, the vehicle appears to have been carefully adapted to fit the needs of those most in need.

But ※it＊s not just a vehicle,§ Brune said. ※It＊s a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza.§ And it is also an invitation: that the rest of the world remember, too.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:54 PM on May 4 [3 favorites]

Sure, hindsight 20/20 etc
-----
Drop Site News:
Former Obama Advisors On Biden＊s Policy on Gaza

Ben Rhodes and Tommy Vietor, both former senior Obama administration officials co-host the foreign policy podcast Pod Save the World.

Rhodes, who served as Deputy National Security Advisor, states:

※Israel doesn＊t want to end the war ＃ if they were willing to end the war, they would get the hostages out. The idea that they need to continue to fight the war against Hamas in Gaza〞 I＊m sorry there＊s no security need to do it. You＊re just talking about an already traumatized people〞including a lot of injured people〞who are being bombed in tents with no food and medicine.§

Vietor, former National Security Council spokesperson adds:

※What a total f*＊ing disgrace the Biden administration＊s policy on Gaza was＃ Loyalty to Netanyahu blinded him to the carnage, the total immorality of the policy, and US complicity in that policy.§
----

Moral spines can be so inflatable and time-gated huh. Now can say all this. Protestors and regular people (edit: and ppl who weren't just talking out of their behinds) get verbally abused, dismissed as idealistic kooks, by peers who can't help themselves but normalise American foreign policy in whichever direction (eg look at how much Canadian pushback needed to occur before liberal Americans were shamed out of just-saying nonsense about the 51st state), but now, oh, now all sorts of saltiness can be public. Like the mechanisms of government flips completely every general election.
posted by cendawanita at 3:15 AM on May 5 [4 favorites]

DropSiteNews has an on-the-record interview with senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan - it is pretty long, but here are some tidbits:

Osama Hamdan: Well, we have said that we are ready for any option which can give the Palestinian people the chance to start the reconstruction of Gaza. We have talked to Abu Mazen [the nickname of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] about forming a national unity government. We have talked about a technocratic government. And then there was a suggestion from the Egyptian side to have a committee of leaders, independent leaders, from Gaza, to take control in Gaza for a while and then we can go to general elections. We've said yes, because if they were nationalist and they are working for Gaza＊s benefit and the people＊s, why not have them? It's OK.

We've said clearly, we are a people under occupation. We are not fighting just because we like to fight or it's a good idea to fight others. We are not fighting the Israelis because, for example, they are Jewish people. We don't have a problem with the Jewish people. In fact, when they were deported from Europe, they came to our lands and they have lived among the Arabs and the Muslims as respected humans with their religion as Jewish people. The problem is that they are occupying the land now. They turned from being people with a specific religion, which is respected by the Muslims, they turned to be occupiers and they are using their religion to legitimize that occupation, which is not accepted. Even if a Muslim came to occupy my land, I will fight him. It is not related to the religion. It is related to being an occupier or not an occupier.

I believe one of the reasons why the Israelis have assassinated some of the Palestinian leaders was because they have the chance to talk directly to the United States. They want to prevent any kind of contact between the Palestinian resistance and the United States administration because they have a narrative that those are terrorists. But when they talk to the administration, the administration discovered that they are freedom fighters and they have a political narrative and they have a political stand, and they are seeking to have a political solution. This is what the Israelis are trying to prevent, and this is what, I believe, the United States administration and the congressmen, they have to understand and they have to go to work according to that.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces attack Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria in one day, killing 54, and Netanyahu declares a new ground offensive in Gaza.

NGO accuses Malta of impeding access to the Freedom Flotilla which was attacked recently.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel drops all charges against pro-Palestinian protesters at University of Michigan, saying that "the case has become a lightning rod of contention". Nessel was asked to recuse herself from the case and accused of bias against Arab students.

Israeli soldiers filmed themselves blowing up a building in Gaza, laughing about a "gender reveal".
posted by toastyk at 5:24 PM on May 5 [8 favorites]

Many sources are reporting that Israel has decided on plans to occupy large parts of Gaza indefinitely and displace the inhabitants thereof.

From the BBC's version of the story:

Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to expand its military offensive against Hamas which includes the "capture" of Gaza and the holding of its territory, according to an Israeli official.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet had decided on a "forceful operation" to destroy Hamas and rescue its remaining hostages, and that Gaza's 2.1 million population "will be moved, to protect it".

He did not say how much territory would be seized by troops, but he stressed that "they will not enter and come out".

posted by Nerd of the North at 12:04 AM on May 6 [4 favorites]

The Financial Times condemns the west's "shameful silence on Gaza" - Each new offensive makes it harder not to suspect that the ultimate goal of Netanyahu＊s far-right coalition is to ensure Gaza is uninhabitable and drive Palestinians from their land. For two months, Israel has blocked delivery of all aid into the strip. Child malnutrition rates are rising, the few functioning hospitals are running out of medicine, and warnings of starvation and disease are growing louder.

Yet the US and European countries that tout Israel as an ally that shares their values have issued barely a word of condemnation. They should be ashamed of their silence, and stop enabling Netanyahu to act with impunity.

A second US Navy jet is lost at sea in the Red Sea.

Trump says US to stop strikes on Houthis in Yemen. Later Tuesday when asked what would happen if the Houthis continued attacking Israel, Trump replied, ※I＊ll discuss that if something happens ＃ with Israel and the Houthis.§

Trump is going to have the US call the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf.

CSU students are launching a hunger strike for Gaza.

Bisan Owda's last message and today's update.
posted by toastyk at 10:21 PM on May 6 [7 favorites]

Re: my take earlier, weeks ago:

Rare Right-Wing Revolt Sinks Bill Punishing Boycotts Of Israel

And of course the news about Yemen, which just got posted. BBC headline: Trump says US to stop attacking Houthis in Yemen as group has 'capitulated'

Read that against this begpost: Israel lobbying Trump to visit during Middle East trip. You mean it's not already pencilled in?

Now let's observe the leash tightening. The matter of which flavour of institutional/endemic antisemitism is allowed against the continued abjection of Palestine is now having a public moment.
posted by cendawanita at 10:25 PM on May 6 [4 favorites]

Reuters: Exclusive: US, Israel discuss possible US-led administration for Gaza, sources say:

The United States and Israel have discussed the possibility of Washington leading a temporary post-war administration of Gaza, according to five people familiar with the matter.

The "high-level" consultations have centered around a transitional government headed by a U.S. official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarized and stabilized, and a viable Palestinian administration had emerged, the sources said.

According to the discussions, which remain preliminary, there would be no fixed timeline for how long such a U.S.-led administration would last, which would depend on the situation on the ground, the five sources said.

So the US will go from complicity to active participation in the genocide. It also means that the Trump regime can reframe opposition to the genocide as opposition to the US government itself.
posted by jedicus at 11:49 AM on May 7 [2 favorites]

Hmm, Trump getting annoyed with the Israelis on hostage negotiations and may broker a regional Saudi deal without their participation.

World Central Kitchen forced to halt cooking in Gaza as supplies run out.

PCRF says they're still delivering clean drinking water in areas of Gaza.
posted by toastyk at 3:02 PM on May 7 [5 favorites]

Wonder how this new PR initiative is going to work out for them: ungated - Israel's Diaspora Ministry announced on Wednesday that it is launching a new global public relations initiative to "bolster the legitimization of settlements" in the international arena.
The project includes bringing delegations of governmental figures, journalists and influencers from Europe, the United States and Latin America to tour settlements and meet residents, as well as sending delegations abroad.

Israeli attacks kill more than 60 people in Gaza.
posted by toastyk at 5:08 PM on May 7 [5 favorites]

Pretty decent summary/sum-up of the handwringing going around in Israel right now:

Drop Site News:

NEW: Trump May Announce Gaza Deal With Minimal Israeli Input, Says Israeli Report

A new report from Israel Hayom says U.S. President Donald Trump may unveil a sweeping Gaza agreement by the end of this week〞one developed with deep American involvement but only partial Israeli participation. The deal is said to include provisions for ending the war, rebuilding Gaza, and redefining control of the Strip〞potentially over Israel＊s objections.

? Comprehensive Framework: According to Arab and U.S. diplomatic sources cited by Israel Hayom, the Trump administration is preparing to announce a full plan to end the war in Gaza. The deal would include long-term reconstruction and governance arrangements, with the U.S. playing a central role.

? Phased Implementation: The initial phase would involve the U.S. helping manage aid distribution via the Israeli-built supply centers. Later stages would include U.S. and Arab oversight of Gaza＊s reconstruction. The plan envisions an eventual Israeli military withdrawal〞alongside a partial disarmament process by Hamas fighters.

? Resistance From Hamas: One obstacle, the article cites is still Hamas＊s military wing, which refuses to disarm or leave Gaza. Egypt and the Palestinian Authority are pressuring Hamas to agree, amid fears that Israel may launch a new major assault after Trump＊s Gulf visit. Senior Hamas leaders were reportedly summoned urgently to Cairo to finalize terms before Trump＊s expected announcement. Hamas or its leaders have not issued a statement indicating as such.

? Key Concessions Under Consideration: The deal may allow Hamas leadership to remain involved in Gaza＊s future civil governance and possibly grant immunity from assassination. Another option reportedly being weighed is incorporating Hamas＊s internal security forces into a broader Palestinian policing framework.

? Israel May Be Sidelined: Israel Hayom reports that Israel is not fully involved in shaping the plan〞and may be presented with the deal as a fait accompli. The report suggests Prime Minister Netanyahu will be forced to either accept the terms or face a severe coalition crisis.

? MK Amit Halevi, a Netanyahu ally, harshly criticized Trump on Telegram, accusing him of excluding Israel from recent deals, including the U.S. ceasefire with Yemen＊s Ansar Allah movement. Halevi warned that Israel is being cast as a sacrificial lamb in Trump＊s broader regional strategy.

? Strategic Concerns: Israeli officials are increasingly alarmed that the U.S. is shifting toward unilateral diplomacy〞pursuing agreements with Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Hamas without fully incorporating Israeli interests. One unnamed Israeli official cited by the paper worried aloud, ※In the coming reconciliation with all the players ahead of Trump＊s visit, we may find ourselves in the role of the lamb〞and the smell of the grill is already in the air.§

? American officials cited in the article attempted to downplay the tensions, saying that while disagreements exist, the overall relationship remains strong. ※We always check whether Israel might be harmed,§ one official said. However, the U.S. also emphasized it has its own strategic interests beyond Israel＊s concerns.

? Netanyahu＊s Office Silent: The Prime Minister＊s Office declined to comment formally on the report. Israeli officials are reportedly maintaining quiet contact with pro-Israel figures in the U.S. administration.

Source: Israel Hayom
posted by cendawanita at 9:03 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]

All I ask from any higher power listening, is that may the prayers of the Palestinians be answered.
posted by cendawanita at 9:08 PM on May 8 [3 favorites]

Fyi there＊s a new thread you might want to post it there.

Warning for the circular infighting over US politics per usual.
posted by toastyk at 9:08 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]

That's like a bat-signal....
posted by cendawanita at 9:18 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]