#idf 2019

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

The reminder I did not need...🙈🙈🙈😥

Glad IdF 2019 has been 4 years ago and that great things happened afterwards to Shoma...otherwise I would be crying again really hard over Jun facing a similar fate in Skate Canada 2023...

I can't with great skaters looking so disappointed and defeated 😭😭😭

Shoma may have flopped even harder and emotionally that was too much to bear. With Jun I was kind of too stunned to have emotions right there. Yet I am so sad for Jun 💔😥😢

Shoma did well afterwards, so hopefully Jun can recover just as good 🙏

I have an emotional trauma from IdF 2019 I really don't need reminders😭😭😭

But in a way Jun's skate at SkCan also proves that my emotional trauma has gotten better as I am not sobbing for 3 hours straight....😅

#shoma uno #personal #Am i making jun's fate about shoma? Uhm yes...sorry 🙈 #you just don't know what emotinal trauma that comp is #figure skating #idf 2019 #skate canada 2023

[probablyasocialecologist]

The IDF uses extensive facial recognition with a growing network of cameras and mobile phones to document every Palestinian in the West Bank. Starting in 2019, Israeli soldiers used the Blue Wolf app to capture Palestinian faces, which were then compared to a massive database of images dubbed the “Facebook for Palestinians.” Soldiers were told to compete by taking the most photos of Palestinians and the most prolific would win prizes. The system is most extreme in the city of Hebron, where facial recognition and numerous cameras are used to monitor Palestinians, including at times in their homes, instead of the extreme Jewish settlers living there, who routinely express genocidal threats against the Palestinians. The IDF claimed that the program was designed to “improve the quality of life for the Palestinian population.”

Antony Loewenstein, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World

#israel #idf #surveillance #The Palestine Laboratory

[ahaura]

some quick resources with vital information and context about or related to Palestine (compiled Oct. 15)

[Video] Why Israel Deliberately Targets Civilians

[Thread] Zachary Foster, a Ph.d historian of Palestine, posted about the real history of Hamas

[Video] Double Down News covering the myth of "self defense"

[Video] Mohammed El-Kurd on 75 years of violence and oppression

[Thread] Abby Martin debunks the "human shield" excuse used by Israel to bomb civilians

[Video] Mohammed El-Kurd on media literacy, "DO NOT BE COMPLICIT IN GENOCIDE"

[Article] "Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed." - Raz Segal, associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, in @JewishCurrents.

[Video] Mohammed El-Kurd on ABCNews

[Tweet] Reminder that just a few months ago Netanyahu brought a map to the UN of the “New Middle East” that effectively showed Israel annexing all of Palestine.

[Video] Michael Brooks breaking down how the situation with Palestine and Israel is "not complex"

[Video] Paul Murphy, Irish Parliment Member for People Before Profit, on Israel and Gaza

[Statistics] The Human Cost of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

[Video] Husam Zomlot: “It’s the Palestinians that are always expected to condemn themselves.”

[Map] An interactive map that details the history of "Conquer and divide", from 1967 onwards, via B'Tselem.

[Documentary] The Actions of Settlers in Hebron (Tel Rumeida)

[Video] Former CIA admit to lying about atrocities committed by Cubans. They admit they didn't know of a single atrocity done by the Cubans. "It was pure raw false propaganda to create an illusion of communists eating babies for breakfast."

[Documentary] Gaza Fights For Freedom (covers the IDF assassinating and maiming Palestinians in the peaceful March for Return in 2019)

[Video] Ghassan Kanafani’s famous interview

[Documentary] How Palestinians were expelled from their homes

#palestine #geopol #📁.zip

[jewish-sideblog]

Clearly, y'all don't care about Jews, and the fact that Hamas is violently antisemitic doesn't seem matter to any of you. So let me go with a new approach, of equal truth and value. Hamas is violently anti-Palestinian.

This past week, Hamas attacked evacuation routes and prevented Gazan citizens from fleeing an active warzone. [1]

They did that because they routinely use Gazan civilians as human shields. Hamas intentionally builds military targets close to schools, hospitals, and mosques, putting soft targets in the way of both incoming and outgoing fire. Hamas encourages Gazan civilians and children to stand on the roofs of buildings they know the IDF is targeting. [2]

Hamas has refused to allow elections in Gaza since 2006. Not just Palestinian National Authority elections, mind you. No open elections for any office have been held in seventeen years. Palestinian rights to free elections and self-determination have been denied by Hamas. [3] (And good luck to anyone who tries to blame that on Israel, because elections were held by the PNA in the West Bank in 2012, 2017, 2021 and 2022. It's Hamas's intention alone to purge democracy.)

Hamas's track record on human rights is appalling. Palestinian prisoners in Gaza face unfair trials and death sentences after being tortured by police. Palestinian women are prevented from accessing the legal systems to escape domestic abuse situations. Political dissidents in Hamas, even ones who merely support the other half of the Palestinian government, have been summarily executed. [4] [5]

Peaceful organizers in Palestine protested Hamas's massive tax hikes in 2019. Hamas security forces responded by assaulting demonstrators, tracking them down, raiding their homes, and detaining them. And, as previously mentioned, prisoners in Gaza are not treated well by Hamas. [6]

Edit Nov.5, 10:30 PM: I forgot to add arguably the most important thing-- Hamas manipulates the humanitarian aid they receive away from helping Gazans and toward killing Jews. 5% of Hamas's budget actually gets used for humanitarian aid, while 55% goes to military use. Construction equipment intended to rebuild Gaza's crumbling infrastructure is used to build a complex series of underground tunnels. Those tunnels in turn are used to smuggle Iranian military equipment into the country. They were also used for human trafficking in the October 7th attacks. [7]

If you actually want Palestinians to be free, you can't just replace Israel with Hamas. But it's not like they're the only option for supporting Palestinian liberation. While Fatah doesn't have an immaculate historical track record, it now operates as a leftist, democratic socialist, secular Palestinian government that fights for a two-state solution. Similarly, Arab-Israeli political parties like the Hadash-Ta'al coalition support leftist, anti-Zionist, and two-state solutions from within the Israeli parliament.

You can and should support Palestinian liberation movements that abuse neither Jewish nor Arab human rights and dignities. Plenty of them exist out there. But if y'all continue to throw your weight behind an antisemitic and anti-democratic terrorist regime, Palestinians and Jews will both take note of exactly where you stand.

#israel #palestine #antisemitism

[strangesmallbard]

hey so. i’ve seen many people reblogging some variation of “israel spent millions on a superbowl ad to distract everyone from the airstrikes on rafah” and decided to do some fact-checking. the ad was produced by the kraft foundation to stop jewish hate, founded by robert kraft, who owns the patriots. kraft also partnered with dr. clarence b. jones—who advised dr. martin king luther jr and helped him write the i have a dream speech—to create this ad. according to tara levine, the fcas president, this ad was made in response to rising antisemitism on social media platforms, which her team tracks.

here’s a link to the foundation’s about page on their website. their mission statement solely focuses on combatting antisemitism and does not mention i/p or the ongoing war. the ad itself does not mention i/p or the ongoing war. it’s pretty ironic, and yet not surprising, that an ad created to stop antisemitism is currently the eye of the antisemitic storm on social media. if you sincerely believe netanyahu secretly funded this ad campaign to “distract everyone” from the idf’s airstrike attack in rafa, then you have bought into two different antisemitic conspiracy theories: that jews control the media and that diasporic jews have dual loyalty to israel. while political zionists have used accusations of antisemitism to invalidate pro-palestinian efforts, that’s not what’s happening here. all this information is obtainable via google. please learn to fact check yourselves before posting. thanks!

(bonus: here’s a 20-minute video where kraft and dr. jones discuss the civil rights movement, anti-black racism, antisemitism, and the history of solidarity between black and jewish activists during the civil rights movement.)

EDIT 2/23/24:

after publishing this post, i researched robert kraft and fcas' funding source and pro-israel efforts more deeply, then analyzed my findings in a reblog, which you can read here. tl;dr version - in 2019, kraft was given the genesis prize, a $1 million dollar award. the awarding foundation has direct ties to the israeli government. kraft used part of these funds to finance fcas. this additional information does not negate my original post, however; i can't find any conclusive evidence that the israeli government directly funded kraft's superbowl ad. there is also no evidence that kraft is targeting anti-israel sentiment in the ad rather than antisemitism overall. assuming this connection is still evidence of antisemitic conspiratorial thought, as i detail above.

i'm including this information because i believe it's important to acknolwedge wider context. i don't share kraft's politics re: israel and believe his stance compromises his foundation's overall messaging. i also condemn any efforts to silence pro-palestinian efforts with accusations of antisemitism, but that is still not what's happening here. i also want to clarify that i'm only discussing responses i've seen to kraft's ad, not the ads produced by the israeli government. thanks again!

#i/p #antisemitism #yell.txt

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

The IDF has entered the Shifa hospital today in Gaza, and searched it for hostages, but none were found. There was info that they had been held there, so the time the IDF has given the civilians to evacuate, was probably used by the terrorists to move the hostages. A possible scenario is that they were moved to southern Gaza.

Meanwhile, the BBC had to apologize today for "misquoting" Reuters twice. The original report said the IDF entered the hospital with medical teams and Arabic speakers. Instead of reporting this, the BBC said the IDF was targeting these groups:

Here's the original Reuters report that the BBC misquoted. Twice.

Here's an image from a vid showing IDF soldiers bringing medical equipment into the hospital:

Yesterday in Washington DC, a pro-Israel rally drew a crowd of 290,000 people, making it the biggest Jewish rally in modern history, and the biggest pro-Israel one:

I'm sorry I didn't know I can watch it online... Something to add to this is that there's a group of 900 people from Detroit, who flew to Washington DC to participate in the rally, but were stranded in the Dulles airport, because their bus drivers refused to drive them to a pro-Israeli rally.

American congress woman Rashida Tlaib is known to have been a part of a hidden American-Palestinian facebook group since 2017. In 2019, it came to light that the founder of the group has doubted the Holocaust has happened, and a lot of criticism was aimed at Tlaib for her membership in the group, but she didn't leave it. Now, it's been shown that there were posts in this facebook group celebrating Hamas' Oct 7 massacre.

I mentioned peace activist Vivian Silver, whose body was identified yesterday, in this post. A lot of "peace activists" tweeted in mourning today. I haven't seen one who has mentioned that Hamas murdered her. One explicitly said, "We don't know who murdered her," even though there's no doubt that Hamas terrorists murdered her on Oct 7 (she was on the phone with her son until the almost last moments).

As rockets from Gaza continue to be fired at Israel, here's a small reminder that around 1,000 misfired, and killed Palestinians:

This is 37 years old Anton Gurionov.

He was at the Nova music festival on Oct 7. He managed to make it out, and also got his girlfriend out of there. But then he insisted on going back to try and get a good friend out. That's when Hamas terrorists got to him. He had a 6 year old daughter. May his memory be a blessing.

(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

[veganpropaganda]

Excerpts from the article below. It's from 2019 but many of its points are still relevant and crucial:

Make no mistake: Israel is using veganism as a calculated facade to justify its military’s program of terror, gloss over its occupation of Palestine, and appropriate regional culture and traditions that predate Israel by hundreds if not thousands of years.

Far from being a politically neutral “lifestyle,” true veganism is a radical anti-oppression philosophy, and yet one of the most oppressive governments in the world is co-opting veganism for its own gains.

Ahmad Safi, the Executive Director of the Palestinian Animal League, perhaps best encapsulates the IDF’s breathtaking hypocrisy around veganism in his piece “On the ‘IDF’s vegan warriors’: A vegan Palestinian’s perspective.” In describing a BBC special on the “vegan warriors” of the IDF, Safi notes, “I was somewhat baffled by a particular passage in the article, taken from a radio interview which said of one of the vegan soldiers: ‘Her diet is so important to her that had the army not been able to provide conditions that had harmed no living creatures, she might not have enlisted in a combat unit.’ The only way in which I can interpret this is that the soldier in question does not consider Palestinians to be ‘living creatures.’”

An explicitly intersectional, anti-capitalist vegan movement could never provide a coherent justification for human rights abuses, even on a superficial level. In our desire to make veganism more appealing to the masses, however, vegans have sold our politics out. And the wrong people bought them, along with the IDF’s favorite hummus.

Though we are up against powerful industrial and military systems, we can still move towards justice. Rejecting a consumerist vision of veganism, learning about Palestinian cuisine and culture, and joining the Palestinian civil society movement of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) are just a few actions that we can take.

#veganwashing #greenwashing #palestine

[menalez]

Some believed that the Oct. 7 attack only targeted military sites. Others were convinced that all Israeli civilian casualties were the result of mistaken IDF counter-fire or the activation of the “Hannibal Directive,” a portion of the IDF Code of Conduct — which has reportedly been revoked since 2016 — which purportedly allows for Israelis to be targeted in order to prevent their captivity. Oct. 7 denialism was further fueled by some reports that turned out to be false or inaccurate, such as the 40 beheaded babies or first responders finding dead children hung on clotheslines in a row.

Nevertheless, overwhelming video and anecdotal evidence unequivocally and definitively prove the unspeakable scale of the atrocities committed against Israeli civilians, many of whom were in fact leftists and even peace activists.

I never thought that the Palestinian people and their entirely legitimate grievances would be associated with such brutal acts as those that actually took place on Oct. 7. While Hamas militants are a small part of the Palestinian population, their crimes are a shameful stain in the history of Palestinian resistance to Israeli injustices. Someone who is truly of the left cannot in good conscience explain it away.

Along with the stubborn unwillingness by some on the left to acknowledge how horrendous Oct. 7 was, there exists an equally staunch refusal to denounce Hamas as a seriously violent terror group that not only committed a vile atrocity against Israelis, but has exercised authoritarian violence against Gazans for over 17 years.

Herein lies the problem: Hamas has hijacked the resistance narrative and even the Arabic word for resistance (muqawama). Since taking over the Gaza Strip, the group has consistently hidden behind the resistance narrative, thus shielding itself from criticism and absolving itself of its dismal political and economic failures.

Despite nearly two decades of the Israeli blockade that harmed the lives and prospects of ordinary Gazans, Hamas created an environment in which its members, patrons and affiliates were insulated from the blockade’s dire effects. Hamas established a web of businesses and imposed taxes on virtually every financial transaction and exchange, worsening the economic conditions for millions who were living under crushing poverty.

…

In 2017, 2019 and in the summer of 2023, tens of thousands of Gazans protested against their living conditions, the lack of human rights, and the political deadlock between Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. In each of these instances, Hamas responded with overwhelming brutality and force. They jailed, beat and tortured protestors and unleashed its thugs and cyber warriors to bully and harass everyday Gazans.

…

Hamas’s rise to power and entrenched control of Gaza was supported and desired by Netanyahu and his regime of anti-Palestinian extremists. The Islamist group was bolstered in an effort to keep the Palestinians divided and to weaken the PA, preventing the establishment of a Palestinian state. With a weak PA and a militant Hamas, Israel could proclaim the lack of a viable partner to negotiate peace with. Netanyahu is now desperate to prolong the worst war that Palestinians have faced in generations to save his political prospects, putting Hamas and Israel’s dictatorial strongman in an unspoken alliance against the people of Gaza.

Hamas’s intransigence and continued refusal to sacrifice some of its demands to achieve a rapid ceasefire agreement illustrates the group’s callous disregard for the lives of its people. Imagine how much more powerful the pro-Palestine movement would be if its actions and strategies were built upon an anti-Hamas framework that acknowledges Palestinians’ rights to resistance but denounces indiscriminate violence against civilians, the theocratic authoritarianism of Islamist groups like Hamas and the human rights abuses that Gazans themselves experienced under Hamas’ rule. Imagine if the pro-Palestine left understood the vast extent to which Hamas was a useful idiot in the nefarious designs of Netanyahu’s regime.

As Gazans turn against the Islamist group in droves due to the horrendous consequences of its deadly actions, it’s time for the pro-Palestine left to follow suit and abandon Hamas.

not the full article but these are sections i found important.

#palestine #israel #hamas #this was written by a palestinian man btw

[eretzyisrael]

By Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg

Throughout the 17 years since the Hamas takeover, numerous reports have been published and videos posted detailing the growth of the terrorist capabilities inside Gaza. The frequent clashes with the IDF exposed additional information on the terror network and command centers located under and inside civilian locations, such as hospitals, mosques, schools and residential buildings. In the course of the operation that began following the October 7 attack, the IDF and journalists have added to this information, posting numerous pictures and videos showing the links between the aid operations and Hamas installations.

UNRWA is the largest aid framework operating in Gaza. It employs 30,000 staffers, mainly Palestinians, as well as about 200 international staff members, many based in Gaza or periodic visitors. It strains credulity to claim that the heads of the organization were unaware of the Hamas activities under and in the immediate proximity of their facilities and residences. In fact, evidence indicates that UNRWA international officials maintained a code of silence and cooperation with Hamas and associated terror groups, including promoting their propaganda and incitement and training of children for terror. Many UNRWA teachers have participated in antisemitic social media platforms, as documented repeatedly by UN Watch and other watchdogs. (On UNRWA corruption, see “UN Aid Chief Quits Amid Probe Into Palestinian Refugee Program.”) In May 2021, following the 11-day conflict, the top UNRWA international staffer in Gaza was forced to resign after acknowledging that the IDF counterterror strikes had been “precise” and “sophisticated.” The logical assumption, to be examined in this documentation process and evaluation, is that other UNRWA officials would have had similar information.

In addition to UNRWA, at least 12 other UN agencies are active in Gaza, including UN-OCHA (the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization. A preliminary review of the history indicates that the officials and employees of these organizations also followed a policy of silence, and in some cases, directly cooperated with Hamas.

Similarly, UNICEF maintained direct and open cooperation with terror-linked NGOs, such as Defense for Children in Palestine (DCIP). UNICEF also provided medical services during the Hamas-organized violent confrontations along the border with Israel under the facade of the “Great March of Return” (2018-2019), which served as rehearsals for the October 7 massacre. In addition, UNICEF’s disregard for Israeli children targeted in missile attacks from Gaza, including those who were murdered, is another important part of the record.

The same questions and issues apply to documenting the terror-enabling activities of diplomats and officials from government aid organizations. The EU is the largest single financial supporter and aid donor to the Palestinians, and therefore likely to have been a major source of materials diverted to terror. In this context, it should be noted that the European Union’s Head of Delegation (ambassador) to the West Bank and Gaza, Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff (2019-2023), met with officials of NGOs linked to terror organizations (see below), and in February 2022, participated in an EU-funded workshop “focused on the strategies and mechanisms needed to combat counter-terrorism policies, regulations, and policies (sic).” In July 2023, von Burgsdorff smuggled a paraglider into Gaza and demonstrated its use, declaring, “Once you have a free Palestine, a free Gaza, you can do exactly the same thing.” Three months later, the Hamas attack involved terrorists using paragliders.

The third category concerns leaders and employees of NGOs that operated in Gaza. NGO Monitor has compiled a list, based on UN financial information, of 70 NGOs that were active in recent years, and the total is likely to be higher. The largest, as measured by budgets and extent of involvement, include the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), CARE International, Catholic Relief Services, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and Islamic Relief. Many major donor countries, including the US, maintain a list of “trusted partners” whose activities and personnel are exempt from detailed oversight and review.

#hamas #gaza #war crimes #enablers of war crimes #unrwa #unicef #eu #aid to the palestinians

[girlactionfigure]

*ISRAEL REALTIME* - "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

▪️GAZA - IDF ATTACKING RAFAH.. the most southern city of Gaza, and the one that connects Gaza to Egypt - both via entry port and likely smuggling tunnels, and the last Hamas stronghold.  Multiple reports of IDF airstrikes into Rafah this morning.

▪️HOSTAGE PROTEST IN FRONT OF IDF HQ.. Hostage families and activists for their release blocked Begin Road in front of the Kirya base in Tel Aviv (across from Arielli) last night in protest against the “poison campaign” that they say is being waged against the families and demanding a deal that would lead to the release of their relatives.

▪️DEFENSE MINISTER ON LEBANON.. "We are pushing the enemy. The military operation gives Hezbollah an understanding that it is better for it to choose the political path, and at the same time proves our military capabilities." 

▪️SYRIA - OVERNIGHT ATTACKS ON HOMS.. airstrikes, though local channels report civilian deaths from failed air defense missiles rather than the attack.  Sources associated with the regime list 4 sites that were attacked:  Elkzir area (Kosair) southwest of Homs- civilian casualties from air defenses, Havat Aloer and the eastern area of Tadmor Square, Hamra Street in the city of Homs, a building collapsed, and in the area of the municipal stadium - civilian casualties from air defenses, the Alauras area in Homs.  While likely Israel, the IDF does NOT confirm attacks in Syria.

▪️US HOUSE REJECTS ISRAEL AID DUE TO INTERNAL POLITICS..  The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a Republican-led bill on Tuesday that would provide $17.6 billion to Israel, as Democrats said they wanted a vote instead on a broader measure that would also provide assistance to Ukraine, international humanitarian funding and new money for border security.  The vote was 250 to 180, falling short because it was introduced under an expedited procedure requiring a two-thirds majority for passage.  The against was mostly Democrats.

▪️US PRESSURE… A senior American administration official told NBC: The Biden administration is exploring various options, including recognition of a Palestinian state, which would give legal and symbolic status to the Palestinians and add international pressure on Israel to take part in meaningful negotiations that would lead to sustainable peace. (( First, as always where is the pressure on Hamas or the Palestinian Authority for “meaningful negotiations”?  Second, this is a classic “we’re not doing that, but some anonymous official is saying we might - to create pressure” tactic. Third, we will not suicide because defending ourselves doesn’t meet your expectations. ))

▪️IRAN FUNDING HAMAS.. IDF captures documentation showing direct funding from Iran, in years 2014, 2015, 2019, and 2020, Hamas leader Sinwar received $15 million, $48 million, $42 million, and $12 million, respectively. 

▪️HOUTHI SHIPPING ATTACKS.. US Central Command: “Yesterday the Houthis launched 6 missiles at two merchant ships - one Greek and one British. 3 missiles were launched at the Greek ship, one exploded near the ship and caused minor damage. One was intercepted by the destroyer USS Laboon and one fell in the water. 3 missiles that were launched at the British ship - they all missed.

▪️US/UK ATTACKS ON YEMEN.. Arab sources reported a British-American attack overnight in the Hudaydah area of Yemen.

▪️IDF announces grants and tax reductions for disabled IDF veterans, according to the percentage of disability (in Israel you get a disability rating of 19-100%, and disability support is based on the percentage.)

#Israel #October 7 #Hamas Massacre #Israel/Hamas War #Realtime Updates

[myjunkisyuzuruhanyu]

New "Everyday Shoma Vol. 2" will be released on 26th August 2022

#shoma uno #figure skating #fs merchandise #they really had to include idf 2019 footage...😭😭😭 #A must have for any shoma fan

[thelostdreamsthings]

History of the neo-Nazi Azov Batallion in Ukraine:

🟦 Founded in 2014 after Maidan Coup where neo-Nazis played a key role.

🟦 Armed/trained by US/NATO

🟦 It was a rebranding of Nazism-loving paramilitary group called “Patriots of Ukraine.”

🟦 Its first commander was Andriy Biletsky, the co-founder of Social-National Assembly (just flipping Hitler’s National Social Party)

🟦 Azov’s logo is full of Nazi-era symbols, sometimes using mirror images.

Andriy Biletsky was rewarded a seat in the Ukrainian parliament from 2014-2019.

He also once said in an interview that Ukraine should "lead the White races of the world in a final crusade."

Interestingly, Azov and other neo-Nazi militias were funded by Jewish oligarch Igor Kolomoisky. And, of course, Zelensky is also a Jew.

Politics makes strange bedfellows!

Ukranian fighters fighting for IDF where the pay is better and less chances to get hit by artillery. Two states that believe in their superiority to all else have a lot in common.

Same war, different front.

I don’t think these new Ukraine badges will help getting money through the House

#israel #palestine #ukranian #free palestine #ukraine russia war

[tomorrowusa]

Until this month, Bibi Netanyahu was a HŪGE fanboy of Hamas. Their relationship goes back decades. This is not some wacko conspiracy theory. Much of the information about this comes from mainstream Israeli media and high ranking Israeli former officials.

Here are excerpts from an in-depth article at the CBC – Canada's public broadcaster.

Israelis don't agree on much, especially lately, but polling shows they mostly agree that Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is to blame for leaving Israel unprepared for Hamas's onslaught on October 7. The accusations aimed at Netanyahu go beyond merely failing to foresee or prevent the Hamas attack of October 7, however. Many accuse him of deliberately empowering the group for decades as part of a strategy to sabotage a two-state solution based on the principle of land for peace. "There's been a lot of criticism of Netanyahu in Israel for instating a policy for many years of strengthening Hamas and keeping Gaza on the brink while weakening the Palestinian Authority," said Mairav Zonszein of the International Crisis Group. "And we've seen that happening very clearly on the ground." "(Hamas and Netanyahu) are mutually reinforcing, in the sense that they provide each other with a way to continue to use force and rejectionism as opposed to making sacrifices and compromises in order to reach some kind of resolution," Zonszein told CBC News from Tel Aviv.

Bibi and Hamas could be called "frenemies".

Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in 2013 that "if we look at it over the years, one of the main people contributing to Hamas's strengthening has been Bibi Netanyahu, since his first term as prime minister." In August 2019, former prime minister Ehud Barak told Israeli Army Radio that Netanyahu's "strategy is to keep Hamas alive and kicking … even at the price of abandoning the citizens [of the south] … in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah." The logic underlying this strategy, Barak said, is that "it's easier with Hamas to explain to Israelis that there is no one to sit with and no one to talk to."

The Bibi-Hamas relationship goes back almost 30 years. In some ways, Hamas helped put Bibi in power in the first place.

Netanyahu first came to power in the 1996 election that followed the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli extremist opposed to the Oslo Accords. Early polls showed Rabin's successor Shimon Peres comfortably ahead. Determined to sabotage Oslo, Hamas embarked on a ruthless suicide bombing campaign that helped Netanyahu pull ahead of Peres and win the election on May 29, 1996. Today, some of the same extremists who called for Rabin's death hold power in Netanyahu's government.

A reminder that the current Israeli government led by Netanyahu is the most far right in Israel's history. Netanyahu filled it with extremists, religious fanatics, and virulent ethno-nationalists in order to stay in power.

Just two weeks before Rabin's assassination, a young settler extremist posed for the cameras with a Cadillac hood ornament he said he had stolen from Rabin's car. "Just like we got to this emblem," he said, "we could get to Rabin." Today, that young man, Itamar Ben Gvir, is 45 years old and has eight Israeli criminal convictions — including convictions for supporting a terrorist organization and incitement to racism. Once he was rejected by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for his extremist views. Now, Israel's police must answer to him as Benjamin Netanyahu's minister of national security.

Imagine how a second Trump administration would be and you get a hint of what Bibi's pre-October 7th cabinet was like.

The Bibi-Hamas connection only gets worse.

Netanyahu's hawkish defence minister Avigdor Liberman was the first to report in 2020 that Bibi had dispatched Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and the IDF's officer in charge of Gaza, Herzi Halevi, to Doha to "beg" the Qataris to continue to send money to Hamas. "Both Egypt and Qatar are angry with Hamas and planned to cut ties with them. Suddenly Netanyahu appears as the defender of Hamas," the right-wing leader complained. A year later, Netanyahu was further embarrassed when photos of suitcases full of cash going to Hamas became public. Liberman finally resigned in protest over Netanyahu's Hamas policy which, he said, marked "the first time Israel is funding terrorism against itself."

Yep, Bibi actually had a bag man deliver cash to Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority's Ahmed Majdalani accused the Qatari envoy of carrying money to Hamas "like a gangster." "The PLO did not agree to the deal facilitating the money to Hamas that way," he said.

Netanyahu fancies himself as a clever Machiavellian playing one side against the other. He has even bragged of this to members of his party.

On March 12, 2019, Netanyahu defended the Hamas payments to his Likud Party caucus on the grounds that they weakened the pro-Oslo Palestinian Authority, according to the Jerusalem Post: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel's regular allowing of Qatari funds to be transferred into Gaza, saying it is part of a broader strategy to keep Hamas and the Palestinian Authority separate, a source in Monday's Likud faction meeting said," the Post reported. "The prime minister also said that 'whoever is against a Palestinian state should be for' transferring the funds to Gaza, because maintaining a separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Of course Bibi was ultimately being too clever by half.

Netanyahu insisted that neither the money nor the construction material given to Hamas would be diverted to military purposes. But today, the IDF finds itself showing how Hamas has done exactly that — by diverting and converting civilian funds and materials to warlike purposes. The military tried to warn him at the time, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot told the Ma'ariv newspaper. He said Netanyahu acted "in total opposition to the national assessment of the National Security Council, which determined that there was a need to disconnect from the Palestinians and establish two states."

A lot of radical chic Hamas fans in Western countries will undoubtedly try to obscure the fact that they are cheering the same group which a far right Israeli politician (until recently) has been lavishing with tons of cash.

And the Bibi-Hamas connection is a reminder that while far right politicians in many countries like to portray themselves as tough on security, they will usually put their craven lust for power above all.

#israel #hamas #gaza #binyamin netanyahu #the far right #bibi loves hamas #october 7th terror attack #oslo agreement #palestinian authority #the west bank #palestine #two-state solution #likud party #itamar ben-gvir #ישראל #הליכוד #בנימין נתניהו #איתמר בן גביר #غزة #السلطة الفلسطينية #حماس #حل الدولتين

[heavenlyyshecomes]

The IDF uses extensive facial recognition with a growing network of cameras and mobile phones to document every Palestinian in the West Bank. Starting in 2019, Israeli soldiers used the Blue Wolf app to capture Palestinian faces, which were then compared to a massive database of images dubbed the “Facebook for Palestinians.” Soldiers were told to compete by taking the most photos of Palestinians and the most prolific would win prizes. The system is most extreme in the city of Hebron, where facial recognition and numerous cameras are used to monitor Palestinians, including at times in their homes, instead of the extreme Jewish settlers living there, who routinely express genocidal threats against the Palestinians. The IDF claimed that the program was designed to “improve the quality of life for the Palestinian population.” […] Blue Wolf was a smaller version of the Wolf Pack database, which contained the personal details of virtually every Palestinian in the West Bank, including educational status, photos, security level, and family history. Soldiers in the West Bank were instructed in 2022 to enter the details and photos of at least fifty Palestinians into the Blue Wolf system every shift and were not allowed to end their shift until they did so. There was no security rationale for these actions. This is a similar set-up to what China does against the Uighurs in its Xinjiang province, using surveillance and technology to both track and intimidate the residents, though Beijing receives far more international condemnation than the Jewish state.

—Antony Loewenstein, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World

#antony loewenstein #the palestine laboratory #palestine #Israel #surveillance state #tech #words #2024 reads #mine #dear god..

[sophia-zofia]

33,000 wounded, with nowhere to go The number of wounded in #Gaza is higher than the number killed. But Gaza’s dead comprise a staggeringly high proportion of casualties when measured against closely comparable casualty data. Latest figures from Gaza are 14,128 killed and 33,000 wounded—a ratio of around 1 to 2.3. However in earlier IDF attacks on Gaza the ratio has ranged between 1 to 4.6 and 1 to 6.  This means that the dead now form a 2 to 3 times greater proportion of Gaza’s casualties than they did in earlier Israeli attacks. Why? Before coming to the most obvious cause—the destruction of Gaza’s health and emergency services—one key factor is that children constitute an unprecedentedly high proportion of the dead (around 40%). Due to their smaller size children are more likely to be killed than to survive bomb blasts and other war injuries, as a 2019 Save the Children study underlined (also emphasising that the children who do survive will be worse affected than adults). But the unprecedented number of children killed in Gaza is only partly a function of its youthful demographic. It is also a direct and predictable outcome of the IDF’s targeting decisions. Informed by “Israeli insiders”, Seymour Hersch recently reported that Israel’s mapping of Gaza’s underground tunnel system enabled them to “assassinate many Hamas brigade commanders and their families, in their beds”, when they’d allegedly “spend the night” in the family home. Thus children’s presence at the target and the point of impact of IDF’s bombs is not inadvertent but expected. Simply put, if large numbers of children are present where you bomb, your killed to wounded ratio will always be high. So how have the attacks on hospitals played into this? Hospitals, ambulances and emergency services that might have saved some lives have been bombed, besieged, and deprived of essential medical and other supplies including water and energy. Their staff have been arrested or shot, as have patients. At present not a single hospital is said to be operational in northern Gaza. And as we show below, the change in the pattern of killed to wounded directly reflects these unconscionable and unlawful actions: it’s for good reason that they are considered war crimes. In three previous, air-strike and artillery–heavy assaults by Israel on Gaza—Operations Cast Lead (2008-09), Pillar of Defense (2012), and Protective Edge (2014)—the killed to wounded ratios were 1 to 4.6, 1 to 5.2, and 1 to 6. During the first 10 days of Israel’s current onslaught the average ratio for killed to wounded was 1 to 4.2, roughly in line with earlier military operations. However from week three onwards—by which time hospitals’ capacity to properly treat casualties would have been overcome—that average had risen to 1 to 2.1. This is still a highly conservative assessment, because if the missing—most of whom are generally assumed to have died—are added to the latest number of dead, the ratio rises even further: 1 to 1.6. (Note that fully 66% of the missing are said to be children, therefore more likely to be among the dead.) So Israel’s “Operation Sword of Iron” is not only creating many thousands of wounded but is ensuring that they cannot receive medical aid, and are destined only to be added to the number killed. One war crime on top of another.

#palestine #free palestine #israel #gaza #free gaza #genocide #war crimes

[hypaalicious]

NGL y'all, it's been rough.

On the surface, I guess you could say I'm doing alright. I have a roof over my head, adequate food to eat (most of the time), good friends and family to rely on... But when I say this world has beaten me down to pieces, it definitely has.

COVID was the first chink in the armor. Watching the entire world basically shrug off mass death and try to blithely live like it's still 2019 despite a pandemic raging worse than ever with less protections than we had before is wild. Don't matter how much facts you have to show to people, they will ignore it and then also in the same breath wonder why everyone's sick all the time. I mourn the children who aren't protected, who are sent into schools with no masks to become disabled/chronically ill for the rest of their lives. I mourn the immunocompromised who are trapped indefinitely in their homes because the world has moved on from pretending to care about COVID. It's been 4 years. Time doesn't even feel real. Then October 7th happened, and I get to watch a genocide happen in occupied Palestine in real time. Now, if you don't know me, then you may not know that I generally avoid rated R live action movies because I am a wuss and can't take the explicit violence and gore in a lot of them. I went from that, to watching lives of Palestinians recording their loved ones blown up, carrying their remains in plastic bags, IDF psychos shooting women and children in the back, the despair and anguish of Palestinians being corralled, starved, poisoned just because they exist. I have irrevocably been changed by bearing witness to this horror. Writing my script for my game has slowed down to a crawl. I close my eyes at night to sleep, and dream about the devastation I witnessed. I wake up and see even worse horrors, all unchecked by world powers. I get on Facebook and see people carrying on with life as if nothing is happening at all. I don't... I feel like I'm looking at society from the opposite side of a glass window. Everything has lost its color. How can I care about movies, video games, traveling, etc when it all just serves as a distraction to the ugly reality that cannot be ignored? I don't care about celebs and their drama. I don't care about the regurgitated mess Hollywood puts out. I don't care about what overpriced AAA game is highly anticipated. I do not care at all. The climate is fucked up and I see venture capitalists literally selling pieces of iceburgs to rich folks in the UAE for cocktails like it's nothing. People wanna talk about what new restaurant opened up and all I can think of is the fact that a singular bell pepper is like $2. A musical artist announces a tour and all I see are more superspreader events where people won't mask then bring home viruses to their families. Is this the future we want? Hell, will we HAVE a future? We, collectively, will rue the day we sat around and did nothing to stop all of this. And I fear that day will come very soon.

#sorry to get so deep on main but it's weighing on me heavy #I'll get my game done at some point because I have my team to worry about and I will not let them down #but my heart is just... not in it anymore #the world needs to heal and needs to change and quickly otherwise none of this other shit will matter