#Friends of IDF

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Eli Clifton at The Guardian:

Top Republican donor and TikTok investor Jeff Yass is connected to over $16m in funding to anti-Muslim and pro-Israel groups that have advocated for a US war with Iran and other militaristic policies in the Middle East, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Responsible Statecraft.

Media reports on Yass, the billionaire co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, a trading and technology firm, have focused on his outsized role in the Republican party, to which he is now the largest political donor in the 2024 election cycle, contributing more than $46m thus far. Yass has also emerged as the biggest funder of a group targeting progressive representative Summer Lee in her primary race, suggesting an interest in influencing Democratic primary outcomes, not just in boosting Republicans. But little has been reported about his involvement in funding groups advocating a pro-Israel US foreign policy, hawkish US policies in the Middle East and support for theorists whom experts described as extreme anti-Muslim conspiracists.

Leading Yass’s philanthropy in the foreign policy space is $7.9m contributed to Jerusalem Online University between 2014 and 2019 by a grant-making group at which he once served as one of three directors. A Jewish Daily Forward investigation into the group in 2011 found that the website promotes itself as a source of educational materials about the Middle East and Israel, but the website’s actual message is far more biased, the Forward found. “On its website and its promotional materials, Jerusalem Online U hardly portrays itself as a center for neutral academic inquiry,” the Forward wrote. “In fact, it boasts an explicitly pro-Israel mission that seems distinctly at odds with academic principles. In one advertisement for its services, the Jerusalem Online U site’s blog features a video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling Congress last May that ‘Israel is what is right’ about the Middle East. The words ‘Be a Part of What’s Right’ appear on screen as he speaks.”

The contributions came from the Claws Foundation, an entity at which Yass served as a director alongside Arthur Dantchik, a co-founder of Susquehanna, and attorney Alan P Dye. Dye did not return calls for comment. The Kids Connect Charitable Fund – which does not list Yass or Dantchik as directors but listed the Claws Foundation as a “related tax-exempt organization” in an IRS filing and was identified as an arm of both men’s philanthropy by Haaretz – contributed another $3.48m to Jerusalem Online University’s parent organization, Imagination Productions. The Claws Foundation also issued a $10,000 grant to Friends of the Israel Defense Forces in 2011 and $35,000 in grants, between 2010 and 2011, to the Center for Security Policy, an anti-Muslim and conspiracy theory-promoting group founded by Frank Gaffney, whom the Southern Policy Law Center describes as “one of America’s most notorious Islamophobes” and the Anti-Defamation League describes as a chief promulgator of the conspiracy theory “that the US government has been infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and that a number of political figures have actual ties to the group”. The Center for Security Policy vice-president, Clare Lopez, has said: “When Muslims follow their doctrine they become jihadists.”

In 2013 to 2014, the Claws Foundation sent $250,000 to the David Horowitz Freedom Center, another central promoter of anti-Muslim conspiracy theories. Horowitz, whom the group is named after and who serves as its president, once complained that Muslims were a “protected species in this country” and said he was “wait[ing] for the day when the good Muslims step forward” at a Brooklyn College event in 2011. “The fact Yass is donating to Gaffney and Horowitz’s organizations shows how extreme his politics are,” said Tommy Vietor, former national security council spokesperson under President Obama. “They are beyond Trump. They are OG conspiracy theorists. Gaffney in particular.”

[...] Trump has a track record of shifting positions on Israel and Iran to align with political mega-donors. Only after securing the nomination in 2016 did Trump pivot to more militaristic positions in the Middle East – committing to withdrawing the US from the JCPOA, moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and supporting an unconditionally pro-Israel US approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – positions in lockstep with his biggest political patrons in the general election, the late Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam.

Top GOP funder and billionaire Jeffrey Yass has donated over $16M into pro-Israel Apartheid and anti-Islam causes.

#Jeffrey Yass #Israel #Islamophobia #Israel Apartheid #TikTok #Iran Nuclear Deal #Frank Gaffney #Clare Lopez #Center For Security Policy #Friends of IDF #Claws Foundation #Susquehanna International Group #David Horowitz Freedom Center #David Horowitz #US/Israel Relations

[kropotkindersurprise]

#bees are our friends #free palestine #palestine #bees #comrades #2024 #idf #gaza #genocide #occupation #gif #animals #insects #resistance

[5ivebyfive]

CELEBS AND IDOLS OWE YOU NOTHING OF THEIR PERSONAL LIVES.

DO NOT SHIP RL PEOPLE.

IF YOU GET HURT FEELINGS THAT IS ON YOU.

NO ONE LIED, DECEIVED, QUEERBAITED, OR MANIPULATED YOU EXCEPT THE EXECS WHO MADE THEIR STARS HINT OTHERWISE FOR RATINGS AND VIEWS. (WHICH IS THE FUCKING NORM IN THESE SHOWS. AND THE ACTUAL ISSUE.) THE PROBLEM HERE IS THEM NOT THE VICTIM.

THIS IS ABOUT PRIVACY BEING BREECHED AND AVERAGE PEOPLE NOT KNOWING THE LINES NOT TO CROSS. IT’S ABOUT SOMEONE BREAKING THE LAW. IT’S ABOUT FANS WHO THINK THESE PEOPLE OWE THEM ANYTHING THEY WANT.

THESE WOMEN WANT TO KEEP THEIR JOBS AND SO THEY DO AS THEY ARE TOLD. THEY DO WHAT THEY SIGNED ON TO DO. IT IS ONLY WRONG THAT THEY WERE MADE TO IN ORDER TO WORK.

REAL PEOPLE OWE YOU NOTHING.

GET THE FUCK OVER IT AND STOP ACTING LIKE THEY WERE OUT TO PERSONALLY GET YOU AND TRICK YOU AND HURT YOU.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU.

THIS IS NOT ON HER.

SHE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG EXCEPT AGREE TO FUCKED UP AND ACTUAL, NORMAL TERMS. (THE REAL FUCKING PROBLEM.)

SHE JUST WANTED HER JOB AND TO REPRESENT US. SHE FOUGHT FOR YOU. SHE CHAMPIONED FOR YOU. SHE LOVED YOU. SHE LOVES BECKY AND HER WORK.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU.

DO NOT SHIP REAL PEOPLE ESPECIALLY IN MEDIA BECAUSE NOTHING IS REAL. IT IS FUCKING ENTERTAINMENT. IT IS YOUR FAULT YOU ARE DISAPPOINTED. IT IS IDF’S FAULT. THAT. IS. IT. IF YOU THINK THESE TACTICS DON’T GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF FILM AND STAGE THEN DO YOUR FUCKING RESEARCH.

IF YOU’RE TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT FANSERVICE TO YOU THEN YOU ARE TOO YOUNG FOR FANDOM. YOU’RE IN THE WRONG FIGHT. YOU’RE ON THE WRONG SIDE.

SIGNED, A QUEER, TIRED, FED UP FAN WHO CAN’T STAND THIS OR YOU ANYMORE.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. MOVE ON AND LEAVE HER ALONE.

#freen sarocha #sarocha chankimha #sarocha freen i love you #becky armstrong #freenbeck #freenbecky #idols #idf #gap the series #gap yuri #and while I have you here #no one broke becky’s heart #she knew what was going on #she supports her friend #just stop fucking shipping rl people #you did this to yourself #idf did this #not freen #not becky #they are ACTORs #doing their JOBS #DO YOU REALLY THINK THEYD HAVE JOBS #IF THEY REFUSED?? #plus who cares if their friendship was flirty? #it actually fucking happens between women #ESPECIALLY #with actors that act like they are in love and make out #just GROW UP #THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU OR YOUR LIFE

[sakebytheriver]

Here's the thing about Oct. 7th

Any analysis of the situation that does not acknowledge that the IOF itself is responsible for most of the casualties is incomplete and pretty close to straight up propaganda

I have no love in my heart for Hamas, I agree that it is an extreme fundamentalist religious movement founded on the most radical platform the Palestinian revolution could have had and even as the secularists have taken positions and done work to move the ideology in a less radical direction as they saw that with only Hamas in power they only had one option but to try and change the organization from the inside, that doesn't mean they don't still have extreme views or tactics and nor does it mean that they are not also mistreating the Palestinians in Gaza as any ruling government party mistreats their citizens, remember they only received 44.5% of the vote and then promptly ended free elections there after, not even to mention how many Gazans were under the voting age when that election was held. Their extreme views and tactics for liberation are quite literally why Netenyahu himself funneled money into their operation to ensure that they were the international face of Palestine to make it so that public international opinion would be against them and further destabilize Palestinian liberation attempts

But it has literally been reported by Israel's own media and journalists that the IOF are the ones who shelled Israeli homes which led to those horrific burning deaths of Israeli babies Ben Shapiro won't let the internet forget about, it was reported by the Israeli media itself that the IOF fired at their own citizens fleeing from the music festival, it was reported by Israeli media that the IOF shot and killed hostages with their hands tied behind their backs, and it has been confirmed by Israeli citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas insurgents that the insurgent's main goal seemed to be to keep them alive and relatively safe in order to be taken hostage as leverage for the Palestinian hostages Israel has locked in their prisons while the IOF soldiers and the people who gave them their marching orders were indiscriminate in who they killed, driving tanks through residential areas, shooting citizens, and bombing houses with families, the elderly, and infants inside

This is not to say that Hamas didn't kill anyone, I'm sure they did, but from Israel's own media and their own citizen's reports who were taken hostage we have been told the number of casualties were so high on Oct. 7th because the IOF had absolutely no qualms killing their own people

And nor is this to say that Hamas is some kind of humanitarian freedom fighting militia that will always treat Israelis nice and respectfully, the reason why they've been so nice to their hostages is because they are playing the optics game that Israel won't

They are doing the wartime optics game correctly right now while Israel has all but abandoned it, they are keeping the hostages safe and well looked after so that when held up next to the cruelty and the indiscriminate violence of the Apartheid state (which has over 10,000 Palestinians held hostage in their prisons as of now) they look better in comparison to the international eye, that is the whole point of fighting an asymmetrical war, you have to use asymmetrical tactics, especially in an age where public opinion can mean the difference between life or death

Ultimately, my point here is that the idea that Hamas are the ones who are soley responsible for the massacre of over a thousand Israeli citizens is just false, and that is confirmed by the Israeli media itself. It was the IOF response to the attack that killed so many, Hamas does not have the technology available to them to be able to shell someone's house, the people who crossed the Gazan border were only armed with the guns they could carry in their hands, that doesn't lead to the kind of damage done in these Israeli neighborhoods that we have seen reported on (just check NPR's ig page it's full of videos of the Israeli neighborhoods destroyed after Oct. 7th) but a tank driven by an IOF soldier who has been given the greenlight by his superiors to kill as many Israelis as he deems necessary in the hopes of killing any single Hamas insurgent they can get, definitely will

Innocents died on Oct. 7th, I will never deny that, but most of them didn't meet their end by a Hamas insurgent. They met their end by an Israeli soldier who was supposed to be sent there to protect them and if you don't acknowledge that fact, if you simply say that it was the attack by Hamas that killed so many people then you have not done any research into what actually happened that day and you don't get to use it as some kind of gotcha against the people who support Palestine

#ignore me #free palestine #israel #palestine #saw someone who called themselves an israeli leftist reblogging inflamatory posts about oct 7 from accounts that #were very much NOT israeli leftists and in fact very hardline zionists #so yeah. #im all for calling out antisemitism but you guys sure do like to conflate antisemitism with antizionism a lot #and you know a lot of diaspora jews have suffered because of your conflation of those two things #also unrelated but like the way this one israeli was crying about how a work friend reached out to ask how they were but didnt respond when #their answer was full of them being like well my family is going to be fighting with idf pretty soon and ive been feeling sad because peopl #are yelling at me for supporting a genocide #and they conflated this with antisemitism as if it wasnt some aquaintance trying to be nice #and then backing off when they found out you were a genocidal fuck

[dizzythegreat]

and if you still support the actions of israel i have nothing to say to you. "but i'm israeli" "but i'm jewish" "but hamas attacked first" take it up with the more than 25,000 killed, of which more than 10,000 are children. take it up with the toddler with no fucking legs, the girl squeezed under rubble and had a tank driven over her so hard all the vessels in her eyes burst, the thousands of children in shock. kids having heart attacks from the stress, kids whose entire families are dead, kids mangled, kids dying in their parents' arms, kids dying alone on the dusty ground. i don't fucking care who's done what, there is absolutely no excuse, nothing that could ever warrant a genocide like this. if you still support the actions of israel, fuck you.

#once again! no antisemitism! fighting evil with hatred is not the answer! #support your jewish/israeli friends and condemn the inhuman actions of the IDF #keep boycotting and speaking out #free palestine #palestine #gaza #israel/hamas #israel

[brutalhonesttruths]

GOGO LIVES!?!?!?!?

#HELLO DARKNESS MY OLD FRIEND!?!?! #figure skating #fs #stephen gogolev #idf 2023 #a canadian man vertical??? in this economy???

[fyorina]

well my hiatus lasted a day because i’ve come back to complain about an atrocious argument i witnessed in my year’s group chat

#ᡣ𐭩 vents #it wasn’t rlly an argument but #it was so gross #one of my friends posted a flier about donuts for gaza - like buying a donut to donate money to the ppl suffering in gaza #and like literally instantly #a kid posted links to donations to the idf #i was so appalled

[eretzyisrael]

Knollwood Country Club was set to host an FIDF Young Adult event.

A Friends of the IDF (FIDF) event quietly moved from a West Bloomfield Township country club to a nearby temple due to security concerns. 

On the evening of Feb 15, Knollwood Country Club was set to host an FIDF Young Adult event. 

In a statement to members the following morning, Knollwood President Mark Colton wrote:

“Early last week, we started receiving chatter on our social media channels and calls to club management voicing objections to the event,” the statement read. “At that time, we notified the West Bloomfield Police, the FIDF, and the private security company hired to secure the event. We provided the authorities with as much information as we could gather about each individual who contacted us. We were advised not to respond to these individuals.

“Late last week, the FIDF decided to quietly move the event to Temple Israel where there was a more robust security infrastructure to prevent protestors from shutting down the event,” the statement continued. “Again, not wanting to draw any more attention to Knollwood, and never having publicized the event before the objections, we elected against making any mention of the event being moved on our social media channels or our website.”

While the chatter appeared to dissipate, Knollwood still arranged for the club to close early on the day of the event and for marked police vehicles to be on-site to deal with any issues.

It was around 6:30 pm that evening when a group of protestors arrived and blocked both the entrance and exit to Knollwood property, the statement said. 

West Bloomfield Police quickly dealt with the protests and the crowd soon left once they realized it was an empty venue.

Unfortunately, a trespasser later returned to Knollwood’s property and committed “minor but incendiary vandalism” to Knollwood’s property and West Bloomfield property adjacent to Knollwood’s property.

“While minor to repair,” the statement said of the vandalism, “(It) has certainly caused a great deal of emotion in our membership and the community in general.”

This occurrence of vandalism is believed to be the extent of the harm to the property. 

“We have notified the police who will be accessing our security as well as public cameras to see if we can identify who committed this crime,” the statement read. “In the meantime, I wanted to assure our membership that we will continue to review additional security measures to keep our staff, our members, and our property safe during these troubling times.”

Comment from FIDF was not available at time of publication.

#fidf #friends of the idf #knollwood country club #vandalism

[victoriadallonhater]

there's a part of me that i always hope that jewish zionist (christian zionists can just die) will come up to their senses that like... their views are rooted in severe trauma and the cycle of violence that jewish people experience world wide lead many of us to idealize a society where all of us would want a society or a community were we all feel kinship (Israel) but this aspect of community isn't healthy nor realistic. the only homogeneous jewish community are so due to violence committed onto us where we are pushed to these corners and fringes of society.

And to act as if Israel isn't the same, except here we are continuing the violence promoted onto us after we are ousted from our place in society is very sad. i personally know people who have left israel after realizing that and it makes me so sad to see the trajectory of their lives especially after some of them were forced to join the idf or fleed the country to avoid it.

its really like... many zionists exist in a sphere where the violence inflicted upon them (and their ancestors and relatives and friends) has become a deterrent to see the world as something we can repair, and that is very sad to me because, to me, that judaism is a religion and a culture that is based on acceptance and survival and living, and sending young children to war to kill other children is the antithesis of it. you continuing a cycle of violence that will never achieve anything else other than seeing your fellow jewish people be pushed out of society over and over again.

i just hope one day every jewish zionist can remember that all of us have two rocks in our pockets. one has 'the world is for me' and one has 'the world is for everyone' written on it, and both of these rocks keep us grounded on this earth.

maybe this anti-zionist perspective is based on my personal experience of/in/about israel, but i think jewish people are better than to be the mouth pieces of christians zionists who will toss us to the wolves in their own communities so that we can do their dirty work over sea

the fact that you were/are victimized and have lost family/community members has pushed to you to recreate this violence, and i am so sorry you are not realizing this, and i hope one day you do so that its not too late.

#did you know the idf tried to hunt down my friend and she had to flee to south africa #i think a lot of tumblr zionists have never been in contact with the idf and it shows! #i hope you never come anywhere near the horror of this group as much as they sure love to support them

[jihadmilk]

I'm so tired of posts that are like "well zionism bad but -" shut the hell up, idc if some zionists were leftists or were activists or whatever the fuck if your leftist ideology involves genocide you're still a fucking fascist imperialistic scum to me

#txt #idc to ever justify or accept zionist apologia- israel or its genocide on the Palestinian people #idc if you think it makes me a 'antisemite' either actually #i and so many ppl i care about have lost family and friends to the idf

[feckcops]

A communique on sabotaging Zionist infrastructure: shutting down Friends of the IDF

“On November 5th, the Zionist fascist scum, ‘Friends of the IDF’ who represent the interests of wealthy American capitalists in their direct support of the settler colonial state of Israel and its continued campaign of genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people, attempted to hold a fundraiser gala ...

“You cannot do damage to the Zionist project by merely engaging with its facade; you must strike at its soulless heart. You must strike at its veins (supply chains, logistics, cash flows, infrastructure). 

“While the liberals were congratulating themselves for having their nonthreatening photo op parade out in front of the gala, our people were out of sight at work on the veins of the building. Palestinians have suffered decades of Israeli soldiers and settlers restricting and destroying their access to water, often bricking up or concreting any water source not directly under strict control of the occupation forces, cutting off Palestinian access to the Jordan River while draining it to near extinction for settlement mono-crop agriculture, shooting holes in Palestinian water towers, bombing Gazan water treatment facilities, poisoning Palestinian springs and enforcing water apartheid in order to exert total control over Palestinian life. We decided to give these Zionist bootlickers a taste of their own medicine.

“We cracked open the water main for the building housing the gala, switched it off, and filled the box with fresh concrete. This form of sabotage is quick and incredibly easy to replicate, and the tools are quite cheap. It also renders the building in question completely uninhabitable and unusable. We had a good laugh imagining these fascist motherfuckers driven out of the gala by the stench of overflowing toilets, unable to raise any more money for genocide. As we did we were reminded of how Israeli settlers flood Palestinian olive groves with sewage, poisoning food sources, destroying livelihoods.”

#from the river to the sea #palestine will be free #israeli apartheid #water apartheid #apartheid #friends of the idf #american zionists #zionists #anti-zionists #anarchists #activists #sabotage #direct action #israeli occupation #ethnic cleansing #israeli genocide #israeli war crimes #war crimes #settler colonialism #us #palestine #israel

[notetaeker]

I saw a video where Hillary Clinton blatantly lies and says there is a two state solution in Israel right now and Palestinians are in power and instead of using the money they have to build their country, they are using it all to attack Israel 🤢🥴🥴🥴💀💀🤡

The crazy thing is, since no one does their own research, I see the same exact theory in the comments of so many videos and posts. It really shows a few things- first that some people will not even do the bare minimum and will instead base their opinions on something they heard without having any proof, and two that politicians will blatantly lie. Just Blatantly. They are Not a reliable source of information they will say Anything to serve their ulterior motives.

#if anyone IS honestly interested in the argument #pls just Google the daily lives of Gazans- the israeli checkpoints they have to be interrogated at multiple times a day- #-sometimes to enter their own home- #the way israhell soldiers can station themselves in their homes and lock up the people in one of the rooms as they use the house #(former idf soldier interview) #the way they have walls and towers with cameras and have given bio-markers to track every palestinian #the way they can’t enter or leave as they please #there are streets designated as ‘no Palestinians allowed’ #and these streets may even run infront of Palestinian houses #so they can only leave their homes thru the window #and being found on one of these roads can get u killed or arrested and tortured #literal kids are in the Palestinian prison system serving sentences for ‘crimes’ that occurred before they were born #and these are only a few of the things that prove that palestine is NOT in control of the Palestinians #feel free to research more #knowledge is power but it comes with responsibility #y’all are afraid of the responsibility so you prefer to live in ‘ignorance is bliss’ #open your eyes friends. find the truth

[alfedena]

what do you think is the best way to deal with jews claiming that they originated in israel?

i think using a model of indigeneity that uses connection to community, kinship ties, etc. is important instead of modes of connection that are attached to dna and ancestry-tracing with systems akin to blood quantum and the nuremberg racial laws. although because this a view of ethnicity and indigeneity that is rooted in decolonial theory and practice, i dont think most zionists would be very open to listening to this

obviously if you go back 2000 years, jewish people can trace their lineage back to the levant. however, the vast majority of jewish people do not at this moment in time have any cultural connection to the land of palestine aside from this imagined national culture that has been created in the past hundred years.

and kinship ties go beyond our mere notions of familial or interpersonal relationships, we have to think about our interaction with land. what does that look like for israeli settlers? at this point we see the burning of palestinian crops, mass land purchase and privatization throughout the centuries on behalf of israelis (and ottomans) - replacing indigenous communal land practices, restriction of movement for palestinian communities, as seen in the displacement of palestinians who have lived in their cities and towns for generations as well as restriction of movement for the nomadic minorities like the bedouin, etc. imo things like these absolutely mirror other settler-colonial states like the US and canada

#anyway tb to this idf family friend of mine #who was saying how the plc banned dna testing bc all the palestinian results came back as jewish dna #its like okay does that not literally contradict your whole thing #about you believing palestinians came from jordan or lebanon or whatever #such bullshit

[our-blood-is-our-ink]

Antisemitism is going to rise. Remember that as the days pass it's not a one sided issue, and you may be actively calling for another genocide of yet another 6 million Jews.

#yes this is about Hamas surprise attack on israel #remember folks they've taken hostages... children and elderly not just military #and that they actively target civilian areas #I believe that the state of Israel should be shared peaceful #and that's all I'll say on the matter #im not going to argue or fight I have friends and family who both live in Israel and who are part of the idf #sky vents

[dig-jules]

Fuck Jack Quaid btw.

#friend of the idf #star trek #star trek lwd #bradward boimler #boimler #jack quaid #zionist #and Chris pine too while we’re at it

[weird-middle-school-books]

ramadan kareem to anyone out there I hope the genocide in Palestine ends during this holy month

#I actually don’t know if I have any muslim followers but I already miss my muslim friends from school terribly this ramadan #and I wish that every muslim Palestinian could participate in ramadan like normal instead of being killed by the IDF #free palestine #ramadan kareem #from the river to the sea