#hebrew in foreign media

[eretzyisrael]

 Opinion

By MICHAEL KAYE   Published: FEBRUARY 28, 2024 03:04 THE WRITER speaks at a marketing conference in New York City wearing a #EndJewHatred T-shirt.(photo credit: COURTESY MICHAEL KAYE)

It’s been almost five months since October 7, a day that completely changed the lives of more than 15 million Jews around the world. But the aftermath of the attack is still present, months later. In many ways, it feels as though this nightmare just happened, while at other moments, it’s hard to remember what life was like before that day of terror.

I am not fluent in Hebrew. I do not wear a kippah. I have almost 30 tattoos. I am not your stereotypical Jew, but I have become a proud Jewish activist. But October 7 changed me, as it did many others. Who I was before is someone I can never be again. I cannot be complicit or silent. I donate to the Anti-Defamation League; I speak at conferences wearing an #EndJewHatred T-shirt; I never leave home without Jewish-themed jewelry; and I use my social media platforms to discuss the rising antisemitism on college campuses across the United States and around the world.

As someone who was educated at a Jewish school and learned about the Holocaust, I am no stranger to antisemitism or the dangerous impact it can have. My earliest memories include being taught by my parents to be proud but quiet about my Judaism, having swastikas carved on my school playground, being immediately evacuated on September 11, and always leaving my Star of David at home when traveling. 

During my childhood and teenage years, I heard from and met many Holocaust survivors, including Elie Wiesel. I listened to their stories about how the world remained silent.

Today, it feels like the beginning of a second Holocaust. That is why I cannot remain silent.

A scary time to be Jewish

For this Jewish New Yorker, it’s a scary time to be Jewish. The American Jewish Committee’s State of Antisemitism in America report found that 93% of American Jews surveyed think antisemitism is a problem in the United States and 86% believe antisemitism in the country has increased over the past five years. 

In November, I attended the March for Israel in Washington. Around me were Jewish people from Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Richmond, San Diego, and Queens. A man from Brooklyn put tefillin (phylacteries) on me; it was the first time I had worn tefillin in almost 20 years. I even got to meet Julia Haart and Miriam Haart from Netflix’s My Unorthodox Life, who grew up in a religious community not too far from me. While there, I realized this gathering had the most Jews I’ve been around since I was in Israel in 2006. It was the safest I had felt in years. But there were also allies, including Congressman Ritchie Torres and CNN contributor Van Jones. That day reminded me of why I am proud to be Jewish and why I cannot be silent about my Judaism any longer.

Since October 7, I have lost hundreds of followers on social media. I have received anti-Israel and anti-Jewish messages, even threats. But I am not alone. The AJC found that six in 10 people have come across antisemitic content online, and 78% of American Jews feel less safe as Jews in the United States since that horrific day.

To many of us, the current climate feels different. We’re feeling angry, confused, and isolated. In my lifetime, I have watched the nation unite after domestic and foreign terrorist attacks, social justice actions, and wars. Rarely, outside of politics, have I seen us this divided: the Jewish community against everyone else. Overnight, people who had never spoken about any Middle Eastern wars became experts on the conflict. Disinformation spread like wildfire across social media, and much of it felt aimed at damaging or discrediting Jews and Zionists. Almost immediately after October 7, it was not only taboo to express sympathy for the Israelis who were captured or murdered; it was discouraged and forbidden, often met with attacks, both physical and verbal.

BUT THROUGH these painful months, there have also been glimmers of light.

During this period of mourning, I have watched people of all backgrounds come together – to educate, to grieve, to hope, and to pray. A Christian connection on social media thanked me for sharing educational resources. Jewish friends from elementary school and high school reached out. A Muslim friend held my hand as I cried, and another has been checking on me periodically for months. These are the moments I have chosen to cling to.

Our future is not where one side loses and another wins. It’s where we all unite.

The writer is an award-winning communications strategist, data storyteller, purpose-driven marketer, and educator based in New York City. He often speaks about antisemitism, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice issues.

#Israel #antisemitism #israel hamas war

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

The IDF estimates, maybe based on a baby bottle that was found where hostages are known to have been held, in the basement of the Rantisi hospital in Gaza, that a woman who was kidnapped while pregnant, has given birth in captivity. That makes her child the youngest hostage, at the age of a few days at most.

While our kids and babies are being held hostage in dark basements and tunnels, Israel is offering Gazans medical assistance for their kids. At this link you can listen to a subtitled conversation (the article is in Hebrew, just scroll to the first embedded vid), where an IDF officer is offering the Shifa hospital manager to place at the entrance to the building 37 incubators and 4 respirators for the kids and babies. The officer also vows to the manager to help protect as much as possible the patients, wards and staff in the hospital. During the conversation, the offer is accepted, but the IDF says later it was rejected. As I can't see who would outrank the hospital manager, I'm guessing the "No" came from Hamas.

Rockets continue to be fired into Israel. Today, a rocket barrage at Tel Aviv, at a kids playground, left one person seriously wounded, and two moderately.

Thank you so much to the Israeli Nonnie who sent me this vid. Yes, that is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned in my update yesterday, this is Hamas attacking Palestinians in order to take over this aid truck and get all of the food for themselves (the relevant footage starts 11 seconds in):

Jeremy Corbyn, the man who could have been the British Prime Minister, and who British Jews called out on antisemitism, was interviewed by Piers Morgan. He was asked 15 (arguably 16) times to answer the question whether Hamas is a terrorist group, but refused to give a reply.

I was listening to this interview with Ella Keinan (it's in Hebrew), an Israeli travel vlogger, who has started posting about the Israeli POV since Oct 8. She didn't say anything I didn't know, but I thought the way she phrased things was powerful, so allow me to translate:

They created a brand called Free Palestine, which is not actually freeing the Palestinians and giving them what they want, but under this brand it's possible to do anything nowadays, it's possible to rape, it's possible to slaughter, it's possible to kidnap, it's possible to abuse, to kill, it's possible to hurt and kill Jews in LA, it's possible to attack them at universities, and you'll still be applauded. Meaning, you'll still be popular. That's how powerful this brand is.

Meanwhile, Israel's foreign diplomacy has officially been shut down due to a lack of budget. A lot of government offices are being shut down, and their budget is being re-directed to help the evacuated, the families of the murdered, the injured, financially supporting people whose businesses have collapsed, compensating those whose homes were destroyed by Palestinian rockets. So when you hear people dismissing regular Israelis' posts as paid propaganda by the Israeli government... what a fucking joke, Israel can't even currently pay professionals in this field, let alone regular people.

This is 19 years old Noa Marziano.

Yesterday, Hamas published a vid of her as a hostage. The Israeli media refused to cooperate with the psychological warfare, no one published it. Today, the IDF was able to confirm that Noa was murdered in captivity.

This is 12 years old Liel Hetzroni.

Her mother Shira, after gaving birth to her and her twin brother, suffered brain damage, and couldn't take care of her kids, so they were raised by their grandparents. Liel's grandfather and brother's bodies were already found. Today, after having been missing for 38 days, Liel's death was also pronounced.

This is 75 years old Vivien Silver.

She was a peace activists. Among other things, she used to volunteer her time driving Gazans to medical treatments in Israel. She was thought to be kidnapped in Gaza, but today her body was identified.

May their memories 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

[rotzaprachim]

one of the things that’s so grotesque is like, never in my life have I ever felt people en masse really cared very much about Jews or wanted us to be safe, and that includes Israelis. They don’t care about us but we can be used to justify so so much mass death on people who never hurt us at all. I spent four years living in a horrific Antisemitism Country, a now “neutral” Western European power which killed Jews, expelled jews, banned Jews for hundreds of years. There were large Eastern European and middle eastern diasporas there and I was almost always the First Jew anyone had ever met - or that had admitted to being Jewish. People regularly assumed jews controlled the world media. I got harassed for - yes- the idea of Zionist infiltration, for being one of the evil Zionists people knew controlled the world. One time I left shule with a friend who had forgotten to take his kippah off and a group of drunks coming out of a bar physically shook us as we walked by. To get to Jewish events I walked over the literally former “Jewry” where Jews had lived in the medieval era but were expelled and which had me ember been rebuilt or returned to Jews. When I was in university the most famous fascist family in the country donated money to one of the most famous universities in the country in order to have a building named after their fascist family name and people agreed to it! In university someone gave off a long Hitler impersonation at a general event and the manager of the event refused to end it or call him out. We always always looked over our shoulders. My friends who were Israelis, who came from Iraqi and Indian and Persian Jewish families, described racial and ethnic harassment that occured to them all the time from people who saw Brown people and decided it was time for racism. Even Ashkenazi Israelis I knew were harassed for being Too middle eastern, too foreign, their language Hebrew too strange. We just lived with it all. relatively speaking this is small stuff. *minor.* it’s not like what’s happening in Gaza and it never will be. But what it was was years of accumulated pain, and the understanding that the country did not love us and was unwilling to do much but the bare minimum to let us live. And then three weeks ago the leader of that country got up and declared support for the state of Israel because of his support for the Jews. And he’s stood by that. He’s stood supporting the state of Israel as they’ve killed over seven thousand people, including thousands of children. My safety wasn’t important enough when I lived in *their* country to be much worth doing anything about, anything that might slice into the rind of how awful and alienating and antisemitic that culture was, but it’s also important enough to be worth the violent murder of thousands of children. NO ONE EVER FUCKING ASKED ME WHAT WOULD MAKE ME SAFE, BUT THEY DID DECIDE THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN NEEDED TO DIE, and they decided they needed to put my name to it. I’ve gotten to watch world leaders pull off a “the people of yisrael live” over and over again these last three years ago to justify arming a right wing dictator I never voted for in a country I never set foot on kill thousands and thousands of people. And I’ve gotten to see the hordes screaming for my death in response. Because it’s in our name and we asked for it and after all we do run everything. I’ve yet to get the feeling that western powers like Israelis all that much. The coverage really isn’t like us and uk based terror attacks. But they certainly don’t like Jews at all. No one cares about Jewish lives but they can collectively be used to justify non stop murder of a civilian population. The leader of that country I lived in will support all this forever. There’s no horror greater than that.

#It’s just like the sole measure of our safety is how it can be used to harm other people #What the fuck. How the fuck does anyone live with that

[soon-palestine]

The occupied municipality of Haifa declares a state of emergency in the city @AlMayadeenNews

Occupation media: A second wave of drones was launched from Iran

“Israeli” sources to “Israeli” Army Radio: The Iranian attack includes cruise missiles, not just drones.

Zionist media: Yemen also launched drones towards the “Israeli” occupation

Informed Iranian sources to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: The Iranian Army and Revolutionary Guard jointly launched dozens of suicide marches towards “Israel” about an hour ago. Attacks with Iranian drones were launched from the Iranian provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan

Iranian television announces the start of a massive attack with marches launched by the Revolutionary Guards on “Israeli” targets in occupied Palestine @AlMayadeenNews

US officials to New York Times: Iran is likely to try to synchronize the drone attack with faster-moving missiles, which will be launched later

Senior “Israeli” official to occupation media: The Iranian attack includes “hundreds of attacking drones”

Occupation media: Reports of a third wave of drones from Iran towards “Israel”

Iranian Shahed drones can be heard flying to occupied Palestine @PressTV

Hebrew Channel 12: The occupation “army” is now carrying out a massive attack in the heart of Lebanon

IRGC: We carried out an operation with drones and missiles in response to the Zionist entity’s crime of bombing our consulate in Damascus. The operation was carried out with dozens of missiles and drones to strike specific targets in the occupied territories.

Occupation media: For the first time since the war on Gaza, there are no “Israeli” planes over the Gaza Strip due to the Iranian threat

US National Security Council spokeswoman: The Iranian attack is likely to continue for several hours

Security source to occupation media: The government’s instructions included entering shelters more protected from precision missiles

For reference, travel times from Iran to “Israel”

Ballistic missile - 12 minutes Cruise missile - 2 hours UAV (Drones) - 9 hours

(UAVs were reportedly launched from Iran)

Sources for Press TV: Iranian drones approach Jordan's airspace

Biden: The United States will support “Israel’s” defense against these threats from Iran

US intelligence source to occupation media: The drones may be a distraction for launching missiles from Iran

Jordanian security officials to Reuters: Jordan is preparing to confront any Iranian aircraft that violates its airspace

Military analyst for @qudsn

The Iranian response will be in 3 successive waves:

Launching dozens of marches directed at the occupation

Marches and strikes from the regions of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to disperse Israeli defense systems

Guided ballistic missiles

Press TV: “Israeli” air defense systems are facing cyber attacks

Hebrew Channel 14: A state of hysteria afflicts the “Israeli” public after waiting for the Iranian response

US Official to @AJArabic : Our forces have not yet taken any action to confront the Iranian attack

US Official to AJ: The Iranian attack targets multiple sites inside “Israel”

Note: Settlers in the occupied West Bank are taking advantage of this time and intensifying their pogroms. One child was killed within the past hour and they’re expanding to more villages

AJ: Heavy flight of “Israeli” warplanes in northern “Israel”

Jordan declares a state of emergency following the Iranian attack on “Israel” @Reuters

Iran's Foreign Minister: Necessary warnings have been given to U.S @PressTV

Occupation media: Iran launched hundreds of drones in addition to cruise missiles as part of its attack against “Israel”

Occupation media: The “war cabinet” is being held in the underground bunker of the Ministry of “Security”

“Israeli” military officials to NYTimes: “Israel” evacuated military bases, launched planes, and prepared air defenses

Occupation media: Initial intercepts of drones in Syrian airspace

US official to Bloomberg: A simultaneous attack with drones and missiles may confuse the “Israeli” air defense system, as it may reach different speeds, altitudes, and directions

UK Prime Minister Sunak: I condemn in the strongest terms the reckless attack carried out by the Iranian regime against “Israel” Britain will continue to defend the security of “Israel” and its regional partners, including Jordan and Iraq.

French Foreign Minister: We condemn in the strongest terms the Iranian attack on “Israel”

Zionist military source to ABC: Iran only targets military sites

US Speaker of the House: We must show our full determination to stand by "Israel"

#palestine #gaza #free palestine #iran

[jewishvitya]

CW - talking about antisemitic depictions and about the house elves and the depiction of slavery in the books.

I'm having a frustrating day with a lot of physical pain, so I'm not the best at judging currently if I should be posting all of these thoughts. It's a response to multiple arguments by rude anons that I blocked (not for being rude, for being transphobic), but the arguments themselves stay on my mind and I just. Need this out. Ignore this, it will be all over the place, I'm basically venting. Hoping it'll be the last bit of HP criticism I post.

I'll tag it for you to block, as usual.

I've been asked what I expect of Rowling, since my criticism of the goblins included the books. She already wrote the books, they're printed and they're out there. She can't just change them, criticism does nothing because she has no path to correct her mistake.

First of all, with her transphobia - as far as I'm concerned she has blood on her hands at this point. The way she emboldens transphobia endangers lives and erodes queer rights. Anyone who contributes to the current push against trans people is complicit in trans genocide - and she made herself a symbol of that movement. Even if she did a 180 on her issues with Jewish stereotypes, she wouldn't redeem herself.

But she isn't the only one who wrote a story and then realized that her story has deep issues. What does it look like, if an author doesn't want to perpetuate those?

From what I know of Tolkien (and I know nothing LOTR or anything, just heard this from other Jewish creators who discussed this issue, treat this paragraph like I'm repeating a rumor) - Tolkien did stumble on an antisemitic depiction while writing his dwarves. Then he course-corrected by creating a more complex and nuanced picture of the society in his future works. Basically, he leaned into the idea of his dwarves as a Jewish allegory and made it a better and more respectful allegory. They have wonderful cultural details, like having foreign-language names used outside of their community - and names in their own native language that they call each other. Half of my family comes from France, and my mom was born there. She had a Hebrew name and a legal French name. That's extremely common among Jews in some areas of the world.

This response is what I would have expected if an author cares about being respectful of Jewish people. Acknowledge the issue, and try to do better.

But what if the issue was brought to your attention after you completely finished your story? In that case: "Yes, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was writing an antisemitic narrative with my depiction of this fantasy race." Support the voices criticizing your work, and apologize. Let it be an example of tropes to avoid, and encourage others to be careful of the same pitfalls.

What you don't do, is act horrified and say "Oh, how could you, I never intended to make the goblins an antisemitic allegory! Surely if I don't mean it, it can't be hurtful!"

Also, if you truly care, you don't then abuse the memory of the holocaust when you write spin-offs of your original story, including its imagery to support a bigoted villain's argument.

Marginalized people understand that not everyone knows what we do. The stereotypes and the harmful ideas that weaved themselves into popular culture are about us. We know that it's invisible to people who aren't the target, and as a result aren't forced to learn these things. To many people, it's just a trope they're used to seeing. Like villains have hooked noses - it's practically a shorthand for an evil character.

All the stories we tell are based in some measure on stories we heard. Narratives and tropes feed off each other between different pieces of media. It's easy to pull together a harmful narrative without realizing, when the tropes that make it up usually go together, and are so common they're everywhere. So we know a person who means no harm can create something really hurtful, without knowing it.

That's why we criticize media: we want you to see and be aware.

In addition to this, I've been accused multiple times of ignoring the fact that these books discuss bigotry and condemn it. I'm not ignoring it, I know they do - or they try to. But Rowling wrote a story against racism without understanding it and without interrogating it in herself. She only knew to condemn it when it's rude and violent and outright hateful. Not the foundations of it.

So, sure, say she didn't mean to write something harmful. What does she do when she learns she did? Nothing. And not just about the issue of the goblins - about everything. I detailed the problems with her depiction of lycanthropy, but she did the same thing with the house elves.

There's lore about creatures called brownies. They'll perform chores for you, but they'd rather not be seen while they do. If you try to pay them, they'll get offended. If you give them clothes, they'll leave. This is a very partial description, but you can see the inspiration here.

And then she turned them into a slave race. They're bound to their enslavers, possessing powerful magic but using it in their service, forced to punish themselves for disobedience and endure extreme abuse. Kreacher actively wishes to have his head put on display when he's too old and weak to be of use.

To show the reader the horrors of freedom for an elf, JKR turned poor Winky into a depressed drunk with no purpose in her life. Winky's story is horrifying.

Only Dobby takes care of Winky for that whole year. She never recovers during it. Then she's made to witness the interrogation of Barty Crouch Jr., which upsets her and causes her distress. As a result, she hears about Crouch's death through a toneless forced confession - and the interrogation continues around her. That same day, she watches the last member of the household she loved have his soul taken by a dementor, and then she's left alone with the body while Dumbledore argues with Fudge. Only after, he sends Madam Pomfrey to do what she can for Winky, and take her to the kitchens where Dobby will take care of her again.

And Rowling wrote all of this. Did she think this is an example that even compliant house elves suffer and get neglected, even by the sympathetic wizards? Was this a lesson that even those who don't seek freedom suffer and lack agency in this system?

No. Rowling turned it into a cautionary tale against freeing slaves. Unless they're "weird" like Dobby.

Maybe she didn't try to be racist, but this fits disturbingly well with the arguments against ending slavery in reality. That enslaved people will turn into aimless drunks. That they need to be enslaved to have purpose. That those who want freedom have something wrong with them.

And I know this was criticized. What was the response to the criticism? Nothing direct as far as I know, but after all of this - there was an article published on Pottermore to argue that Winky's story is a warning against freeing the elves. It was taken down fortunately, but after this article the arguments against freedom are no longer the opinion of characters within the world - it's a message given to us by real people.

She doubles down. Every time. People keep yelling that she had nothing to do with Hogwarts Legacy, she's not responsible for the way it builds on her original canon. Well, she seems to approve of it. It continues painting the same line with the same brush - just bolder.

She doesn't care about the racism, she doesn't care about antisemitism - she just wanted to use the nazis as her easy villains. She doesn't have the imagination for any other kind.

#hogwarts legacy #riki babbles #HP #JKR #I'm not Black so I hope I'm not overstepping #the only history my community has with slavery as far as I know is from Nazi labor camps #which are very a different thing to chattel slavery #and the latter is more similar to the situation the house elves are in

[girlactionfigure]

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

Late Night Nov 13

◾️DRONE ATTACK - North - 10:34 PM - False Alarm.

◾️HOSTAGE HORRORS

SMOKING GUN that 100% makes Gaza hospitals a valid military target: IDF Spokesman: “We found evidence that Israeli abductees were kept in the Rantisi hospital.”

- It is estimated that during the stay in captivity a woman in the advanced month of pregnancy gave birth to a baby in captivity.

- Hamas publishes forced video of 19 year old female hostage, the end of the video showing her remains.

- Iraqi resistance published forced video of Elizabeth Churkov, Israeli-Russian-American journalist kidnapped 7 months ago, speaking in Hebrew.

◾️IDF ATTACKS LEBANON… “from the ground”, troops on the ground?  Anti-tank fire in response.  rab report about an IDF artillery attack on the village of Labuna.  Arab report on an attack from a drone in the town of Yaron.

◾️QATAR SAYS… The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs took a hard look at the photos published today by IDF radio showing the "palace" of the Qatari ambassador, located on the beach in Gaza City, after being hit by IDF fire and graffitied with "Nova Hotel" and a Star of David.  The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a "strong condemnation".  

◾️TRAIN SERVICE… from Sunday traffic will resume at most stations in the Western Negev (with the approval of the security authorities), and will also operate complementary trains between Netivot and Ashkelon. Also, the Yokneam and Kfar Yehoshua stations on the Emek line will be reopened. 

◾️JORDAN INFILTRATION… (illegal workers) residents of the kibbutzim Ashdot Ya'akov Ihud, Ashdot Ya'akov Maukhed, Masada, Shaar Golan, Afikim and Beit Zera in the Jordan Valley were instructed to enter their homes due to suspicion of intrusion via the Jordanian border. Security forces arrested a number of suspects who had penetrated the border. Apparently these are job infiltrators.

◾️IRAN GETS $10 B… A senior Iranian official said that $10 billion worth of frozen Iranian funds in Iraq will be deposited at the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) and used to purchase goods that are exempted from US sanctions.  Due to US banking sanctions on Tehran, Iraq has not been able to make direct payments.

◾️AID…  (( WHERE ARE THE BABIES? )) Yesterday, 143 trucks of humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip.  Egypt announces that 97 humanitarian aid trucks entered today.  One source says Gaza will not receive humanitarian aid tomorrow because the trucks that carry the humanitarian aid in Gaza have run out of fuel.

◾️JUDEA-SAMARIA SKIRMISHES… Arab report on an exchange of fire on our forces during operations in and around Qalqilya.  3 terrorists were shot by our forces.  Heavy exchange of fire in Tulkarm. 

◾️U.S. BASES UNDER ATTACK… this is so regular now no point in sharing more details.

◾️NEWS DEMANDS… Many news organizations, including CNN and the BBC, sent a letter today to Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Al-Sisi, imploring them to allow journalists to enter the Gaza.  To date Israel has allowed local media channel representatives and a FoxNews Israeli stringer.

#Israel #Iron Sword #Hamas Massacre #October 7 #Real Time Updates

[achromic-red-dreams-doze-angrily]

You guys have GOT to stop falling for these idiotic notions that everything is secretly about Israel/Palestine. The original hostage swap and ceasefire was not purposefully timed for Black Friday sales. Spotify Wrapped was not purposefully timed for International Solidarity with Palestine Day. The Superbowl was not purposefully timed for Israel's attack on Rafah. An advertisement fighting against antisemitism and hatred in the USA is not Israeli war machine propaganda.

If you believed for even a second that any of this is true: you are not only an idiot, but an antisemite. You have no critical thinking skills, and instead let your antisemitism guide your decisions. All of those are such unbelievable horseshit based on millennia of canards. Why do you think sales for a Christian holiday in the US has anything to do with Israel's military policy? Why do you think a publicly-traded American company is making annual marketing decisions based on the actions of a foreign government? Why do you think a sports event for a game nobody else in the world plays has anything to do with state attacks on civilian refugee areas? Why do you think an advertisement saying nothing but "antisemitism is bad" is propaganda for hurting people? Why do you think the Israeli army is currently stealing organs from dead bodies even though that's biologically impossible? Why do you think that any Jew that brings up antisemitism must actually be a Zionist who supports Israel and wants every Palestinian dead? Why do you only call Jews Zionists? Why do you think that antizionism is not inherently antisemitic, yet by the same token believe any fight against antisemitism is inherently a fight against antizionism? Why do you think anything that happens in the USA is secretly a ploy to bring attention away from the conflict? Why do you refer to Russia and China as "it" but Israel as "they"? Why do you think that making a dox list of what you claim to be Zionists with no evidence is helping Palestinians? Why do you think Israelis are appropriating Palestinian food and culture, when most Israelis are from somewhere in the Middle East and ate that food long before moving to Israel? Why do you think calling cities by their Hebrew names is erasing Palestinian history, when those Hebrew names existed before Christianity and Islam were invented? Why do you think that all media is unreliable? Why do you think there are no innocent civilians in Israel, but there are in other countries with mandatory conscription or other countries currently at war? Why do you think all Israelis are a monolith who fully support their government, but balk if anyone says everyone in YOUR home supports the government? Why do you think that every Israeli is white? Why do you think that Israelis are changing their names from European languages to Hebrew to "deny" their whiteness? Why do you think that Israelis can "go back to where they came from," even though most are in Israel because those places kicked them out? Why do you think that a fictional character that is ex-Mossad is more objectionable and problematic than a fictional character that is ex-Marines, when both have done equally bad things and fulfill the same role? Why do you think that any of this helps Palestine? Why do you think ANY OF THIS?!

There is no reasonable or logical justification for any of these thought processes. You are falling for one antisemitic theory after another, you are spreading one antisemitic theory after another, and you don't even see it, because you refuse to admit your own antisemitism.

Do better.

#i have HAD IT #i am DONE #i cannot take it anymore #antisemitism

[theculturedmarxist]

To serve as a reference, we have compiled the following list of revealing statements by Israeli officials, former officials, and politicians about the ongoing massacre in Gaza. Translations from Hebrew have been verified. Quotes are presented in date order, starting with the most recent. The list will be updated periodically.

[Last update: 12 November 2023]

Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Nissim Vaturi MK (Likud, governing), 12 November: “We need to put them [the Palestinians] on boats and send them to wherever will be good for them. They’re wanted in Scotland? We'll hand them over”

Minister for Agriculture and former Head of the Shin Bet Avi Dichter, 11 November: “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba. From an operational point of view, there is no way to wage a war—as the IDF seeks to do in Gaza—with masses between the tanks and the soldiers … Gaza Nakba 2023. That’s how it’ll end”1

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, 11 November: “I am saying here to the citizens of Lebanon, I already see the citizens in Gaza walking with white flags along the coast and moving south … If it [Hezbollah] makes mistakes of this kind, the ones who will pay the price are first of all the citizens of Lebanon. What we are doing in Gaza we know how to do in Beirut”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 10 November: “We will hold Gaza after the war too, we will not trust international forces”2

Education Minister Yoav Kisch, 8 November: “We can certainly bring back the settlements of Gush Katif [evacuated in 2005], there is no status quo and nothing is sacred”��

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, 7 November: “[Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar made a mistake and sealed the fate of Hamas and the fate of Gaza”

Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, 5 November: “there are no uninvolved [civilians] in Gaza”.

Reporter: “Should we drop an atomic bomb on Gaza?”

Eliyahu: “That’s one way”3

Former New Hope MK and former Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Zvi Hauser, 5 November: “Some of us also contemplate the historical-philosophical necessity for revenge for the bloodbath we suffered because of the enemy on that cursed Shabbat. For those who hold that view, I say that the territorial acquisition, even if its sole purpose is, as mentioned, to secure security and prevent violence, is the most appropriate response in the language of the Middle East to those who raped our women and murdered crushed skulls of our infants near our border. Neither killing the innocent nor extensive property damage will deter them. Our neighbours and enemies must know that an attack on Israel means a loss of their territory”

Yitzhak Kroizer MK (Otzma Yehudit, governing), 5 November: “the Gaza Strip should be flattened, and there should be one sentence for everyone there—death. We have to wipe the Gaza Strip off the map. There are no innocents there”

Col. Erez Eshel, Officer in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) 162nd Armour Division, 4 November:

Reporter: “I want to say one word to you, and you tell me what pops into your head. Revenge”.

Eshel: “Great value. There is a value to revenge over what was done to us. That for another hundred years [everyone] will understand that Jews are not to be messed with … This place will be fallow, they will not be able to live here”4

Deputy Head of the Civil Administration Yogev Bar Sheshet, 4 November: 

Reporter: There are no civilians now in Al-Atatra neighbourhood [Beit Lahiya].

...

Sheshet: “Whoever harms Jews, whoever harms Israelis, we will destroy his houses. We will kill him wherever he lives. It does not pay off to harm the people of Israel, this is our message. Nothing left. Whoever returns here, if he returns here later, will see here scorched earth. No houses, no agriculture, no nothing. They have no future … They [Hamas—because they caused the Israeli military to do it] annihilated this place for many years to come” [from approx. 4 mins in] 

Former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon MK (Likud, governing), November: “I support the taking of land. Why? Because in [sic] the essence of the Middle East, that’s the language they understand. Any terrorists we will kill—they will replace them with others. Economy and houses we will destroy—it is obvious they will be compensated. But land that will be taken away from them—that’s something irreplaceable”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, letter to IDF soldiers, 3 November: “The basis of the existence of the thousand-year-old nation of Israel is the constant struggle for our lives and freedom … The current fight against the ‘Hamas’ murderers is another chapter in the story … ‘Remember what Amalek did to you’ … This is a war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness”5

Former head of the Knesset National Security Commission and Mossad Deputy Director Ram Ben Barak MK (Yesh Atid, opposition), 2 November: “The intention is to build a coalition of countries and international funding that will allow those Gazans who want to leave to be absorbed into these countries with citizenship and a proper absorption basket”

Amit Halevi MK (Likud, governing), 1 November: “it is totally unacceptable that the war on [sic] Gaza will end with any Palestinian rule [there]. The main form of defeat understood by radical Islam is loss of control over land, and this must be the result [of the war]. Therefore, the first step the Knesset must pursue is to undo the law which forbids the entry of Jews into Gaza”6

Former head of the Knesset National Security Commission and Mossad Deputy Director Ram Ben Barak MK (Yesh Atid, opposition), 1 November: “Look, a Hamas official said a few days ago that they won’t provide for the population [of Gaza], the population are all refugees and the UN should provide for them, right? There was such a statement from someone in Hamas? Well, if everyone in Gaza is a refugee, let’s scatter them around the world. Let's scatter them around the world. There are 2.5 million people there, every country will take in 20,000 people, 100 countries. It’s humane, it’s an obvious [solution]. They are refugees anyway, it is better to be a refugee in Canada than a refugee in Gaza. If the world really wants to solve this problem, it can solve it”7

Off-duty Major General (Head of the IDF ground troops command) and current Head of the Israel Electric Company Yiftah Ron-Tal, 1 November: “Everyone understands and recognises the clear overarching goal of destroying Hamas. This manoeuvre will eventually lead the forces to take complete control of Gaza, especially Lower Gaza [i.e., the tunnels]. As far as I’m concerned, the Strip can become a plowed area and maybe in the future we will finally rebuild the settlements in Gush Katif, this is the overarching goal”

Galit Distel-Atbaryan MK (Likud, governing), 1 November: “Hate the enemy. Hate the monsters. [...] Spend your energy on one thing; wiping Gaza off the face of the earth. Let the Gazan monsters fly to the southern fence and flee into Egyptian territory. Or have them die. And have them die horribly. Gaza must be wiped out. And fire and billows of smoke must be upon the heads of the Nazis in Judea and Samaria. Jewish wrath that will cause the ground to shake around the world. We require a revengeful and cruel IDF. Anything less than that is immoral. Simply immoral”

Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu, 1 November: “The north of the strip—more beautiful than ever. Blowing up and flattening everything, simply a delight for the eyes. (A soldier in Gaza). We must speak about the day after. In my mind’s eye, we give away real estate to anyone who fought for Gaza over the years, and those who were evacuated from Gush Katif—god willing. (Without Merkhavim Muganim Dirati’im) [without the threat of rockets]”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 30 October: “Hizbullah will only be deterred if it sees not only destruction in Gaza City, but a humanitarian disaster and absolute governmental chaos … Our principal challenge is to persuade our friends that only that outcome—the complete destruction of all system in Gaza and desperate distress—will also serve them in their effort to cope with Iran and its proxies in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen”8

Former Deputy Commander IDF Gaza Division Amir Avivi, 29 October: “We are not taking any chances … When our soldiers are manoeuvring we are doing this with massive artillery, with 50 aeroplanes overhead destroying anything that moves”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 28 October: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember, and we are fighting”9

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, 28 October: “The Gaza siege plan”: “impose a total siege on the north of the Gaza Strip, dry up and suffocate the Hamas terrorists in the tunnels until they are forced to come out”; “create a new security strip 2 km deep into the territory of the Strip along our entire border, a permanent Strip … Imagine bulldozers simply levelling the area”; “Countries around the world can take in the refugees—only temporarily, of course—until Hamas surrenders and the war ends. Between 6 months and 5 years”; “In the south of the Gaza Strip … we allow (but do not give ourselves): water, food, medicine … We aren’t allowing any drop of fuel to enter the entire Strip. Without fuel there are no tunnels because there is no ventilation and no lighting … Any country in the world that expresses pain over the situation of the refugees in the south is invited to temporarily host refugees (Scotland, Egypt, Turkey, etc.) … Avoid collateral damage as much as possible as it may lead to [the international community forcing us to] halt the operation before Hamas has been eradicated. …. This plan has been reviewed by experts in international law, and is consistent with all the standards of international law”10

Former advisor to Netanyahu on matters related to national security and former Acting Head of the National Security Council Ya’acov Nagal, 27 October: “Everyone forgets that there were actually two surprises at Pearl Harbour, one in which the Americans were surprised and thousands of soldiers were killed, and the other, which is forgotten, in which the Japanese were surprised by the might of the American response. After two years of watching from the sidelines, the Americans entered with all their strength into involvement in the World War, which began [sic] with a crushing and decisive victory over the Japanese—using doomsday weapons. Israel's responsibility and obligation, after the Hamas surprise, is to fundamentally change the rules of the game, to surprise with the strength of the overall response, and of course to humiliate and defeat Hamas definitively”

Former Likud MK and former Knesset Deputy Speaker Moshe Feiglin, 27 October (?): “Do not leave a stone upon a stone in Gaza. Gaza needs to turn into Dresden … Complete incineration. No more hope … Annihilate Gaza now! Now!”11

Former Israeli Ambassador to Italy and Israel Hayom columnist Dror Eydar, 26 October: “For us, there is one purpose: to destroy Gaza, to destroy this absolute evil”

Former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, 26 October (?): “There is one and only one solution, which is to completely destroy Gaza before invading it. And when I talk about destruction, I mean destruction like it was in Dresden and Hiroshima, without a nuclear weapon”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 25 October: “We can’t, simply can’t, give in with anything related to the entry of fuel into Gaza. Yes, the Palestinians will present [to the world] babies who died in incubators as a result of a power outage due to the lack of fuel, but still, a necessary condition for creating distress for Hamas is a lack of fuel in the entire Strip. As we have already said—[it’s] an existential war, and we are facing a situation of either us or them”

Revital “Tally” Gotlieb MK (Likud, governing), 23 October: “Without hunger and thirst among the Gazan population, we will not succeed in recruiting intelligence, [or] … in bribing people with food, drink, medicine, in order to obtain intelligence”

Former National Security Advisor and former Head of the National Security Council Meir Ben Shabbat, 20 October: “The destruction caused in Mosul was similar in its magnitude to what the Allies inflicted on Dresden in February 1945. At the end of the battle in Mosul, the UN estimated that over 80% of the city, the second-largest in Iraq, was uninhabitable. A similar experience occurred in Raqqa, Syria, another stronghold of ISIS that was targeted by the U.S. military, which also ended with the label ‘unsuitable for human habitation’. This is the real corollary that should come with the statement that ‘Hamas is ISIS’ …  In this war, Israel has no choice. It must act as the Allies did in their war against the Nazis. It’s time to dispel the myth that ‘the Gaza population is a victim of Hamas, which imposed itself on them’. True, not everyone there supports Hamas. There are many who do not share its ways, but the level of support for it undermines the claim that ‘Hamas does not represent the Palestinians’ … It is important to emphasise that there is no dilemma when choosing between adhering to international law and minimising the risks to our forces … [Israel] must respond with overwhelming force”

Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, headed by former Netanyahu National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat, 17 October: “There is a need for an immediate, viable plan for the resettlement and economic rehabilitation of the entire Arab population in the Gaza Strip”12

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King, 17 October: “If the Prime Minister … cared, or his ministers from the State of Israel cared, there would have been 150,000 dead already in the Gaza Strip and not a single building in the Gaza Strip would have been left standing”

Herzi Halevi, IDF Chief of Staff, 17 October: “If Hezbollah makes a mistake and attacks—annihilation, annihilation, annihilation. We did not abandon our values, we operate based on values, but we match them to the cruelty and insanity that the enemy has introduced into this battle”

Former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, 17 October: “The State of Israel needs to clarify to the international community that the only humanitarian solution, assuming one is needed, is outside the borders of Gaza. A refuge city can be established in Sinai and provide aid to the people of Gaza”

Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee member Boaz Bismuth MK (Likud, governing), 16 October: “We must not forget that the cruel and monstrous ‘innocent civilians’ from Gaza had an active role in the pogrom inside the Israeli settlements, in the systematic murder of Jews and the spilling of their blood, the kidnapping of kids, elderly, and mothers, and in the tying up of babies and burning them alive! It is forbidden to show mercy to the cruel, there is no place for any humanitarian gesture—the memory of Amalek must be wiped out”

Former Head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, 16 October: “Currently Gaza is under siege. If you’ve heard my statements on the matter, I said ‘don’t blink’—I’ve seen [now] the first blink … —letting in water to the south of Gaza … If this was done due to pressure from the international community, which doesn’t understand that Gazan civilians went through the fence—civilians! Not just the Hamas terrorists—you’ve seen them in the pictures, completely unarmed, they didn’t have RPGs, they didn’t arrive on motorcycles, looting and participating in the deplorable murder of women and babies” [He doesn’t finish the point because the interviewer moves on to the next question, but the implication is that the civilian population of Gaza should be punished]

Meirav Ben-Ari MK (Yesh Atid, opposition), 16 October: “And the children in Gaza—the children in Gaza have brought this upon themselves!”

Gideon Sa’ar MK (Blue and White, governing), 14 October: “Gaza must be smaller by the end of the war”13

President Isaac Herzog, 13 October: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it’s absolutely not true. They could’ve risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime”14

Israeli Ministry of Intelligence, 13 October: “Option C: The evacuation of the civilian population from Gaza to Sinai … will yield positive, long-term strategic outcomes for Israel, and is an executable option … In the first stage, tent cities will be established in the area of Sinai, the next stage includes the establishment of a humanitarian zone to assist the civilian population of Gaza and the construction of cities in a resettled area in northern Sinai … A sterile zone of several kilometers should be created within Egypt, and the return of the population to activities/residences near the border with Israel should not be allowed. In addition, a security perimeter should be established in our territory near the border with Egypt … Israel must act to promote a broad diplomatic initiative aimed at countries that will support assisting the displaced population and agree to absorb them as refugees”15

Energy Minister Israel Katz, 13 October: “All the civilian population in gaza is ordered to leave immediately. We will win. They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world” 

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 13 October: “Israel needs to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, compelling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Egypt or the Gulf. In order for this to happen, Israel needs to demand four key points with greater determination than ever before. 1) The entire population of Gaza will either move to Egypt or move to the Gulf … 2) Every vehicle in Gaza is considered a military vehicle transporting combatants. Therefore, there is no vehicular traffic, and it does not matter whether it is transporting water or other critical supplies … Israel has no choice. It is comparable to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, which led to the launch of an atomic bomb in Japan. As a result, Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist”

Energy Minister Israel Katz, 12 October: “Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home”

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, 12 October: “The fighting spirit of the IDF blows at Gaza in all its might—and we won’t stop here. Gaza will not look the same… Whoever stays there will understand very well that such a thing cannot be done to the State of Israel”

Energy Minister Israel Katz, 11 October: “For years we supplied Gaza with electricity, water and fuel. Instead of saying thank you, they sent thousands of human animals to slaughter, murder, rape and kidnap babies, women and the elderly—that’s why we decided to stop the flow of water, electricity and fuel and now their local power station has collapsed and there is no electricity in Gaza. We will continue to tighten the siege until the Hamas threat to Israel and the world is removed. What was will not be”

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Danny Ayalon, 11 October: “The residents of Gaza must evacuate their homes just as the residents of Israel near the border evacuated. The Gazans have large spaces in the Sinai where they can evacuate, the international community will mobilise and set up tent cities for them if necessary and ensure that their immediate needs are me”

Amit Halevi MK (Likud, governing), 11 October: “We will pay a heavy price only if we wait and don’t land a decisive blow on Hamas, a blow on the order of magnitude of 10,000 dead among its men. If we make sure they have many fatalities and that 400,000 refugees flee through the Rafah crossing, there won’t be worry about large scale slaughter among our forces.16 We should open the immigration gates to Gaza and to the see. Let people get out and make it clear: he who chooses to leave—can leave. Anyone who stays, bears full responsibility for what will happen to him”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 11 October: “Israel has no choice but to render Gaza into a place that is temporarily, or permanently, unfit for living. Translating this decision [into actions] requires the following steps: First, announcing today to the residents of Gaza that if they value their lives they have to leave for Egypt or gather on the beach in 12 hours. Any building no matter what will be considered a military target. Second, they must evacuate the UNRWA schools and al-Shifa hospital, which will then immediately be attacked by the Air Force, since the bunkers under them are Hamas command centres. Thirdly, we should not be satisfied with stopping the passage of electricity, fuel, and water to Gaza, but rather incrementally hit targets that provide these necessities, and block with firepower any attempt by vehicles to travel from Rafah to the north, if needed. Creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a required means to achieving the goal. We don’t have to worry about international pressure. This pressure is positive, and it will allow us to respond: so what are you proposing? If Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Saudi Arabia want to prevent a humanitarian disaster—have them volunteer to find a solution for Gaza, but one which does not include Hamas.”

Unnamed Israeli defence official, 10 October: “Gaza will eventually turn into a city of tents. There will be no buildings”

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, 10 October: “Gallant toured southern Israel along the Gaza border, telling soldiers they are moving to ‘a full-scale response’ to the Hamas surprise attack and that he has ‘removed every restriction’. ‘Hamas wanted to see a change in Gaza—the reality is Gaza will make a 180. They will regret’”. He also said: “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. Hamas will be no more. We will eliminate everything” 

IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari, 10 October: “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy”

Coordinator of Government in the Territories Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, “speaking to Hamas and the residents of Gaza”, 10 October: “Hamas became ISIS and the citizens of Gaza are celebrating instead of being horrified. Human beasts are dealt with accordingly. Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza: no electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted hell—you will get hell”

Revital “Tally” Gotliv MK (Likud, governing), 10 October: “Only an explosion that shakes the Middle East will restore this country’s dignity, strength, and security! It’s time to kiss doomsday. Shooting powerful missiles without limit. Not flattening a neighbourhood. Crushing and flattening Gaza. Otherwise, we would have done nothing. Not with passwords, with penetrating bombs. Without mercy! Without mercy!”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 10 October: “Israel closed the water supply to Gaza, but there are many wells in Gaza, which contain water which they treat locally, because originally they contain salt. If the energy shortage in Gaza makes it so that they stop pumping out water, that’s good. Otherwise we have to attack these water treatment plants in order to create a situation of thirst and hunger in Gaza, and I would say, signal [sic] an unprecedented economical and humanitarian crisis”

Interviewer: Giora, I want to check that I understand correctly. You are saying—get the residents of Gaza into thirst, into hunger. These are the terms you are using?

“You understood correctly…. Exactly 90 years ago, 1933, Hitler was democratically elected in Germany, with huge support from the German population, and therefore when he started a war of extermination against the whole world, the world justly fought against the country of Germany, including through indiscriminate bombing of the population. When Japan started a war in Pearl Harbour, which is by the way pretty similar to what happened to us in terms of the shock, the US took off the gloves, and at a certain stage was not afraid to use the ultimate weapon, and it was the entire Japanese people, not the leadership, who paid the price…. This is a reality for us or them. Hamas is not a terror organisation, it is the representative of a State, the population of which supported and [still] supports Hamas, which is its authentic representative, and therefore this population is now suffering, and should suffer, a price that will make it change its mentality”

Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Nissim Vaturi MK (Likud, governing), 9 October: “Erase Gaza. Nothing else will satisfy us … Do not leave a child there[,] expel anyone who remains there when it ends, so that they won’t re-establish”

Unnamed IDF officer, 9 October: “This is not about surgical strikes and military infrastructure anymore … This means we will obliterate civilian infrastructure as well. Apartment buildings will be toppled. Hezbollah feeds off our apprehension to land a decisive strike, which means we will exhibit the exact opposite to avoid opening a northern front”

IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari, 9 October: “The goal that has been outlined in the IDF is that on the day after the war, every being left in Gaza will understand the price of starting a war with the State of Israel … Throughout the past 24 hours, we have been conducting aerial strikes—destructive aerial operations that include thousands of armaments. To put that in perspective, the pace of the strikes is five times that of the strikes on Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War. I repeat, five times what it was against Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War”

Energy Minister Israel Katz, 9 October: “I ordered to immediately cut off the water supply from Israel to Gaza. Electricity and fuel were cut off yesterday. What was will not be”

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, 9 October: “We are imposing a complete siege on the city of Gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly”17

Revital “Tally” Gotliv MK (Likud, governing), 9 October: “Jericho missile! Jericho missile! A strategic alert, before we consider introducing our forces. A doomsday weapon! This is my opinion”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 9 October: “The crucial way [sic] to bring down the Hamas regime and achieve a chance, however small, to see our hostages returned—is if there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I’m not ashamed to say that. Israel controls the fuel, soler, electricity, water, and crossings to the Gaza strip. Of course it should not allow the passage of anything to Gaza. But it also has to cut off the connection between Gaza and Egypt. The second issue is the most sensitive point in Gaza: the water. The water in Gaza comes from wells with salt water that is not fit for consumption. They have water treatment plants, Israel should hit those plants. When the entire world says we have gone insane and this is a humanitarian disaster—we will say, it’s not an end, it’s a means”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 8 October: “Israel should completely shut down everything that happens economically in Gaza. Goods and gas, fuel and electricity and water and food. Not only to win the battle, but also because we have so many hostages there. If we ever want to see the hostages alive, the only way is to create a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 7 October (published 5 November): Interviewer: “Should we implement a policy of Ba’al H’bait Histagea? [i.e., going crazy]”

Eiland: “I prefer not to go crazy, I prefer to be calculated. I wouldn't attack civilian targets per-se just because they are there, like hospitals and so on. But any military target, even if it is under a mosque or under a hospital or adjacent to a school, I wouldn’t spare it in that case”

Ariel Kallner MK (Likud, governing), 7 October: “Nakba to the enemy now! This day is our Pearl Harbour. We will learn our lessons in due time

At the moment, one goal: Nakba!

A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48.

A Nakba in Gaza and a Nakba to anyone who will dare to join!

A Nakba to them, because like then in 1948, the alternative is clear”

A Nakba to them, because like then in 1948, the alternative is clear”

Advisor to Defence Minister Gallant, former Head of the National Security Council and former IDF operations chief Giora Eiland, 7 October: “I believe that the only effective way to achieve that strategic goal is to impose a dramatic, continuous, and strict siege over Gaza. This is what Israel has begun to do—we cut the supply of energy, water and diesel to the Strip … People might ask whether we want the people of Gaza to starve. We do not. Therefore, the people of Gaza will have to leave—either temporarily or permanently—via the border with Egypt. When the people have evacuated, and the only ones left in Gaza are Hamas, and when food water has run out—and we can also bomb the water facilities in Gaza so there will be no water—then at some point Hamas will either be completely destroyed or surrender or agree to evacuate Gaza just as Arafat was forced to leave Beirut after an Israeli siege … Israel should not allow any economic assistance. The people should be told that they have two choices; to stay and to starve, or to leave. If Egypt and other countries prefer that these people will perish in Gaza, this is their choice … Within 2 hours Israel could destroy all the water facilities in Gaza. We will not do it today because there are 2 million people there. But we will do it a minute after they leave when the only ones remaining are Hamas. We can be patient, similar to sieges all over history when they last weeks, months and years until the other side possess no ability to function … I’m not punishing the people of Gaza. Hamas behaved like ISIS but they grew in Gaza with the full support of the people of Gaza; 70-80% of people supported them even if they knew their ideology. People have to be accountable for decisions that they make (such as in Germany)”

Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women May Golan, 7 October: “All of Gaza’s infrastructures must be destroyed to its foundation and their electricity cut off immediately. The war is not against Hamas but against the state of Gaza”

#israel #gaza #palestine #nakba #israel palestine conflict #norman finkelstein

[tomorrowusa]

« Antisemitism is fundamentally antithetical to the progressive movement. Now is the time for those on the left to be crystal clear that social hatred, discrimination and violence toward Jews will not be tolerated within their own ranks. Should those on the left allow these ideas to fester, they will cause enormous long-term damage to the progressive agenda that so many have fought so hard to promote for decades. As the Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once wrote, “Some are guilty, but all are responsible.” »

— Princeton Prof. Julian Zelizer writing at CNN.

It's disturbing how some people who claim to be progressive have been espousing antisemitism. Perhaps they are low information types who feel obliged to hop on any bandwagon driven by fringe elements on social media without really examining it.

It is not at all difficult to support the rights of the Palestinian people without acting like a participant in the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville.

I have long supported a two-state solution to accommodate Israelis and Palestinians. It is extremists on both sides which oppose it. Both Hamas and Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu are vehemently opposed to the Oslo Agreement which began the peace process; Bibi and Hamas are frenemies in their opposition to Oslo. So those demonstrators in Western countries proclaiming their love specifically for Hamas terrorists are indirectly on the same side as the most far right government in Israeli history.

Unfortunately it is not at all an exaggeration to say that some of the people who purport to be pro-Palestine are talking and acting like Nazis and Klansmen.

Cornell University student arrested for making violent antisemitic threats: police

Patrick Dai, 21, a junior from Pittsford, New York, was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging him with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications, according to United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman. [ ... ] In another post, Dai allegedly threatened to “stab” and “slit the throat” of any Jewish males he sees on campus, “to rape and throw off a cliff” any Jewish females, to “behead any Jewish babies” and to “bring an assault rifle to campus and shoot” Jewish people.

For people outside the US: Cornell is a prestigious Ivy League university.

For historical reasons, Germany is particularly concerned about antisemitism. Robert Habeck is the leader of one of the three parties in Germany's center-left ruling coalition. He is Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economics. Dr. Habeck felt concerned enough about the rise in antisemitism to make a video about it and print the text in the original German as well as English, Arabic, and Hebrew.

The talk was widely praised in Germany.

There is apparently a DOS attack aimed at the Economics Ministry by foreign elements trying to suppress the minister's comments. Fortunately the video is also available at YouTube with English/Arabic/Hebrew subtitles.

The Vice Chancellor condemns antisemitism regardless of the source – far right, far left, Islamist, and Putin inspired.

What is true in Germany should also be true in its NATO allies, including the United States.

Unfortunately Jewish students at US campuses are being threatened and targeted with hate speech.

Any person targeting or making threats against Jewish Americans because of events in the Middle East needs to be prosecuted by the feds or local law enforcement under applicable laws.

When people cross the red line from criticizing the Israeli government to scapegoating and harassing Jews, they have forfeited the right to call themselves progressives; such people should be shunned and rebuked.

#antisemitism #anti-semitism #jewish americans #cornell university #patrick dai #robert habeck #yoni kurtz #harassment on campus #hamas #binyamin netanyahu #real progressives are not antisemitic #smash antisemitism

[thoughtlessarse]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be moving ahead with his pledge to ban Al Jazeera following the recent passage of a new law in the Israeli Knesset. The law, approved in a landslide 71–10 vote, grants officials the authority to shut down foreign news networks suspected of causing “harm to the state’s security.” “Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli soldiers,” Netanyahu claimed last week, which Al Jazeera vehemently denied. The move has raised concerns among advocates, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, and from the White House. But what will this change mean within Israel, where media and nightly television depict a very different reality than the rest of the world is seeing? Ido David Cohen, a writer and journalist covering Israeli media for Haaretz, views this law as part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation and censorship by Netanyahu that began long before the current war. (His own outlet has been threatened as well.) He spoke to me from Tel Aviv about the state of journalistic independence in Israel, the potential impact of this new law on domestic Israeli media outlets, and how Netanyahu’s erosion of press freedom could have significant long-term implications for Israel’s standing as a democracy, even if the disappearance of Al Jazeera may not change much at first. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Aymann Ismail: It’s jarring to see the Israeli government make lateral moves to ban an international news outlet. Could something like this have happened before the war? Ido David Cohen: It’s funny, it’s almost hard to remember what life was like before the war. Since this government first came to power in January 2023, there were big concerns about what they were going to do regarding freedom of speech. Generally, free speech is allowed as far as journalists can do their work and criticize the government. But over 15 years with Benjamin Netanyahu, since 2009, things have gotten worse. Netanyahu put a lot of effort into making Israeli media loyal or flattering. He made himself the minister of communications and media—what we call in Hebrew Tikshoret. Some of his corruption charges are connected to his behavior in that role. He tried to give orders to media outlets. For example, he and his wife told Walla to remove articles. He planted people who are not journalists in the army radio station, which is actually one of the two mainstream Israeli radio stations. Netanyahu encouraged billionaire Sheldon Adelson to establish a newspaper to explicitly help the right wing. This newspaper, Israel Hayom, was handed out for free in public places like squares and train stations, and is widely considered to be one of the largest factors in Netanyahu’s return to power. It’s why in Israel, we call it “Bibiton,” or “Bibi newspaper,” though it has also been critical of him at times recently. Newspapers, television channels, and some websites have shifted right. We also have media outlets, like Haaretz, that try to do the work and believe in journalism, but we still have to keep our eyes open and be on the lookout for what Netanyahu is trying to do.

continue reading

#israel #media in israel #government control #governnment propaganda

[eretzyisrael]

by Troy O. Fritzhand

A group of 3,000 teachers working in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — the global organization’s agency dedicated solely to the refugees and descendants of Palestinians who fled during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence — glorified and celebrated the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 pogrom across southern Israel in an internal Telegram group, according to a new investigation by UN Watch.

The Geneva-based NGO, which monitors the UN, found that on Oct. 7, when Palestinian terrorists invaded Israel, massacred 1,200 people, and kidnapped 240 others as hostages to Hamas-ruled Gaza, the UNRWA teachers posted messages such as “welcome the great October” and “Allah is great, reality surpasses our wildest dreams.”

One principal, Iman Hassan, said the surprise attack was “restoring rights” of Palestinians. Other teachers called the terrorists “heroes” and said “foreign nationals should remain among the Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip until the siege … is lifted.”

UN Watch exposed 20 specific Gaza educators who celebrated the massacre, ranging from regular teachers to even directors of a training center.

“This is the motherlode of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to jihadi terrorism,” UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said in a statement. In a tweet accompanying the report’s release, he added that the agency was engaging in “the systematic incitement to terror.”

According to UNRWA, the agency has 702 schools with half a million students educated by nearly 20,000 teachers — including those who celebrated the Hamas attack.

Complaints that UNRWA is promoting antisemitism and terrorism are not new.

A report published in November by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), an independent research group, found that at least 14 teachers at UNRWA-run schools had praised the Oct. 7 pogrom carried out by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel.

Another UNRWA teacher was separately accused by an Israeli journalist of having held one of the hostages abducted during the onslaught, depriving him of food and medical attention. For its part, UNRWA has strongly denied that there is any basis to that claim.

The US is the largest donor to UNRWA and gave over $371 million to the organization in 2023. Former President Donald Trump cut funding to the group in 2018, a move that was ultimately reversed when current President Joe Biden took office.

UNRWA’s future role in Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war ends has been a point of discussion in the Jewish state. Hebrew media reported last month that the Israeli government has outlined plans to root out the agency completely from Gaza following the war.

Part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to endorse the idea of the Palestinian Authority governing Gaza should Hamas be wiped out is due to the education it supports via UNRWA that promotes incitement against Israel and Jews.

For example, a 2023 joint report by Impact-se and UN Watch found that UNRWA employees had created classroom material celebrating the firebombing of a Jewish bus as a “barbecue party,” encouraging students to pursue jihad and martyrdom, erasing Israel from maps, and encouraging students to “liberate the homeland” with “their blood,” among other examples of incitement to radicalism.

In its new report, UN Watch called for the immediate dismissal of the teachers it identified and the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy for any future instances of calls for incitement or glorifying terrorism.

#unrwa #antisemitism #hamas #gaza #support for terrorism

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — Shlomo Avineri, a leading Israeli political philosopher, left-leaning former director-general of the country’s foreign ministry and clear-eyed critic of both sides to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, died on Friday. He was 90.

Avineri was a longtime professor of political science at Hebrew University, where he produced important scholarship on Zionist thinkers Theodor Herzl and Moses Hess as well as the works of Karl Marx and G.W.F. Hegel. He applied his historical perspective as a frequent commentator in the Israeli and foreign media, and as a regular columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz.

In 1975, the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin appointed him as director-general of the foreign ministry, then headed by Yigal Allon. The right-wing Likud party, then in opposition, bitterly opposed the appointment of Avineri, who in 1971 edited a book that explored the possibility of negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization when such talks were still illegal. When Likud took office in 1977 with the election of Menachem Begin, Avineri submitted his resignation.

At the time, many in Israel thought Avineri would lead a dovish challenge to the humbled Labor party. “During his one year tenure at the Foreign Ministry he became a familiar face on Israeli television, to such a degree that aides to Allon complained that Avineri was upstaging his boss,” the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported in 1977.

Nevertheless, he returned to teaching at Hebrew University. He headed the political science department and devoted himself to researching the intellectual origins of Zionism.

Even while producing more than a dozen books on 19th-century political thought, Avineri remained deeply engaged with current events in Israel. In a 2011 article for Haaretz, he urged Israelis to understand the Palestinian perspective, but also criticized the Palestinian leadership for denying essential facts about the founding of Israel.

The 1948 war should “not be taught as a battle between narratives. In the final analysis, there is a historical truth,” he wrote. “And without ignoring the suffering of the other, that is how such sensitive issues must be taught.”

Avineri was born Jerzy Wiener in Bielsko, Poland, in 1933. His family arrived in then-Palestine in 1939 and settled in Herzliya. He studied political science and history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his doctorate.

As a visiting scholar he held appointments at Yale, Cornell, the Cardozo School of Law in New York and Northwestern University, among others.  He was also a visiting scholar at the Wilson Center, the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, he advised Eastern European nations about democratization, and in 1989 he served as an observer to the elections in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Avineri was awarded the Rubin Prize in 1969 for his research, the Naftali Prize in 1971 and the Present Tense Award from the  American Jewish Committee in 1982. In 1996 he received the Israel Prize, the country’s highest honor, for political science.

Avineri is survived by his daughter Maayan. His wife Devora (Nadler) Avineri died in 2022.

[languages-with-ian]

GULF ARABIC

!السلام عليكم

First, I'd like to thank everyone for 50 followers! Please keep sharing these posts and feel free to suggest a language or ask a linguistic question!

As the FIFA World Cup progresses through the knockout stage, I'd like to take a dive into the dialect of Arabic spoken in the host country, Qatar.

Arabic as a language is a very broad umbrella encompassing a wide array of dialects spoken from the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, etc. -- the term "Maghreb" (الْمَغْرِب) literally means "the west") to the Arabian Peninsula, and from the Horn of Africa to the Levant. Gulf Arabic, the focus of today's profile, is spoken on the western and southern shores of the Persian Gulf, and to a lesser extent, on the northeast shore. According to Glottolog, Gulf Arabic can be classified as part of the North Arabian Bedouin Arabic set of dialects, part of the Peninsular Arabic branch of the Arabic family. Ultimately, it is a Central Semitic language, the same branch of languages that is home to Hebrew, Phoenician, Ugaritic, Aramaic, and a host of other languages originally native to the Middle East.

Gulf Arabic is spoken by about 10.6 million people (both natively and as a second language), mostly in the Gulf region but also in diaspora. Known locally as "Khalījī" (roughly, "of the Gulf"), this dialect has several features that distinguish it from its dialectal neighbors and from Modern Standard Arabic (MSA, or al-Fuṣḥā - the language of most literature, media, and practically anything else across the Arab world besides vernacular, colloquial Arabic).

Before we dive into particulars, let's take a look at the name, "Qatar". A direct borrowing from Arabic "قَطَر" ("qaṭar" transliterated into the Latin script), it's quite often mispronounced* in English-language media. The Gulf Arabic vernacular pronunciation of the nation's name can be represented in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet, a.k.a. one of my favorite things) like so: [ˈɡɪtˤɑr]. For the uninitiated, imagine saying the English word "guitar" with emphasis on the first syllable. In the video at the beginning of >this article<, the host uses more of a Modern Standard pronunciation, as evidenced by the initial consonant and vowel ("qa" as opposed to "gi").

*However, if someone says something and they mispronounce it or it's not technically a word and you're still able to comprehend what they're trying to say, I say leave it be! It's the polite thing to do, after all.

The Arabic language originated perhaps as far back as 800 BCE somewhere in the northwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Some dialect of Arabic (though certainly not as differentiated as today's Khalījī) was already spoken in Qatar by the time Muhammad sent Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami (العلاء بن الحضرمي) to spread the message of Islam to the area in 628 CE (6-7 AH) (note: it is customary within Islam to follow the Prophet Muhammad's name with an honorific, which this website explains a few of). (If anything in this paragraph is incorrect or disrespectful, please let me know!)

As the centuries passed, empires and caliphates rose and fell. Control over the peninsula changed hands several times well into the modern period. Qatar declared independence from - gasp! - Great Britain only on September 3, 1971, and it had previously been under the control of the Ottomans, Saudis, Persians, and many other dominant regional powers.

Owing perhaps to such a tumultuous regional history, Gulf Arabic's phonology has made some notable shifts away from Classical Arabic (the basis for MSA). Due to influence from an influx of foreign workers (particularly from South Asia), a foreign "p" sound has entered the dialect that distinguishes itself from the "b" sound, an expressly non-native phenomenon requiring a modified letter. Remember that "g" sound in "Qatar" from earlier? This is another of the more visible phonological shifts - though depending on the speaker, some may realize this sound like a Persian "q" (something like a "g" but pronounced back by the uvula), a French "r" (you know the one), an English "g" (phew!), or even like a Classical Arabic "q" in some instances.

I have not personally attempted to learn Gulf Arabic, so I can't give my recommendation on any particular learning apparatus over any other, although this website has a few potential paths to proficiency. However, if you find yourself in Qatar for business or pleasure, you may or may not be pleased to find that English is quite commonly spoken among native Qataris, owing to the nation's recent colonial past with Great Britain.

I would also like to make mention of a hidden gem you may have noticed within this World Cup's logo: the "t" in "Qatar" is quite stretched.

This "stretchy letter" phenomenon is known as "kashida", a borrowing of the Persian "kešide" (کشیده), which means "long" or "weighted" (or, in this instance, "extended"). It can be used for various purposes, such as emphasis of pronunciation or meaning, or as an effort by a calligrapher to fill extra blank space. In many stylized calligraphic texts written in Arabic and its descendant scripts, kashida is perhaps one of the more recognizable techniques utilized, even to someone with no knowledge of what is written.

Here's a link to some Gulf Arabic greetings complete with sound files. Even making the effort to learn some of these will go a long way in opening new doors to you!

Here's a playlist of music by Qatari artists! Listen to the sounds of the Gulf.

I understand this post is quite Qatar-centric, but if you're interested in hearing more about the history and culture of the other areas where Gulf Arabic is prominent (Kuwait, UAE, etc.) let me know and I'd be more than happy to talk about them!

What language would you like to see me profile next? Comment or send me a message! Please follow, share, like, and reblog for more linguistics!

#Afro-Asiatic #language #linguistics #culture #langblog #langblr #languages #arabic #arab #qatar #qatari #persian gulf #fifa 2022 #world cup #fifa world cup #sports #soccer #football

[softest-epilogue]

wakanda stucky headcanons? 🥺🤲

ooooh my absolute favorite 🥺 okay so

1. I like to think Bucky wasn’t in cryo for that long, but when he was Steve refused to leave until eventually Shuri got tired of his moping and made t’challa find him some missions (nomad Steve time!) but when he’d go on them he was super distracted and honestly brutal. no one really talks about those few months — Nat knows what happened, always watching from afar and making sure the media didn’t get a hold of news about captain america burning hydra bases to the ground with people still in them.

2. when Bucky gets out of cryo and they’re settling in, and they’re in their little hut — their favorite time of day is mornings. they wake up just before the sun rises, lazily kissing in bed and make some tea or coffee (tea reminds Steve of Sarah, so he drinks it sometimes) and sitting outside listening to the sounds of the forest and the birds and the goats, the sounds of this now familiar foreign land coming to life before them. they haven’t really said a word to each other, but they don’t need to.

3. I like to think there’s a waterfall and creek somewhere they can swim in and they go in the afternoons. covered by trees and plants, they swim naked and talk about the bath house in Coney Island they used to go to and marvel at the beauty around them. Bucky, who’s finally free, finally at a place of peace able to get back to himself, being the little shit that he is, daring Steve to jump from the top of the cliff into the swimming hole and of course Steve does and Bucky — even though he dared him to — realized he was scared the whole time and swam over to him, faking like he wasn’t checking for injuries when he ran his hands all along Steve’s body. they definitely fucked in the water after that.

4. Bucky adores the animals. Steve adores Bucky. so he’ll watch Bucky feeding the goats and then sit down on the ground and let the baby hop into his lap and the mama goat try to climb up his back and nibble at his hair in a loose bun at the top of this head. Bucky is giggling and he’d lie and say he wasn’t if you ever asked, but Steve secretly took a video and watches it when he’s sad sometimes.

5. of course there’s bad days. there’s nightmares had by both of them. there’s times Steve is talking about something from the past and Bucky gets that distant look in his eye because he doesn’t remember. they’re gentle with each other always, but especially on those days. those are the times for laying in bed and Steve sending a message off to one of the locals they’ve become friends with who watches the goats as well that they won’t be able to that day. sometimes they don’t say a single word and other times they need to keep talking. telling stories of the future, Steve talking about Nat and Sam, about the friendship they’ve built. talking about the technology and movies he’s seen and books he’s read and how ridiculous it is that people think of him as a conservative. other times they’ll talk of the past, sharing memories — whatever Bucky can hold on to that day, and talking about their old friend groups, the secret gay clubs they’d frequent and their sweet old lady neighbor and the cats they used to try to feed as kids. Steve would hum Irish folk music to help Bucky sleep, and Bucky would softly sing a Hebrew song he just remembered and they’d maybe silently cry but it’s healing and that’s all that matters.

#stevebucky #bucky barnes #steve rogers #marvel #wakanda stevebucky has my whole heart #wakanda #ask

[girlactionfigure]

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

Morning - Erev Shabbat Parshat Vayetze - Nov 24

Shabbat Times Israel

Jerusalem - 4:01 - 5:15

Tel Aviv - 4:15 - 5:17

Beit Shemesh - 4:19 - 5:18

Gaza City - 4:21 - 5:19

🔻DRONE ALERT to EILAT… possible suicide drone(s) from Yemen, no reported interception.  IDF: false detection.

🔹GAZA CEASEFIRE IN EFFECT… THIS IS NOT a ‘global ceasefire’, even if it holds attacks from Yemen or Syria or Lebanon possible.  Iraq Shia Militias (under Iran control), "The ceasefire in Gaza, which is supposed to start on Friday, will not include the resistance groups in Iraq."

🔹HOSTAGES, 13 of them, are to be released at 4:00 PM.  

🔹GAZA CLASH… (enemy report) 2 Gazans who tried to return to the north of the Gaza Strip disobeyed the instructions of our forces and were shot.  (Enemy report) there are 7 wounded and 2 dead as a result of IDF shooting at the Netzer checkpoint (south of Gaza City).

◾️ISRAEL POLITICS… one of the pastimes of the news channels is running election surveys.  Big winner - The State Camp / MK Gantz.  Big loser - Likud.  Latest poll says Likud shrinks to 1/2 its size, State Camp becomes the major national party.

◾️THAILAND SAYS… The Foreign Minister of Thailand does NOT confirm the report of an agreement between his government and Hamas to release 23 Thai hostages: "This news came from the media and not information we received officially. We are in contact with governments that we are interested in helping us speed up the release of our hostages as soon as possible."

◾️ELON MUST correction… Musk plans to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, and tour Gaza border communities ravaged by the Hamas.  Correction from our previous note - which used an article in Hebrew that said ‘visit the Gaza Strip’.

#Israel #October 7 #Hamas Massacre #Iron Sword #Real Time Updates

[nickiheadon]

this comment on a post sharing the Lavender AI article from 972 has lived in my head rent free, like...

first of all the article links to plenty of english-language sources but also like??? Israeli media and organizations like B'Tselem publish things in Hebrew, if you're a zionist, surely you support that? surely you wouldn't consider "Israeli" publications writing in Hebrew to be "foreign"? in any case, how is it in any way our fault (like, the fault of anti-zionists) that some research/reporting is published in Hebrew? the author of the 972 article is a Jewish Israeli man anyway, you think he considers Hebrew to be "spooky" and "foreign"???

make up your fucking mind!

#also like i don't doubt that there are people who consider hebrew to be somehow sinister and foreign but like #what do you think most white westerners feel when they see arabic or farsi #there is so much fearmongering around arabic be fucking serious #yes i use the canary colorscheme on here