#middle eastern politics

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

Of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept 11 attacks:

15 were from Saudi Arabia (a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

2 were from the United Arab Emirates (also a powerful/oil-rich country the U.S. works hard to maintain diplomatic relations with)

1 was from Egypt, 1 from Lebanon.

None of the hijackers were from Iraq.

None of the Sept 11 hijackers were Iraqi.

None of the 9/11 hijackers were from Iraq.

#9/11 #serious post #not a shitpost #this should be one of the first things kids learn when they learn about the 9/11 attacks #politics #this is just...it's such an essential and brazen fact and i rarely see basic outrage over it #i want outrage. i want fury. i want disgust over the way fundamental facts are disguised and discarded and downplayed #because there are things we should KNOW. basic fact we should ALL KNOW. and they are tucked away in the footnotes. #and no this is NOT to put the blame on other middle eastern countries #we know this was carried out by a specific terrorist organization not a national government #but King George the Second decided (and was encouraged by his cabinet!) to invade a nation! #a nation that was not at all related or responsible!!! #a dictatorship to be sure--but a dictatorship that King George the First had been happy to support #so what changed? why did we go in guns blazing to DEMOLISH a country *we had NO PLANS OF REPAIRING*??? #well. because they wanted a villain didn't they. a nice clean war. clarity of purpose. us the heroes against them the villains #and when you're in that mindframe--truth is irrelevant. you can pick your villain (your victim) by rolling a roulette wheel #truth is irrelevant #worse: to the people in charge #truth is a HINDRANCE #'Alternative facts' existed long before it became a catchphrase #facts don't matter. truth doesn't matter. the impulses of a handful of volatile & rich & power-high people--that's History. congratulations

[local-ragamuffin]

Hey, um, I don't know if you wanted my take on this, but you've spoken about the genocide being difficult and people claiming that the war is complicated... and I just wanted to share my thoughts. (Please just delete this if you know, you think it's weird) The war is complicated. That is a fact. Both sides have their flaws and merits. But a war isn't necessarily genocide. That (the genocide) is absolutely wrong. Nothing can justify hurting people just for who they are. So yeah, the war is difficult to judge, but the genocide is, as you say, terrible. Just a thought, that's all. No hard feelings intended.

I know the war is complicated. Middle Eastern politics have always been complicated. I recognize that. Maybe that’s what my parents were referring to? Thanks for the fresh perspective, anon.

#aviva answers #the genocide #Palestine #middle eastern politics

[feluka]

calling someone (and palestinians no less!!!!!!) fixating on US politics for matters outside the US 'american-centric'... buddy it will be heaven on earth whenever US politics stop affecting matters outside the US. also where the fuck have you been

#especially in reference to palestine you can NOT be serious #even if you're entirely unfamiliar with the plight of palestine SURELY you've heard of one or two instances #or america meddling in middle eastern politics in general??? surely you must have?? the iraq war at least?? hello?? nothing rings a bell??? #how is it far fetched to you that *gasp* they're neck deep in this genocide? #have you been asleep since birth

[bijoumikhawal]

hello! i hope it's alright to ask you this but i was wondering if you have any recommendations for books to read or media in general about the history of judaism and jewish communities in egypt, particularly in ottoman and modern egypt?

have a nice day!

it's fine to ask me this! Unfortunately I have to preface this with a disclaimer that a lot of books on Egyptian Jewish history have a Zionist bias. There are antizionist Egyptian Jews, and at the very least ones who have enough national pride that AFAIK they do not publicly hold Zionist beliefs, like those who spoke in the documentary the Jews of Egypt (avaliable on YouTube for free with English subtitles). Others have an anti Egyptian bias- there is a geopolitical tension with Egypt from Antiquity that unfortunately some Jewish people have carried through history even when it was completely irrelevant, so in trying to research interactions between "ancient" Egyptian Jews and Native Egyptians (from the Ptolemaic era into the proto-Coptic and fully Coptic eras) I've unfortunately come across stuff that for me, as an Egyptian, reads like anti miscegenationist ideology, and it is difficult to tell whether this is a view of history being pushed on the past or not. The phrase "Erev Rav" (meaning mixed multitude), which in part refers to Egyptians who left Egypt with Moses and converted to Judaism, is even used as an insult by some.

Since I mentioned that documentary, I'll start by going over more modern sources. Mapping Jewish San Francisco has a playlist of videos of interviews with Egyptian Jews, including both Karaites and Rabbinic Jews iirc (I reblogged some of these awhile ago in my "actually Egyptian tag" tag). This book, the Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry, is avaliable for free online, it promises to be a more indepth look at Egyptian Jews in the lead up to modern explusion. I have only read a few sections of it, so I cannot give a full judgment on it. There's this video I watched about preserving Karaite historical sites in Egypt that I remember being interesting. "On the Mediterranian and the Nile edited by Harvey E. Goldman and Matthis Lehmann" is a collection of memiors iirc, as is "the Man in the Sharkskin Suit" (which I've started but not completed), both moreso from a Rabbinic perspective. Karaites also have a few websites discussing themselves in their terms, such as this one.

For the pre-modern but post-Islamic era, the Cairo Geniza is a great resource but in my opinion as a hobby researcher, hard to navigate. It is a large cache of documents from a Cairo synagogue mostly from around the Fatimid era. A significant portion of it is digitized and they occasionally crowd source translation help on their Twitter, and a lot of books and papers use it as a primary source. "The Jews in Medieval Egypt, edited by: Miriam Frenkel" is one in my to read pile. "Benjamin H. Hary - Multiglossia in Judeio-Arabic. With an Edition, Translation, and Grammatical Study of the Cairene Purim Scroll" is a paper I've read discussing the Jewish record of the events commemorated by the Cairo Purim, I got it off either Anna's Archive or libgen. "Mamluks of Jewish Origin in the Mamluk Sultanate by Koby Yosef" is a paper in my to read pile. "Jewish pietism of the Sufi type A particular trend of mysticisme in Medieval Egypt by Mireille Loubet" and "Paul B Fenton- Judaism and Sufism" both discuss the medieval Egyptian Jewish pietist movement.

For "ancient" Egyptian Jews, I find the first chapter of "The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD” by Simon Schama, which covers Elephantine, very interesting (it also flies in the face of claims that Jews did not marry Native Egyptians, though it is from centuries before the era researchers often cover). If you'd like to read don't click this link to a Google doc, that would be VERY naughty. There's very little on the Therapeutae, but for the paper theorizing they may have been influenced by Buddhism (possibly making them an example of Judeo-Buddhist syncretism) look here (their Wikipedia page also has some sources that could be interesting but are not specifically about them). "Taylor, Joan E. - Jewish women philosophers of first-century Alexandria: Philo’s Therapeutae reconsidered" is also a to read.

I haven't found much on the temple of Onias/Tell el Yahudia/Leontopolis in depth, but I have the paper "Meron M. Piotrkowski - Priests in Exile: The History of the Temple of Onias and Its Community in the Hellenistic Period" in my to be read pile (which I got off Anna's Archive). I also have some supplemental info from a lecture I attended that I'm willing to privately share.

I also have a document compiling links about the Exodus of Jews from Egypt in the modern era, but I'm cautious about sharing it now because I made it in high school and I've realized it needs better fact checking, because it had some misinfo in it from Zionist publications (specifically about the names of Nazis who fled to Egypt- that did happen, but a bunch of names I saw reported had no evidence of that being the case, and one name was the name of a murdered resistance fighter???)

#cipher talk #I find Leontopolis fascinating because after the first time a bunch of Egyptian Jews built a temple in Egypt a second guy did it #And allegedly had a not terrible scriptural justification! And the temple lasted for THREE EXTRA YEARS after Jerusalem was sacked! #Never let anyone tell you there was only one temple #There's also other stuff but this is what I immediately had #Some books I have I'm pretty sure just aren't good to start with lmao they're about very specific stuff #Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity politics and culture is interesting and includes Egyptian Jews #But it's definitely got a zionist bias. It's mostly essays #I'd definitely recommend reading up on Joseph Cattaui and Murād Farag because they were simply so influential #Even though Farag was a dumbass that wrote the first Arabic defense of Zionism #Ya‘qub Sannu‘ is also fascinating- he spent a lot of his time defending Muslims to European audiences so some people assumed he reverted #He didn't he just took a hard stance on it. Also he got exiled for criticizing the Khedivate #All 3 are in MMEJT iirc

[belovedgrayson]

I think it should go without saying at this point, but because this is personal for me, I just thought I’d make my stance clear: if you condone Isr*el’s genocide of Palestinians please block me I do not want you around.

#personal #I don’t usually bring politics into things #but I’m Middle Eastern and this is one thing I will not back down from

[luminalunii97]

Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman to win Fields medal in mathematics

Maryam Mirzakhani was one of the greatest mathematicians of her generation. She made monumental contributions to the study of the dynamics and geometry of mathematical objects called Riemann surfaces. Just as impressive as her theorems was her ability to push a field in a new direction by always providing a fresh point of view. Her raw talent was rare, even among the most celebrated mathematicians, and she was known for having a taste for difficult problems. -Kasra Rafi, Nature journal

For many Iranian women in STEM, she is a light and a role model. She's the deity we all look up to every time we get disheartened. But for the regime she was just a woman. Veil first, being treated like a human being next. To the point that when she passed away, due to breast cancer, IRIB and many regime newspapers who covered her passing news, photoshopped her photo to put obligatory hijab on her head. They tried to name her achievements as their own even though one of the main reasons she left Iran was because of how lowly intelligence was treated by this government.

Today was her birth date. RIP to the woman who is the symbol of mathematics in Iran.

#iran #politics #human rights #feminism #maryam mirzakhani #middle eastern women #women in stem #mathematics #mathematician #women #women life freedom #female scientists #women in science #nature journal #iranian women #iranian #middle east

[thingsarentgreat]

Beware of propaganda coming from multiple angles.

You Are Not Immune To Propaganda has become a meme, but remember that it's frighteningly true. Read the articles, not just the headlines. Then read between their lines. Carve out some time to do a little research for multiple sources.

Decolonize Palestine is a good source that's been going around lately. There is also a lot of easy-to-access information on Wikipedia regarding broad overviews of wars, their inciting incidents, their outcomes, their treaties, who benefitted from what, etc. If you can go the extra mile, please use it more as a springboard to access the primary sources listed in their "External Links" section. I've linked a lot of Wiki entries in the following paragraph to introduce topics.

Look into the history of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict to at least familiarize yourself with an overview of Palestine's internal and external struggles against Israel's colonialism. Know about the 1948 Palestine War, the 1956 Suez Crisis, the 1967 Six Day War, the 1987 First Intifada, the 1993 and 1995 Oslo Accords, the 2000 Second Intifada. Pay attention to the numbers of civilian casualties listed in each of those war articles, too. Take a minute to learn what Fatah is in comparison to Hamas, when the last time an election between the two was held (2006), and then which of them currently runs Gaza. Try to look both further back and further forward than that. Not everything is in this post. This is one of the world's longest continuing conflicts.

"I don't want to do homework and this is really complicated" ok well it is complicated but it is also required reading for you to participate in the class discussion, even if you just take 30 minutes on your lunch to skim a little more than a headline or Twitter post. You gotta inoculate yourself with knowledge of history. Like I said, the sources linked here are mostly Wikipedia for broad overviews - scroll to the bottom and find their primary sources. Look up these topics on your own and find more sources.

I'm saying ALL of this not only because it's important on its own, but also because as expected, every damn right-winger and conservative war hawk is using the most recent tragedy as a way to ramp up Islamophobia, while white nationalists are using it to ramp up antisemitism. It's the same type of game plan deployed again and again to take advantage of sorrow, fear, and outrage following intense violence. They want to channel it into hatred of an ethnic group instead. They want your support to pursue more violence against that ethnic group while cloaked in the name of retaliatory justice and peace.

Remember that your enemy is not Islam nor Judaism, nor innocent Palestinians trying to live, nor innocent Israelis trying to live - your enemy is and always has been the states which oppress the people trapped under their boots. Making sure you blur the separation is part of the game-plan.

#free palestine #israel #palestine #israel hamas war #antisemitism #islamophobia #i get it. i dont have time or money to take a 400 level course on middle eastern political history either. #but just do what you can tbh. get some breadth in the sources. #it's exhausting and it's emotionally draining but do your best #it's exhausting to see the numbers. it brings me shame as a jew. #i wish for muslims and jews to get along like the brethren we are #but theres been so much cruelty and bloodshed #i dont know the answer to overcome it #my naivety is speaking when i express my wish #and its a gross simplification because of all that cruel history #all i can do is all i can do #so ill post here and donate and learn and mourn and pray

[weirdsociology]

i just saw a post saying dune should never have been written bc it's so orientalist and while it is orientalist i resent that post for neglecting to mention all the other desert cultures it appropriates.

#herbert worked extensively in the american southwest #dune gets a lot of heat for grabbing stuff from the bedouin but the fremen are also apache as hell #but the current political context is so backward compatible with dune that everyone reads it as strictly middle eastern cultures #anyway i don't agree it shouldn't exist #but if you're gonna be annoyed about it there's more going on than orientalism!

[sangfielle]

this feels like an offensively bad way to divide these things

#in a number of ways. ehhh. #chief among them being 'middle eastern' being used at all #which as i grow older i have less tolerance to even pretending thats not a racist turn of phrase #but also. there are 'middle eastern' ethnic jews. that exist like as an ethnicity. #indigenous is so broad as to basically mean nothing. #ethnically jewish being a distinct category at all. these people are either white or they arent #depending on which group they're from. a large number of them are white. #i was going to keep complaining about other issues but i just realized: its a tumblr poll #and the fact that i politically take offense to my arab part being lumped in with #the part that was arabized . is like. nobody not involved in swana racial politics gives a shit

[wearepeace]

“We can judge our progress by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers, our willingness to embrace what is true rather than what feels good.” ― Carl Sagan

#carl sagan #quotes #nature photography #media #nature #photography #manchester #uk #iraq #naturelover #middle east #united nations #human rights #usa news #usa #usa politics #politics #germany #europe #eurovision #mother nature #poppies #wildflowers #flower #flower photography #floral #daffodils #france #eastern europe #social media

[ltrllynbdy]

So today I was told that I I am self hating and flagellating because I like a "white supreacist who tortured a brown man"

Laurent of Vere look what you did🤣🤣🤣

#Apparently every brown woman like me has to hate every white fictional character that exists #Laurent being a white supremacist is even more hilarious. Literally just because he is blond #Some of you forget that blond middle easterns exist who are born to brown parents. Same with dark skinned Europeans #I never saw Damen as a brown person. The entire story is the authors imaginary Europe #captive prince #I am legit speechless #Race is extremely more political than y'all think

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

The situation in Lebanon today is bleak. Carved out of the remains of the Ottoman Empire and subjected to years of colonialism-lite administration by France, its economy and infrastructure have been devastated by a long civil war, overlapping occupations by Syria and Israel, and corruption on a massive scale. Since 2019, Lebanon has been in the midst of a severe financial crisis, with widespread unemployment and hyperinflation. Now 80% of the population is poor and Lebanon is on the brink of becoming a failed state.

And yet, JD Harlock, Poetry Editor at Solarpunk Magazine, who lives in Beirut, believes in solarpunk. Join us for this episode to find out how that can be and what day to day life is like in Beirut right now.

You can find JD on X and Instagram at @JD_Harlock.

#solarpunk #Solarpunk Presents Podcast #Beirut #Lebanon #Beirut explosion #Beirut Lebanon #hopepunk #hope despite political disaster #podcast #interview #interview podcast #Ottoman Empire #economics #history #Middle Eastern history #colonialism #poetry #solarpunk magazine #solarpunk poetry #poetry editor #Lebanese civil war #civil war #French colonialism #infrastructure #financial crisis #Lebanon financial crisis #Lebanese financial crisis #Syria #Israel #unemployment

[skitskatdacat63]

Lmfao my mom was getting on me abt not having enough to do this upcoming semester so I decided ah okay I'll add another class. And that's perfectly fine. But the one I picked results in the majority of my schedule being generally unaffected and still lax, but my Thursday being absolutely fucked.

For reference, on every other day I'd spend like less than four hours in class/commuting(anywhere from zero hours to almost four), but Thursday, its almost 9 hours combined 😭 which is like fine with me, but I think ill despise thursdays after this, AND MY BIRTHDAY IS ON A THURSDAY :(

#she doesnt like the fact that im practically free on Fridays #<- online class that doesnt meet on that day #so ah i hope this balances out sjkfkflg #the way scheduling in my school works has such a weird affect #my mon/wens/fri are gonna be so chill and then tues/thurs is just....something #it makes it worse bcs one of my classes only takes place for a section of the semester #and that class is mon/wens so im only gonna be online after that #though i still think ill have to meet w that professor bcs there is in fact reasoning for that class to be so short lasting #but tues and thurs is just stuff that ill never get any reprieve from lol #four classes in one day. we'll see how it goes 🥰🥰 #also thurs will be interesting bcs i will have two classes just abt middle eastern politics #i came across a class on the arab-israeli conflict and wanted to take it bcs its obv very relevant rn #and then the one i just scheduled is also abt middle eastern politics so i really am going to be thru the ringer #not that its a bad thing at all!! i just mean its interesting how relevant this semester will be and how im just getting intensely informed #anyways i think the way i schedule would be a nightmare to anyone else #i try to schedule every class after 12(or 11 at least) so then all of them are crammed right after one another #and i wake up an hour before class and leave myself that meager time to get ready and commute lmfao #my friend asked me when i eat lunch. and im like uh ;;; never? 🥰 #lol dw i do eat but like i treat my time on campus like how can i pack this as densely as possible #i dont like sitting around by my lonesome it makes me depressed dhfkkg #also i think i will actually kms with all the writing im goong to have to do this semester #that is my reasoning to my mom abt why she shouldn't be pissed at my supposed lack of activity #like im taking so much thats emphasized with writing. dont worry i will be in fact budy #*busy #catie.rambling.txt

[rotzaprachim]

This is a pretty elementary example but also a clear indicator of. I do not think U.S. racial politics should be applied to this situation

#Not the family guy….. #bro also I knowww IS has an Ashkenazi domination I knowwwww #But the imposition of U.S. racial politics into a middle eastern situation in which even the majority of Jews involved are from the middle #East to be self legitimizing from a U.S. perspective…. #No I don’t think a joke still from an American show should be applied to understand a situation where most people are from the Middle East #And would not be interchangeable with American standards of whiteness to begin with

[stackthedeck]

How can you "stand with israel" when Israel's winning condition of this "conflict" is the eradication of the native population?

I reblogged a single post about children pleading for their lives that’s not standing with shit. Posting isn’t fuck activism and I’m sick of pretending like it is. Have you called your representatives, have you been voting with Israel in mind for past elections? If you’re an American Christian and you give money to your church you’re most likely standing with Israel more than I am. Christian tourism to Israel is one of the most lucrative travel industry on the planet and it’s mostly“non profit” through church donations. It directly benefits American evangelicals for Israel to exist. If you really believe in a free Palestine kill yourself in front of a pastor. Y’all are so ready to say all deaths are justified for anti colonialism. Better yet kill yourself on the steps of capital hill or drive to a reservation and do it there at least you’ll die with your white guilt satisfied. The win condition for western civilization is the eradication of indigenous people groups.

Yes colonialism is bad. Yes what has been happening in Palestine for decades is nothing short of genocide. But killing individual Israeli citizens is not the solution. Doing antisemitism online is not the solution. Posting on fucking tumblr dot com isn’t a solution. Extending basic empathy to children on both sides of the conflict is also not a solution but it feels a lot better than calling for mass death

#asks #I know professors with phds in middle eastern politics who refuses to talk about this with me because they feel they’re uninformed #and people on the internet feel like they’ve got the right to run their mouths #I’m a comic book blog and you want me to talk about politics #this isn’t trivial discourse #this is war and people are dying and I’m fucking devastated #I refuse to delight in human suffering #what do you hope to achieve by sending an anonymous message to me? #are you making the lives of Palestinians materially better with your tumblr post? #I am? #no it’s pointless and it’s a privilege

[luminalunii97]

What Real Heros Of The Year Have Been Up To!

TW blood and rubble bullet wounds

These are real pictures of Iranian women inside of Iran fighting for their basic rights. Fighting to replace a misogynistic regime with freedom and a better democratic future. These were made by nxtanimal a content creator on Instagram.

#tw blood #tw wounds #mahsa amini #iran #iran protests #human rights #politics #feminism #help iran #iran revolution #iranian women #heroes of the year #time magazine #women's rights #women life freedom #feminist revolution #intersectional feminism #middle east politics #middle east matters too #middle eastern women