Israel to World: "Suck It."

That Biden statement is an abomination, but the stranglehold AIPAC has on US politics has been evident for decades.

yeah I wouldn't have expected anything better

There's an actual chance that the actual call was a bit more forceful than the press release - but that doesn't mean Bibi listened

this is how I don’t show up for Democrats in 2024

https://i.imgur.com/0eXrm35.png

Nice passive voice there, NY Times

I guess they just got caught up in these 'clashes'!

Props to Newsnight for actually clipping this out.

“People were going on the holiest night of Ramadan, Laylat al-Qadr, to pray… look at the hundreds who have been injured.”

Head of Palestinian Mission to the UK @hzomlot talks to #Newsnight about the spiralling violence which has triggered airstrikes and rocket attacks pic.twitter.com/dMgChzgUKH

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) May 10, 2021

Nice passive voice there, NY Times

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, May 12, 2021 8:23 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The lumping of 'senior militants' (probably extremist Bassem Issa) with children like it's all part of the same thing is so disgusting.

Mic Righteous tried to say the words "free Palestine" on BBC 1xtra in 2010 and was censored.

One tiny example of how racist, Israeli apartheid has been protected all these years.

Shame. pic.twitter.com/LIFGRnz85D

— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) May 12, 2021

I was in Gaza in 2002 with the International Solidarity Movement, we tried to fix a water pumping station to supply clean water near Khan Yunis. The IDF came and threatened us. The next day we went back and they had demolished it. That’s the reality. #FreePalestine

— 🚩 (@Simon_P_Hannah) May 13, 2021

my heart hours out to bOtH sIdEs

my 3.8 billion? just one lol.

heart GOES*

this whole situation is wrecking me emotionally and biden's statement has really fucking capped it off

I look at Twitter and I’m like how much longer are Democrats going to be able to, at worst, double down on Israel uber alles, or at best do some mealy-mouth bullshit?

Then I look at NYT or cable news (absolute ghouls) or my very liberal to generically liberal FB friends’ feeds (absolute crickets) and I’m like “ok well I guess forever”

I did see a video of a fairly large pro-palestine demonstration in Chicago and in London too.

This is good on how "apartheid" as not enough of a short-hand.

"apartheid" is true but not sufficient for describing israel/palestine. that's the point of using a framework of settler-colonialism and all that entails: yes, apartheid, but also concentration, removal, elimination and theft of land

— joolsd (@joolsd) May 13, 2021

he was on CNN mere hours ago bravely calling out how western media is framing the violence, and now he’s (and other prominent Palestinian voices) being kicked out of his neighbourhood. this is targeted violence that’s attempting to silence Palestinians. https://t.co/cHfwg54Lo8

— Shahed Ezaydi (@shahedezaydi) May 12, 2021

Richard Burgon being good on this as well. He always came across to me as seriously wet in interviews but he appears to have a functioning spine on some things.

I just don't fucking get it. It's been 50 years. An entire generation growing up in a state of violent and racist imprisonment. What on earth has Israel done to earn any benefit of the doubt?? Where is the good faith? Where is the program? What are the steps to ending their illegal occupation and vacating the land that doesn't belong to them? To restoring citizenship to Palestinians? To ending the constant harrassment and persecution? They have lost any shred of moral legitimacy. I don't watch American TV so maybe I'm deluding myself but I think Biden has seriously fucked up his response. I know America funds oppressive, violent regimes all over the world. We fund Saudi Arabia to kill Yemenis and none of the decision-makers suffer any consequences. But they need to. They can't keep murdering people like this. They can't keep making people suffer. It's too fucking horrible.

I wasn't a fan of Burgon when he was in the shadow cabinet either, but now he's a political colossus with moral courage to spare compared to the wanker who replaced him.

"albeit after an Israeli warning"

A 13-story residential block in Gaza collapsed following one of several dozen Israeli air strikes, albeit after an Israeli warning, as Israelis reported explosions and sirens more than 70 kilometers up the coast from Gaza https://t.co/SSGxvCJXLL pic.twitter.com/6X1jh5yFTe

— Reuters (@Reuters) May 11, 2021

That's all right then.

That was always the IRA's get out clause, ironically enough.

the way this is being covered in the media reminds me of how BLM and other Black political movements have consistently expressed solidarity with Palestine, of the confusion and outrage this is always greeted with, and of how both confirmed enemies and ostensible sympathisers keep trying to use this violation of actually-existing-political-correctness as a wedge in order to discipline and undermine those movements

https://jewishcurrents.org/road-to-nowhere/

BBC News have played a clip of an Israeli man calling for the government to wipe out Gaza. I thought I had misheard when they played it earlier this evening but no, that’s exactly what he said. And they’ve aired it again.

— Marxcelo Bielsa (@judeinlondon2) May 13, 2021

the electricity all over Gaza is being cut off, people are fleeing their homes barefoot, and the airstrikes have been hitting the region non stop for 5+ minutes. this is a Massacre. #GazaUnderAttack

— س (@paIestiine) May 13, 2021

fwiw, this is how WashPo is reporting the electricity situation: "In Gaza, damage to power lines cut daily electricity in some parts of the enclave to around three hours."

there are a lot of things in the year of our Lord 2021 that make me feel insane but watching The Adults explain this away is at the top of the heap atm

it's fucking insane that this is just happening and so many are ok with it

Ministry of Health in Gaza: 109 martyrs until the moment, 28 of them are children and 15 women. 621 injuries #GazaUnderAttack

— Aya Isleem 🇵🇸 #Gaza (@AyaIsleemEn) May 13, 2021

colonial powers are ok with this because they created this and the question of its legitimacy is also their own

Israel continually dares the USA and European nations to make it a pariah state and those nations reflexively flinch away from that. The fact that Israel holds elections which endorse governments who follow these policies does not make those policies less criminal. Nothing North Korea has done to date is objectively worse than what Israel has done and continues to do.

I want to fucking cry.

a friend from tel aviv tells me that the most insane, rabid settlers are usually american, and somehow this is never a surprise

Israel continually dares the USA and European nations to make it a pariah state and those nations reflexively flinch away from that. The fact that Israel holds elections which endorse governments who follow these policies does not make those policies less criminal. Nothing North Korea has done to date is objectively worse than what Israel has done and continues to do.

― sharpening the contraindications (Aimless), Thursday, May 13, 2021 7:45 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

The Saudis are destroying Yemen, China are in the midst of perpetrating a genocide and providing cover for the destruction of another ethnicity in Burma, no one in the US bats an eyelash for the treatment of the Kashmiris in India, etc. The standard for the pariah state doesn't exist and have never existed if the interests of the US and European align.

European nations align*

yes. i feel like there have been at least a pro forma sentence or two in US official statements about those though? maybe i’m deluding myself. but biden feels like he’s simply taking sides with israel in a more complete way than i can remember an actual non-Trump administration do. there was at least the pretension of being an honest broker before so as to play a part in some putative peace process.

Watch @AbbyMartin interview Israelis in West Jerusalem.

It's not just ultra-religious, extremist settlers who use the language of genocide against Palestinians.

[Full video: https://t.co/1iAzEWzB2g] pic.twitter.com/HS2s0Shfj4

— The Empire Files (@EmpireFiles) May 14, 2021

V hard to see how this is turned around. So grim.

1/
A thread about Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's interest in the current escalation of violence

— Shiri Eisner 💖💜💙 (@ShiriEisner) May 14, 2021

I don't buy that analysis (the "wag the dog") theory. I mean sure, Bibi benefits from military aggression, but this follows a pattern that I feel like I've seen under multiple administrations, which is that settlement expansion goes on quietly until there is some provocation that escalates sufficiently, at which point hamas will fire rockets and Israel will call in airstrikes and sometimes more. Hamas sees this as an opportunity to make the world pay attention again when they have stopped paying attention, and Israel sees it as a short window to cripple Hamas, but neither really benefits from it continuing for very long and it dies down again after a few weeks or so.

I extremely buy that and also wag the dog

yes. i feel like there have been at least a pro forma sentence or two in US official statements about those though? maybe i’m deluding myself. but biden feels like he’s simply taking sides with israel in a more complete way than i can remember an actual non-Trump administration do. there was at least the pretension of being an honest broker before so as to play a part in some putative peace process.

In some senses this is pretty insignificant compared to what's going on right now, but it touches my life (as the American spouse/parent in such a couple) and speaks to the increasing effort by Israel to create a "with us or against us" mentality - and, in fact, it's hard for me to see any other purpose to this extremely bizarre law. Basically this means that my kids can't see much of their extended family unless they get Israeli passports. However, I don't want them to get Israeli passports, so some difficult family conversations are coming. Personally I'll shed no tears if I never set foot in that country again (and honestly how bout they visit us for once if it's so fucking important?!), but it's not an easy thing to confront.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/israelis-abroad-angered-by-new-forced-passports-for-their-children-667402

THAT HAPPENED TONIGHT IN JERUSALEM: hundreds of Jews and Arabs were STANDING TOGETHER against the violence and the occupation, and for an immediate ceasefire. Next to Jerusalem, @omdimbeyachad
Organised dosends of other rallies.

This is how hope looks like in such dark days. pic.twitter.com/Cx81M7V3mT

— Alon-Lee Green - ألون-لي جرين - אלון-לי גרין (@AlonLeeGreen) May 13, 2021

I don't buy that analysis (the "wag the dog") theory. I mean sure, Bibi benefits from military aggression, but this follows a pattern that I feel like I've seen under multiple administrations, which is that settlement expansion goes on quietly until there is some provocation that escalates sufficiently, at which point hamas will fire rockets and Israel will call in airstrikes and sometimes more

likud has a pattern of intentional provocation at times politically beneficial to them, dating at the very least back to ariel sharon and the second intifada

One Road

أُريــــِـــدُ بــُـــنــْـــدُقــِــــيـــّـــة

I need a rifle

خــَــاتــَـــمُ أُمــّــي ، بــِــعــْـــتــُــهُ

The ring of my Mum I sold

مــِــنْ أَجــْــلِ بــُــنــْــدُقــِــيــّـــة

For a rifle

مـِــحــْــفــَـــظــَـــتــِـــي رَهــَــنــْــتــُــهــَــا

My wallet I mortgaged

مـِــنْ أَجــْــلِ بــُــنــْــدُقــِــيــّـــة

For a rifle

الـلــُّــغــَــةُ الـتـي بــِــهــَــا دَرَســْــنــَــا

The language with which we studied

الــكــُــتــُـــبُ الـتـي بــِــهــَــا قــَــرَأنــَــا

The books in which we read,

قــَــصــَـــائـِــدُ الـشـِّــعــْـــرِ الـتـي حــَــفــِــظــْــنــَــا

The poems which we learned

لــَــيــْــســَـــتْ تــُــســَـــاوي دِرْهــَــمــَــاً

Are not worth a dirham

أَمــَــامَ بــُــنــْــدُقــِــيــّـــة

In front of a rifle

أصــْــبــَــحَ عـِــنــْــدِي الآنَ بــُــنــْــدُقــِــيــّـــة

Now, that I have a rifle

إلــى فــَــلــَـــســْــطــِــيـنَ خــُــذُونــِــي مـَــعــَــكــُــم

To Palestine, take me with you

إلــى رُبــَــىً حــَــزيــنــَــةٍ كــَــوَجــْـــهِ مــَــجــْــدَلــِـــيـــَّــه

To sad hills like the face of a Magadalan (woman)

إلــى الــقــِـــبــَــابِ الـخــُـــضــْـــرِ .. والـحــِــجــَـــارَةِ الــنــَّــبــِـــيــَّــه

To the green domes .. and nimble stones

عــِــشــْــرونَ عــَــامــَــاً .. وأنــَــا

Twenty years .. and I

أبــْــحــَـــثُ عــَــنْ أرْضٍ وعــَــنْ هــَـــويــَّـــه

Have been searching for a land and identity

أبــْــحــَــثُ عــَــنْ بــَــيــْــتــِــي الـذي هــُــنــَــاكَ

Searching for my home that is there

عــَــنْ وَطــَــنــِــي الــمــُــحــَـــاطِ بـــِــالأســْــــلاك

For my homeland that is sieged with wires

أبــْــحــَـــثُ عــَــنْ طــُـــفــُــولــَــتــِــي

Searching for my childhood

وعــَــنْ رِفــَـــاقِ حــَــارَتــِــي

And for my neighborhood companions

عــَــنْ كــُـــتــُــبــِــي .. عــَــنْ صــُـــوَرِي

For my books .. my photos

عــَـــنْ كــُـــلّ رُكــْــنٍ دَافــِــئٍ .. وكــُــلِّ مــِــزهــَـــريــّـــه

For every warm corner .. and for every vase

أصــْــبــَــحَ عـِــنــْــدِي الآنَ بــُــنــْــدُقــِــيــّـــة

Now, that I have a rifle

إلــى فــَــلــَـــســْــطــِــيـنَ خــُــذُونــِــي مـَــعــَــكــُــم

To Palestine, take me with you

يــَــا أيــُّــهــَــا الــرِّجــَـــال

O, fellow men

أريـــدُ أنْ أعــِـــيشَ .. أوْ أمــُـــوتَ كــَــالــرِّجــَـــال

I want to live .. or die .. as a man

أريـــدُ .. أنْ أنــْـــبــِــتَ فــِـي تــُـــرَابــِــهــَـــا

I want to sow in its dust

زَيــْـــتــُــونــَــةً ، أوْ حــَــقــْـــلَ بــُــرْتــُـــقــَـــال

An olive or an orange farm

أوْ زَهــْـــرَةً شــَـــذِيــَّـــه

Or a scented rose

قــُــولــُـــوا .. لـِــمــَــنْ يــَــســْــألُ عــَــنْ قــَــضــِــيــّــتــِــي

Tell .. whoever asks about my problem

بــَــارُودَتــِــي .. صــَــارَتْ هــِــي الــقـــَـــضــِــيــَّـــه

That my bullet .. has become the problem

أَصــْــبــَــحَ عـِــنــْــدِي الآنَ بــُــنــْــدُقــِــيــّـــة

Now, that I have a rifle,

أصــْــبــَــحــْـــتُ فــِــي قــَـــائـِــمـَــةِ الــثــُّــــوَّار

I have been enlisted as a revolutionist

أفــْـــتـــَـــرشُ الأشــْـــوَاكَ والــغــُـــبــَــار

I sit on thorns and dust

وألــْــبــَــسُ الــمــَـــنــِـــيــَّـــه

And I dress in death

مــَــشــِـــيــئــَـــةُ الأقــْـــدارِ لا تــَــرُدُّنــِــي

The will of fate cannot stop me

أنــَــا الــذي أغــَـــيــّـــرُ الأقــْـــدار

I am the one who changes fate

يــَــا أيــّــهــَـــا الــثـــُّـــوّار

O, fellow revolutionists

فــِــي الــقــُـــدْسِ ، فــِـي الـخــَــلــِــيــلِ

In Jerusalem .. in Al-Khalil (Hebron)

فـِـي بــيــســَــانَ ، فــِـي الأغــْــوَار

In Bisan .. in the Jordan Valley

فــِــي بــَــيــْـــتِ لــَــحــِـــمٍ .. حــَــيــْــثُ كــُــنــْـــتــُــمْ أيــُّــهــَــا الأحــْـــرَار

In Bethlehem .. wherever you are, free men!

تــَـــقـــَـــدَّمــُـــوا

Proceed

تــَـــقـــَـــدَّمــُـــوا

Proceed

فــَــقــِـــصــَّـــةُ الــســَّـــلام .. مــَــســْـــرَحــِـــيــَّــه

For the story or peace .. is a play

والــعــَــدلُ .. مــَــســْــرَحــِــيــَّــه

And Justice .. is a play

إلى فــَــلــســْــطــِــيــنَ طــَــريـــقٌ وَاحــِــدٌ

To Palestine, there is only one road

يــَــمــُـــرُّ مــِــنْ فــُــوَّهــَــةِ بــُــنــْـــدُقــِـــيــَّــه

That passes through the mouth of a rifle.

Brillant larping!

No wonder antisemitic crimes are on the rise.