Israel to World: "Suck It."

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.

If this war hadn't taken place, someone else would have been PM by now. And the attack on the worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque had no rationale except for being a deliberate attempt to provoke violence.

Responding to these odious provocations with further provocations has not worked for palestinian authorities nor it has worked for the palestinian peoples. Nethanyahu is not that smart, but it might turn out that Hamas is that dumb, and online larpers even worse.

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

― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Friday, May 14, 2021 3:26 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

My former roommate wrote about this a few years ago:
Before the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, military correspondent Amir Oren reported, an officer who served under Dagan “claimed that on orders from the IDF, under cover of the Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Foreigners, deadly strikes were being carried out against Palestinian targets, and the casualties included innocent civilians.” That anonymous complaint “reached the press,” he said, “and from there – even though the military censor forbade publication – it reached Begin.”

The complaint named four senior Israeli officials: Raphael Eitan, the IDF Chief of Staff; Meir Dagan, the commander of the South Lebanon Region; head of Northern Command Avigdor Ben-Gal; and Shlomo Ilya, an intelligence officer. Yehoshua Saguy, the head of Military Intelligence, looked into the allegations and concluded that they were accurate. His complaint led nowhere however: according to Oren, Prime Minister Menachem Begin “didn’t want to believe it, especially on the eve of an election.”

The dispossession of land and destruction of housing, no clean water or employment = provocations!

I’m talking about the storming of Al-Aqsa and the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah which prompted Hamas launching of missiles on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

I’m talking about the storming of Al-Aqsa and the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah which prompted Hamas launching of missiles on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

― Van Horn Street, Friday, 14 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Fixed it for you

Congrats dude you resolved the situation.

Only Nethanyahu thugs would make arguments that storming a sacred space during one of the holiest celebrations isn’t provocation... and sure enough Hamas responded ~exactly to this particular event as opposed to 3 months ago when occupation was on-going just as much as it is today, but any bedfellow is okay to sleep with as long as you get to live your activist fantasy online.

Then please go to Gaza, brave keyboard warrior

— Yitzak Ben Aaron (@yitzak_ben) May 14, 2021

there is apparently no conceivable level of resistance and self defence here that both-sidesers will accept. keyboard pacifists are at least as bad as keyboard warriors

When that 'self-defence' has done nothing to concretely help Palestinian people, and the perpetrators are bent on genocidal ideas, are the moral equivalent of Boko Haram and ISIS, and is the arm of a foreign agressive state 2000 km away, then no I do not think it's acceptable, nor do I believe it is to be self-defence. The Israeli government and the IDF being as dangerous, racist and extremist as Hamas doesn't justify anything. But sure align yourself with organisations that kills homosexuals, the story absolutely needs you to choose a good guy and a bad guy, after all it's entertainment for keyboard warriors like yourself.

VHS no one here is 'aligning themselves' with Hamas that I can see.

True, there is just justifications of their actions and militant chants that call for the killing of Israelis.

You've used your keyboard more than anyone tonight.

shocking that the poster who’s a flagrant ass on the Venezuela thread has some Very Serious Thoughts on this thread too

Ah yes that time I argued that Maduro’s governement was a brutal regime that ought to never exist anymore. How terrible of me.

lol VHS when comrade alphabet called out your soft-pedalling of the murder at the Al-Aqsa mosque as 'provocation' - obviously saying that word isn't harsh enough - you pretended that he meant the IDF's action didn't RISE to the level of provocation - 'aligning' him with Netanyahu thugs! Why?? Actually forget it, I don't care. People are hurting on this thread, trying to understand. Nobody's holding up Hamas as some exemplar of political morality. Get off your high horse man.

Azza Slimene is a US-based Tunisian super model. She has 1.4 million followers on Instagram. Yesterday she invited a Palestinian man from Gaza to talk about the situation there. Today this happened. pic.twitter.com/389z9ThMlB

— Rania Said (@rania_tn) May 14, 2021

lol VHS when comrade alphabet called out your soft-pedalling of the murder at the Al-Aqsa mosque as 'provocation' - obviously saying that word isn't harsh enough - you pretended that he meant the IDF's action didn't RISE to the level of provocation - 'aligning' him with Netanyahu thugs! Why?? Actually forget it, I don't care. People are hurting on this thread, trying to understand. Nobody's holding up Hamas as some exemplar of political morality. Get off your high horse man.

― Tracer Hand, Friday, May 14, 2021 6:41 PM (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well surely if no one is defending Hamas' actions I can continue criticizing their poor treatment of Palestinian peoples and their strategy towards Israel.

I am not the only one, on ilxor and elsewhere, that have used the word 'provocation' to describe the actions by Netanyahu. Do I believe these provocations are aligning with a genocidal desire to erase the Palestinian territories? Absolutely I do. I am just making the case that Hamas responded to that event specifically (and the expulsions from Sheikh Jarrah) when it decided to launch hundreds of rockets into Israel.

Noted!

fuck hamas but they are not isis or boko haram ffs

I am just making the case that Hamas responded to that event specifically (and the expulsions from Sheikh Jarrah) when it decided to launch hundreds of rockets into Israel.

― Van Horn Street, Friday, 14 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

How should Palestinians respond to this?

why don't they suggest some kind of boycott or stage a non-violent protest at the border or something who could object to that

I don’t think this avenue is particularly useful. It’s not up to Palestinians to fix the situation. They’ve done everything they can and been crushed. VHS as I read him was asserting that the rockets were specifically in retaliation for Al Aqsa rather than anything before, or a cumulative response. I’m not sure why that’s an important distinction. Surely it could be, and almost certainly is, both.

otm

For me it feels gross to call Israel a “settler colony“ and it’s depressing how a big part of the (twitter) left is seemingly ok with it

Israel is a settler colony

its existence as a consequence of European antisemitism makes it unique but that doesn't change what it is or how it works. the founders were quite explicit about this

So that’s the Gaza offices of Associated Press and Al Jazeera being told they’re about to be bombed.

— Elvis Buñuelo (@Mr_Considerate) May 15, 2021

BREAKING: Al Jazeera forced to broadcast destruction of its own media offices in Gaza, along with all equipment left inside

pic.twitter.com/wwqOk6km7H

— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) May 15, 2021

w-ow

just read this in the Guardian: "Palestinian fatalities from strikes on Gaza stand at more than 132, including 32 children."

(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/15/israel-gaza-west-bank-rockets-jerusalem-warplanes)

Who should we be morally equating Israel to?

assuming that's a rhetorical question all states & companies providing weapons & support are responsible including the countries most or all of us are typing from. "as bad as..." is a hopeless dead end

yes, I wasn't actually asking for comparisons, rather pushing back against VHS's unhelpful invocation of ISIS and Boko Haram as Hamas's moral equivalents, whatever that means

Far right jihadists who use terrorism and war as a tactic, I believe the moral equivalent is there. Another moral equivalent would be IDF and the right wing governement of Israel, who just happened to be better armed, but seek just as much as Hamas the extermination of the other people.

you’d think the purposeful targeting of foreign media might cause the u.s. to step in but noooo

the value of these comparisons is in the potential response they would warrant or provoke were they to be taken seriously and I've tried to exploit this myself by e.g. calling trump fans nazis. especially considering how expansively "hamas" is being defined by the state of israel and in our media we don't need comparisons to some of the worst people in the world

well, we have now scolded them so they should stop now xp

We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) May 15, 2021

can we not with the fucking "jihadism" and "terrorism" please this the language of empire

On reading VHS's reasonable response, I think my take is that I don't personally find "moral equivalency" all that helpful as a concept. IMO too many political arguments proceed along these kinds of analogical lines and end up being about an abstract principle (e.g., the use of "terror" which is distinct from "war") instead of the local details.

OTOH I also call trump fans and other fascists nazis so idk

you’d think the purposeful targeting of foreign media might cause the u.s. to step in but noooo

Doesn't this happen every time Israel decides to bomb Gaza? I mean the purposeful targeting of foreign media not the US stepping in (as if).

2014:

17 journalists were killed in the conflict,[561][562] of which five were off-duty and two (from Associated Press) were covering a bomb disposal team's efforts to defuse an unexploded Israeli artillery shell when it exploded.[563][564] In several cases, the journalists were killed while having markings distinguishing them as press on their vehicles or clothing.[565][566] IDF stated that in one case it had precise information that a vehicle marked "TV" that was hit killing one alleged journalist was in military use.[567][568] Several media outlets, including the offices of Al-Jazeera, were hit. The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the attacks as "appalling murders and attacks".[569] Journalists are considered civilians and should not be targeted under international humanitarian law.[570] The Israeli army said it does not target journalists, and that it contacts news media "in order to advise them which areas to avoid during the conflict".[564] Israel has made foreign journalists sign a waiver stating that it is not responsible for their safety in Gaza, which Reporters Without Borders calls contrary to international law.[571][572][573]