It's terrible that Israeli civilians were murdered.
It's wonderful that the world is stating such, and showing its support to prevent further murder of innocents.
It's terrible that Palestinian civilians were murdered.
It's terrible that the world is ignoring this, and turning a blind eye to further murder of innocents.
Exactly. If you look at the big picture, Israelis have killed WAY more Palestinians over the years, as well as apartheid and stealing Palestinian land.
I'm not taking sides, but the one sided coverage gross.
taking sides is fine and even right, but that needs to come with recognition and acceptance of that side's problems
The problem with this conflict in particular is that taking the side of Palestine has become synonymous with taking the side of Hamas, or with simply being antisemitic. It's essential if you want to express any support for Palestine that you also painstakingly lay out exactly what you support and what you don't, otherwise.... Well, the onion said it best.
it hasnt become synonymous, certain people want to make it seem like theyre synonymous
It doesn’t matter who killed more. That’s why this never ends. “My tragedy is worse than your tragedy” is never productive. It just serves as an (incorrect) argument for why it’s permissible for one group to keep committing atrocities while the other group has to suffer it and be the first to bury the hatchet. Then the script flips and everyone does it again from their respective positions. It never ends.
It's terrible that some civilians immigrated to Israel for the sole purpose of becoming settlers and pushing Palestinians out.
It's terrible that some civilians immigrated to Gaza for the sole purpose of having as big a family as possible to use their own children and grandchildren as human shields against Israeli settlers.
It's terrible that dual-citizenship people on both sides are asking "their" [other] countries to evacuate them, after having spent decades there on purpose.
It's terrible that Israel is willing to watch millions of civilians starve... that Egypt doesn't want to let refugees in... and Hamas doesn't want to let them out.
So far, I see nothing wonderful in all of this.
Can you substantiate that 2nd point? I haven't heard it anywhere before.
‘The Onion’ Stands With Israel Because It Seems Like You Get In Less Trouble For That - The Onion posts absolutely fire satire (safire?) once again
Their Onion Explains: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is eight years old, but I still consider it paramount to understanding this complex geopolitical conflict.
Omar and Tlaib Are Condemned in the US for Saying What Prominent Israelis Are Saying^(^^direct^^)^
About 1/3rd through the article, they start highlighting some of the progressive conversations that have been being had in Israel, comparing them to the remarks AOC, Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, and others have been criticized as "disgraceful" for.
Some important ones IMO:
Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator and top adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who told the BBC, “If anyone told me that what the militants did on the weekend was a legitimate response to years and years of occupation. I would say: ‘No, you’re wrong-headed. You’ve lost sight of humanity and reality.’ And if anyone tells me that what Israel is doing in Gaza today is a legitimate response to what happened on the weekend, it’s exactly the same.”
Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, an expert on the rules of war, observed Wednesday that “Hamas committed abominable war crimes for which there can be no forgiveness. But the laws of war weren’t meant only for situations in which our blood is cool, or when there is no justified anger or understandable desire for revenge.” The lawyer explained:
It’s not easy for Israelis to think about Gazans’ rights in a week when Hamas committed crimes that are still impossible to digest and our whole society is mourning and crying. But Gaza’s catastrophe won’t wait for the end of our seven-day shivah.
Consequently, this needs to be said: Israel has held millions of people under a brutal blockade for more than 15 years with the support of the entire Western world. That is inhumane and inconceivable, and every solution to this bloody conflict ultimately includes respecting the rights of all people, both in Gaza and Sderot, to live with security and human dignity. And that begins with respecting the most basic rules as set down in the international laws of war, which are designed to reduce the harm to civilians.
It's easy to get stuck in a North American bubble of media, but it's also important to note what's being said locally by people who have eyes on the ground and have been watching this stuff grow first hand for 75 years since the occupation of Israel.
It's very telling that the media began insinuating (or labeling outright) Representatives Omar and Tlaib as being antisemitic for criticizing Israel's response, but when Sanders says the same thing, and even more, they don't.
If it's not antisemitic for a Jewish person to say, it's not antisemitic for someone else to. No one is immune from criticism that would otherwise be valid, simply because of who is giving it.
kicking things off: Israel is creating a shit ton of collateral damage. MSF says they're being given just hours to evacuate their patients in Gaza before bombing continues:
it's also just come out that an Israeli strike in Lebanon killed a Reuters journalist:
this is also a kind of insane detail to how bad the Israeli government has been handling the situation so far: The president of the United States has spoken with the families of Israelis whose loved ones are being held captive in Gaza. The prime minister of Israel has yet to do so. Make of it what you will.
US State Dept. Officials Told Not to Use Terms 'De-Escalation/Cease-Fire' About Gaza - just... big sigh.
According to HuffPost, which reviewed official emails, "State Department staff wrote that high-level officials do not want press materials to include three specific phrases: 'de-escalation/cease-fire,' 'end to violence/bloodshed,' and 'restoring calm.'"
fyi: if you'd like a vetted cause to donate to, people are fundraising for Palestine Children's Relief Fund which is one of the best charities i'm aware of that does relief work in Gaza and puts basically all of the money given to them toward actual work and not salaries or overhead.
do you have one for EU folks? want to donate, but donating to an actual trustworthy org is hard enough when there isnt this much misinformation
US State Dept. Officials Told Not to Use Terms 'De-Escalation/Cease-Fire' About Gaza
"This is unconscionable and will leave an indelible stain," said one critic, who urged "resignations and collective action" to protest the reported policy.
NBC News now reporting the following: Documents exclusively obtained by NBC News show that Hamas created detailed plans to target elementary schools and a youth center in the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa'ad, to "kill as many people as possible," seize hostages and quickly move them into the Gaza Strip.
What a convenient find.
Corporate Media Outlets Are Obscuring Settler Colonialism in Their Gaza Coverage
It is impossible to accurately grasp the current situation without discussing the concept of settler colonialism.
Journalist Rips Palestinian ‘Terrorism’ Narrative to Shreds
Israel has been calling Palestinian fighters “terrorists” to justify its slaughter of Gaza.
Breakthrough News journalist, Eugene Puryear, rips this narrative apart, explaining the long history of oppressed and colonized people being demonized and called terrorists and savage to justify the continued occupation of those people. No different than the Native resistance to American colonization, slave rebellions in the Americas, the Haitian Revolution, Palestinians are resisting Israeli colonialism, not out of bloodlust as the media has portrayed it, but because of decades of land thefts, massacres, second-class citizenship and the denial of the right to return that has persisted for decades.
Israel Is ‘Very Sorry’ For Attack That Killed Journalist Issam Abdallah
The Israeli army has expressed that they are “very sorry” for the death of Lebanese Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, who was killed in an Israeli shelling at the Lebanon border.
Despite the IDF’s expression of regret, the vehicle Abdallah was in was clearly marked as a media car. The incident occurred while Abdallah and other journalists were covering ongoing clashes at the border.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned Israel’s actions, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed condolences, emphasizing the need for journalists to be protected.
Gaza: Nowhere to go, as humanitarian crisis reaches 'dangerous new low' ^(^^direct^^)^
The UN chief told reporters outside the Security Council the world had to unite around the principle of protecting civilians and "finding a lasting solution to this unending cycle of death and destruction."
CBC | As Israel expands Gaza offensive, it has lonely critics in Washington^(^^direct^^)^
As Israel expands its military offensive in Gaza, some Democrats in the US are expressing growing criticism of Israeli actions. Younger progressive Democrats have been more vocal in calling for civilian protections and a ceasefire. However, support for Israel remains strong among both Democratic and Republican leadership as well as the general public. While progressive critics want to see Palestinian lives prioritized, Israel sees no viable negotiating partner with Hamas controlling Gaza. The article discusses the long history of US support for Israel since its founding and changing views over time. Some analysts believe criticism from the left lacks real political power but could influence younger voters. Ultimately both sides express pessimism about prospects for peace given the deep tensions and lack of trust between Israelis and Palestinians.
It's evidenced in the vote in the last U.S. Congress to top up American funding for Israel's missile-defence system: a lopsided result of 420 to 9.
I checked who voted which way, and the following were Nay votes:
Present:
No Vote:
Journalists are among the casualties in the war between Israel and Hamas
At least 10 journalists have been killed over the past week in Gaza and Israel. Several more are missing or detained.
The IDF said that just like they said there were a bunch of decapitated babies before they walked that lie back
Seattle Rabbi David Basior Eulogizes Former Congregant Killed by Hamas, Says Occupation Must End
As more details emerge about the shocking Hamas attack on Saturday, we speak with Rabbi David Basior of Kadima Reconstructionist Community, a progressive Jewish group in Seattle focused on social justice. Basior’s former congregant Hayim Katsman was among those killed in Israel by Hamas militants who stormed Kibbutz Holit. The 32-year-old was a gardener, mechanic and peace activist who worked with anti-occupation groups. During the attack, he shielded a woman from bullets with his own body, saving her life at the cost of his own. Katsman’s family have said that he would not have wanted his death to fuel retribution against Palestinians. “Life is the utmost. It is the most core teaching that I have received from my tradition, from my ancestors,” says Basior, who evokes the phrase “never again,” used in remembrance of the Holocaust and other genocides, and says that precept means the violence against Palestinians “must be spoken out against.”
Egypt refuses foreigners passage from Gaza except as part of aid agreement
Ahram Online , Saturday 14 Oct 2023
Egyptian authorities have refused the passage of foreign residents of Gaza through the Rafah crossing, except as part of a foreign aid delivery agreement, Al-Qahera News TV reported, citing informed sources.
The unfolding crisis in Gaza, where relentless Israeli bombardment has killed more than 1,500 people since Saturday, is “a humanitarian catastrophe,” says Palestinian American human rights attorney Noura Erakat. She says Western leaders and the mainstream media have relied on racist, Islamophobic tropes to build a false consensus “that war is inevitable and that whatever consequences come out is the fault of Hamas, thereby further blaming the victims for their own killing and massacres.” Erakat also decries the Israeli order that 1.1 million residents in Gaza relocate under threat of a ground invasion. “What we are seeing is a genocidal campaign. You cannot forcibly transfer 1.1 million Palestinians in a 225-square-mile enclosed area. There is nowhere for them to go,” says Erakat, an associate professor at Rutgers University and author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine.
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