684

When Israel re-arrested Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank town of Dura, the detainees faced familiar treatment.

They were blindfolded, handcuffed, insulted and kept in inhumane conditions. More unusual was that each man had a number written on his forehead.

Osama Shaheen, who was released in August after 10 months of administrative detention, told Middle East Eye that soldiers brutally stormed his house, smashing his furniture.

"The soldiers turned us from names into numbers, and every detainee had a number that they used to provoke him during his arrest and call him by number instead of name. To them, we are just numbers."

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 215 points 4 weeks ago

You would think Israel, of all countries, ought to know how blatantly evil this kind of stuff looks.

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 116 points 4 weeks ago

They do, they just don't care.

[-] becausechemistry@lemm.ee 32 points 4 weeks ago

They do, and that’s the point.

[-] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 50 points 4 weeks ago

Israel of all countries is the one desperately trying to prove it's more like Nazis (strong white Europeans in their opinion) than like their victims. That's the lesson they got from it all.

They are a broken nation.

And I understand how they become one, what I don't understand is how Armenians haven't (having plenty of their own weaknesses, of course).

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] M137@lemmy.world 11 points 4 weeks ago

Have you not seen anything they've done previous to this? It's all completely conscious, they absolutely mean to treat Palestinians like the Nazis did Jews etc.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 161 points 4 weeks ago

I know a Holocaust survivor who is horrified by everything going on in Israel and Palestine. I also am related to deceased Holocaust survivors and their children, grandchildren, cousins, etc. all seem to think this situation is pretty awesome. They call the Palestinians animals and other terrible things and talk like it's all political and say that people who disagree with them are brainwashed and unintelligent.

I can't be 100% certain, but I think I now understand what it was like to sit at a table with burgeoning Nazis and Nazi-supporters and I'm sad to say that I failed the test. Yes, I argued, I disagreed, and I walked away, but I'm starting to get why everyone didn't just attack the Nazis in Germany. What do you do when you recognize a Nazi but that Nazi helped raise you and didn't seem to be a Nazi until they suddenly doubled down on the wrong choice?

[-] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 27 points 4 weeks ago

That sounds really tough man I'm sorry. Thank for you at least sharing your perspective. It's an important perspective to keep in mind. This stuff gets oversimplified, and often, ironically, by disregarding the element of human relationships.

[-] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 23 points 4 weeks ago
[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 55 points 4 weeks ago

I know, but when you're in the actual situation then you start asking yourself "am I really gonna hit my 80-something year-old great-aunt?" And you start realizing that the cops are definitely gonna get called and then there's gonna be even more Nazis around you and that the new ones have a trigger-happy reputation.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 85 points 4 weeks ago

How disappointed the generation before them would be, having survived that same treatment only to become the monsters that they struggled to escape.

[-] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 34 points 4 weeks ago

Israel wasn't founded by holocaust survivors and treated them less than equal.

[-] DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee 12 points 4 weeks ago

I’ll take history repeat for 1000.

[-] EisFrei@lemmy.world 82 points 4 weeks ago
[-] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 71 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

This seems vaguely familiar but I can't quite put my forearm on it.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world 70 points 4 weeks ago

Numbers are so 1940's, I thought they might have moved to QR codes by now.

[-] Krauerking@lemy.lol 12 points 4 weeks ago

Harder to draw quickly, gotta have them pre printed and then there is the ink costs and where on earth could Israel get the money for that?

[-] dalekcaan@lemm.ee 56 points 4 weeks ago

They couldn't turn the world today into a movie because the writing would be called too lazy and ham-fisted to be realistic.

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 25 points 4 weeks ago

"The Nazi analogies were so over the top, like we get it, they're bad people... It's insulting to the audience."

—average review

"You're watching it wrong! Those are protagonists!"

—US government in the comments

load more comments (9 replies)
[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 53 points 3 weeks ago

For fuck sake, how blatant does it need to get before people recognize this for what it is?

[-] masquenox@lemmy.world 14 points 3 weeks ago

The people who are willing to recognize it for what it is have already done so.

[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago

You mean admit to it? They can just continue refusing.

[-] migo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 3 weeks ago

This is no longer a boring dystopia

[-] Noodle07@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago

Literally 1940

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 37 points 4 weeks ago

... branding detainees with numbers, check... now, what's next on Hitler's to do list?

—Bibi, apparently

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 35 points 3 weeks ago

They have become that which they hated.

Treating Gaza like an open air extermination camp and even branding them the way prisoners were tattooed in German camps.

[-] Jumi@lemmy.world 27 points 4 weeks ago

History repeats itself

[-] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 26 points 3 weeks ago

Yea but a number drawn with a sharpie would fade away. Have you thought of some more permanent way of inking those numbers in their skins? Not to mention that the forehead is a bit too much, it might make the guards uncomfortable. Have you considered someplace a bit more discreet, like maybe the wrist? /s

[-] qevlarr@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago

My grandfather had a number tattooed on his arm. Never again means never again for everyone.

Shame on Israel. Zionism is an evil racist ideology, distinct from Judaism

[-] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 23 points 4 weeks ago

I wonder why this seems to be the only news org posting this. It seems we know there are camps in the West Bank where people are being detained, and we know the conditions are brutal, but the numbers on the forehead is a very specific extra detail that I can't seem to find any other sources on numbers being written on foreheads. Did MEE just get the exclusive scoop or what?

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 4 weeks ago

Every prisoner should have the right to be branded with their very own personalized NFT.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 20 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Writing a number on someone with a marker is not branding. This is stupid. The IDF is committing actual atrocities, and this article is about writing a number on people with a marker and referring to them by that number. Relatively humane prison systems refer to people by their inmate number as well.

What is even going on? This is literally a distraction from the actual terrible things regularly occurring. Think about it this way: within the horrifyingly violent context of Palestine right now, here is an entire article that could be headlined: "IDF Uses New Weapon Against Palestinians: A Marker." See how absurd that is when there are much more important events occurring?

Who wrote this? The IDF?

[-] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

They did not hold a prison number sign. Or a piece of clothing with a number. They were marked with the number on their forehead.

No prison system kidnaps people and throws them in a "jail" without process, writes a number on their forehead, tortures them for months and then releases them because they were innocent.

And I do not mean a combination of those things.

I mean not one of those things is done in a prison.

load more comments (8 replies)
[-] Snowclone@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

Personally I'd be unwilling to write numbers on people and refer to them by that number, I just read a lot of accounts of the holocaust and that's too close for me to be around without feeling sick. Don't know how IDF can stomach this. But, you know, no end to the depth of human depravity and evil. I'm not a great person. Still couldn't do this.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 18 points 3 weeks ago

Yellow star was already patented

[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 17 points 4 weeks ago

You can't make this shit up

[-] bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net 17 points 4 weeks ago

Hmmmmm 🤔

[-] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 3 weeks ago

As someone living in "Israel" im not shocked, I wouldn't be suprised if they put it on their forearms next time

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago

The right-wing religious nutters in Israel read plenty of NKVD and SS manuals.

[-] hightrix@lemmy.world 13 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Israel: Yes, again.

[-] teft@lemmy.world 11 points 4 weeks ago

The headline says "brands Palestinians". The article doesn't mention branding. They had numbers written on their foreheads. Most prisons identify prisoners by numbers. Probably not a great idea to just write it on their foreheads but if you have limited ways of marking prisoners it makes sense.

Israels soldiers are shit but how about we use accurate language to describe what they are doing. Lying helps no one.

[-] Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 56 points 4 weeks ago

I agree with your take. Shitty headline. When I think of “branding” , I think of hot iron burnt into flesh.

[-] timewarp@lemmy.world 28 points 4 weeks ago

What they are doing is genocide and straight from the Nazi playbook

[-] ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world 10 points 4 weeks ago

i would strongly urge you to familiarise yourself with figures of speech lest you're -- you know -- branded as an ignorant person.

[-] teft@lemmy.world 39 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Maybe the website should learn not to use language that is ambiguous in order to push an agenda. Looking at these comments there are already a bunch of people who are assuming brand to mean scarification by burning since they evidently only read the headline.

load more comments (18 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (29 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2024
684 points (93.6% liked)

A Boring Dystopia

9771 readers
276 users here now

Pictures, Videos, Articles showing just how boring it is to live in a dystopic society, or with signs of a dystopic society.

Rules (Subject to Change)

--Be a Decent Human Being

--Posting news articles: include the source name and exact title from article in your post title

--If a picture is just a screenshot of an article, link the article

--If a video's content isn't clear from title, write a short summary so people know what it's about.

--Posts must have something to do with the topic

--Zero tolerance for Racism/Sexism/Ableism/etc.

--No NSFW content

--Abide by the rules of lemmy.world

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS