15 months, genocide and ethnic cleansing intensifying
December 29, 2024 6:30 AM Subscribe
During the holiday season, Israel burned northern Gaza's last functioning hospital; staff and patients removed. Israel detained the hospital's director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and other medical staff. This is the last known picture of the director surrendering himself to the IDF. We are up to 4 babies freezing to death in Gaza. Meanwhile, the US pushed for retraction of a famine warning for northern Gaza.
From the previous thread, h/t cendawanita NYT reports on Israel's loosening of rules of war conduct to allow for more civilians to be killed.
AlJazeera liveblog - Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador, says he does not know why Israel continues to pound Gaza and target its medical facilities, saying Israel’s operation in Gaza has “exhausted itself”.
“It achieved the military objectives that it had, and that was to degrade Hamas, to render Hamas incapacitated to the point of not being able to govern,” he told Al Jazeera. “That has been achieved.”
I thought this was a joke at first, but apparently it's not: Netanyahu to undergo prostate removal operation, court testimony delayed. Meanwhile, Israel's attorney general orders an investigation of Sara Netanyahu on suspicion of witness harassment/tampering.
Israel pushes deeper into Lebanon despite ceasefire agreement. Syrian villagers bristle at Israeli incursions (ungated) Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen, killing six (headline leaves out that one of the targets is Yemen's airport). WHO director almost killed in attack. US THAAD system used in Israel for first time to intercept attack from Houthis.
In the US:
Although Trump threatened "hell to pay" if Hamas did not release hostages, ceasefire talks are still stuck.
Months later, few charges for UCLA attacks, no new charges for Pico-Robertson violence.
UC campuses resolve discrimination complaints stemming from Gaza protests - The department’s Office for Civil Rights said it investigated nine complaints against University of California schools in Los Angeles (UCLA), Santa Barbara, San Diego, Davis and Santa Cruz. The complaints alleged the schools failed to respond effectively to antisemitic and anti-Arab harassment.
The civil rights office concluded the universities “appear not to have responded promptly or effectively” to allegations of discrimination and harassment that were brought to the administrations’ attention.
Under the agreement, the schools must step up reporting of complaints to the OCR office and review all complaints and reports of harassment from the past two academic years to determine if further action is needed. The agreement also calls for more training of university employees and campus police officers about their obligations under federal law.
A cathartic essay from Hamilton Nolan: The death of the Democratic Party’s claim to respectability looks like a dead child in Gaza, killed by a bomb supplied by our government. It looks like five more dead journalists in Gaza, assassinated by our ally with our blessing. It looks like one more bombed hospital in Gaza, the endpoint of the road away from humanity and towards barbarity. It looks like our government burying official warnings of a famine in Gaza, because it doesn’t suit our political purposes. All of these things were done by the Biden administration. All of these things were done by the Democrats. When Joe Biden thinks back on his time as president, he should see nothing but an image of a mother crying over a dead child with its limbs blown off by an American bomb. That is the most morally significant thing that Joe Biden accomplished in the White House. No bit of positive domestic policy or sense of personal empathy is more important than the reasoned decision to supply the tools used to conduct tens of thousands of murders. That is what Joe Biden’s half century political career adds up to. When murderers die, their crimes are the first paragraphs of their obituaries. There is no reason to treat Joe Biden differently than that. Like other criminals, he was a complex man who did many things and had many redeeming qualities, in addition to being a mass murderer.
Ways to assist/donate/fundraising:
Operation Olive Branch
PCRF
GazaFunds
Doctors Without Borders
Workshops4Gaza
eSIMs for Gaza
Gaza Soup Kitchen
(previously)
From the previous thread, h/t cendawanita NYT reports on Israel's loosening of rules of war conduct to allow for more civilians to be killed.
AlJazeera liveblog - Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador, says he does not know why Israel continues to pound Gaza and target its medical facilities, saying Israel’s operation in Gaza has “exhausted itself”.
“It achieved the military objectives that it had, and that was to degrade Hamas, to render Hamas incapacitated to the point of not being able to govern,” he told Al Jazeera. “That has been achieved.”
I thought this was a joke at first, but apparently it's not: Netanyahu to undergo prostate removal operation, court testimony delayed. Meanwhile, Israel's attorney general orders an investigation of Sara Netanyahu on suspicion of witness harassment/tampering.
Israel pushes deeper into Lebanon despite ceasefire agreement. Syrian villagers bristle at Israeli incursions (ungated) Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen, killing six (headline leaves out that one of the targets is Yemen's airport). WHO director almost killed in attack. US THAAD system used in Israel for first time to intercept attack from Houthis.
In the US:
Although Trump threatened "hell to pay" if Hamas did not release hostages, ceasefire talks are still stuck.
Months later, few charges for UCLA attacks, no new charges for Pico-Robertson violence.
UC campuses resolve discrimination complaints stemming from Gaza protests - The department’s Office for Civil Rights said it investigated nine complaints against University of California schools in Los Angeles (UCLA), Santa Barbara, San Diego, Davis and Santa Cruz. The complaints alleged the schools failed to respond effectively to antisemitic and anti-Arab harassment.
The civil rights office concluded the universities “appear not to have responded promptly or effectively” to allegations of discrimination and harassment that were brought to the administrations’ attention.
Under the agreement, the schools must step up reporting of complaints to the OCR office and review all complaints and reports of harassment from the past two academic years to determine if further action is needed. The agreement also calls for more training of university employees and campus police officers about their obligations under federal law.
A cathartic essay from Hamilton Nolan: The death of the Democratic Party’s claim to respectability looks like a dead child in Gaza, killed by a bomb supplied by our government. It looks like five more dead journalists in Gaza, assassinated by our ally with our blessing. It looks like one more bombed hospital in Gaza, the endpoint of the road away from humanity and towards barbarity. It looks like our government burying official warnings of a famine in Gaza, because it doesn’t suit our political purposes. All of these things were done by the Biden administration. All of these things were done by the Democrats. When Joe Biden thinks back on his time as president, he should see nothing but an image of a mother crying over a dead child with its limbs blown off by an American bomb. That is the most morally significant thing that Joe Biden accomplished in the White House. No bit of positive domestic policy or sense of personal empathy is more important than the reasoned decision to supply the tools used to conduct tens of thousands of murders. That is what Joe Biden’s half century political career adds up to. When murderers die, their crimes are the first paragraphs of their obituaries. There is no reason to treat Joe Biden differently than that. Like other criminals, he was a complex man who did many things and had many redeeming qualities, in addition to being a mass murderer.
Ways to assist/donate/fundraising:
Operation Olive Branch
PCRF
GazaFunds
Doctors Without Borders
Workshops4Gaza
eSIMs for Gaza
Gaza Soup Kitchen
(previously)
The image of the director of the hospital surrendering.. the rubble, I can't believe we've let this happen.
posted by ginger.beef at 8:12 AM on December 29 [27 favorites]
posted by ginger.beef at 8:12 AM on December 29 [27 favorites]
Scott Carrier’s Home of the Brave podcast recently highlighted the testimony given to the UK Parliament of a visiting surgeon working at the Nassar Hospital in Gaza’s green zone. It’s 30+ minutes of humanization of what’s happening on the ground, the tragedy of withheld medical aid and the terrifying things you see and hear from wounded children.
Dr Nizam Mamode‘s testimony begins at 14:42.
posted by neuracnu at 8:26 AM on December 29 [10 favorites]
Dr Nizam Mamode‘s testimony begins at 14:42.
posted by neuracnu at 8:26 AM on December 29 [10 favorites]
Turns out, "We can do something about this after the election" was just lies by democrats. Literally no downside after November to withdrawing aid from Israel for the remaining three months. No one in the US is going to remember or care in two years or four years what a one term president did in the final weeks in office.
posted by Slackermagee at 8:32 AM on December 29 [34 favorites]
posted by Slackermagee at 8:32 AM on December 29 [34 favorites]
It's like they couldn't stand not being in the headlines for a week or two. Trying to blame this on Biden is laughable and indicates a lack of comprehension of what actually is happening and what is getting reported on.
Bombing hospitals is fucking barbaric, full stop. Fifty NYT/WSJ opinion "pieces" wholeheartedly defending this shit and using the time tested tactic of "Please don't look at us performing war crimes, look at this outrage instead!" isn't going to change the atrocities, aren't going to make me forget, aren't going to shut us up.
posted by Sphinx at 8:50 AM on December 29 [9 favorites]
Bombing hospitals is fucking barbaric, full stop. Fifty NYT/WSJ opinion "pieces" wholeheartedly defending this shit and using the time tested tactic of "Please don't look at us performing war crimes, look at this outrage instead!" isn't going to change the atrocities, aren't going to make me forget, aren't going to shut us up.
posted by Sphinx at 8:50 AM on December 29 [9 favorites]
It wasn't that long ago that our outrage at the Nazi regime pushed Americans to support the establishment of Israel. Jewish people were the Gazans then.
And then as now the activist machinery was miraculous, prompting the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. and the establishment of a homeland for a people that many European regimes had decided were subhuman.
The compromise was, of course, for the international community to recognize that what we now call "settler colonialism" was justified in this case, and to prop up a loose coalition of countries with sometimes unsavory intent.
The challenge governments face now is exactly the same. But I think what's most interesting to me is how the slide into totalitarian horror, the compassionate-left backlash, and the complicated allies appear to be a well-established pattern.
We have, maybe, an opportunity to get this right in a way we haven't before -- to condemn the use of military might, settlements and right-wing propaganda to kill tens of thousands of people -- **without** aligning ourselves with hate groups, selfish opportunists or paramilitaries.
I believe in human rights, so I believe Israel must be stopped. They have destroyed their credibility by allowing the public to believe that "protection" and mass murder are one and the same.
However, with the massing far-right movements throughout Eurasia blooming, it's clear basic white supremacy/colonial thinking ultimately endangers Jewish people globally. That's why there's still shreds of international support for Israel - because WWII wasn't that long ago, and the goal of that war wasn't confined to hate, it was also about ending rules-based, democratic world consensus.
When people uncritically repeat slogans like "from the river to the sea" and express that ending democracy as an idea is acceptable to end genocidal wars, I think they begin to express the "nihilism" that Hamilton Nolan touches on in this piece.
Despite America's outsize role in this war, to frame the conversation as though the main American takeaway should be a reappraisal of our president is extremely unproductive at best and bordering on racist at worst.
Israel is not the fledgling it was. America could well stop sending arms today; Israel has plenty of right-aligned allies it can seek arms and intelligence from.
That tension, of the US attempting to **remain** a powerful proxy power via Israel and failing, explains our public stance. We intend to be allied long enough for the far-right to collapse in Israel, and hopefully in much of MENA too.
None of this matters when your children are dead. Nolan is a great writer and this small exploitation is worth it, in a sense, for those who aren't awake enough to see that atrocities are being committed.
But this needle, threaded carelessly, is absolutely encouraging the decent people of the international community to start to conflate "decolonization" or "post-colonial" possible futures with hate, terror and authoritarianism.
If the Left and Right both agree we need strongmen, we are in a lot of trouble.
posted by mathjus at 8:55 AM on December 29 [11 favorites]
And then as now the activist machinery was miraculous, prompting the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. and the establishment of a homeland for a people that many European regimes had decided were subhuman.
The compromise was, of course, for the international community to recognize that what we now call "settler colonialism" was justified in this case, and to prop up a loose coalition of countries with sometimes unsavory intent.
The challenge governments face now is exactly the same. But I think what's most interesting to me is how the slide into totalitarian horror, the compassionate-left backlash, and the complicated allies appear to be a well-established pattern.
We have, maybe, an opportunity to get this right in a way we haven't before -- to condemn the use of military might, settlements and right-wing propaganda to kill tens of thousands of people -- **without** aligning ourselves with hate groups, selfish opportunists or paramilitaries.
I believe in human rights, so I believe Israel must be stopped. They have destroyed their credibility by allowing the public to believe that "protection" and mass murder are one and the same.
However, with the massing far-right movements throughout Eurasia blooming, it's clear basic white supremacy/colonial thinking ultimately endangers Jewish people globally. That's why there's still shreds of international support for Israel - because WWII wasn't that long ago, and the goal of that war wasn't confined to hate, it was also about ending rules-based, democratic world consensus.
When people uncritically repeat slogans like "from the river to the sea" and express that ending democracy as an idea is acceptable to end genocidal wars, I think they begin to express the "nihilism" that Hamilton Nolan touches on in this piece.
Despite America's outsize role in this war, to frame the conversation as though the main American takeaway should be a reappraisal of our president is extremely unproductive at best and bordering on racist at worst.
Israel is not the fledgling it was. America could well stop sending arms today; Israel has plenty of right-aligned allies it can seek arms and intelligence from.
That tension, of the US attempting to **remain** a powerful proxy power via Israel and failing, explains our public stance. We intend to be allied long enough for the far-right to collapse in Israel, and hopefully in much of MENA too.
None of this matters when your children are dead. Nolan is a great writer and this small exploitation is worth it, in a sense, for those who aren't awake enough to see that atrocities are being committed.
But this needle, threaded carelessly, is absolutely encouraging the decent people of the international community to start to conflate "decolonization" or "post-colonial" possible futures with hate, terror and authoritarianism.
If the Left and Right both agree we need strongmen, we are in a lot of trouble.
posted by mathjus at 8:55 AM on December 29 [11 favorites]
And AIPAC is currently going after Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock for being enemies of Israel for having the temerity to vote against weapons sales. Their spend got 318 candidates elected in this past cycle. Politicians are afraid to push back on Israel because they know there is a high chance AIPAC will unseat them. Sarah Kendzior has written extensively about this, but it is frankly a really hard topic to write about without coming off as anti-Semitic.
posted by rednikki at 8:57 AM on December 29 [13 favorites]
posted by rednikki at 8:57 AM on December 29 [13 favorites]
.
posted by limeonaire at 8:59 AM on December 29 [2 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 8:59 AM on December 29 [2 favorites]
It wasn't that long ago that our outrage at the Nazi regime pushed Americans to support the establishment of Israel.
Who is "our"? The antisemitic USA turned away Jewish refugees trying to escape Nazi Germany as recently as 1939. When the US finally entered WW2 it was not out of any concern for the plight of Jews but rather in response to a Japanese attack on a US military base in the Pacific.
The history of the US is antisemitic and White-supremacist. Our current support for the genocidal state of Israel is because of this, not despite it.
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:39 AM on December 29 [27 favorites]
Who is "our"? The antisemitic USA turned away Jewish refugees trying to escape Nazi Germany as recently as 1939. When the US finally entered WW2 it was not out of any concern for the plight of Jews but rather in response to a Japanese attack on a US military base in the Pacific.
The history of the US is antisemitic and White-supremacist. Our current support for the genocidal state of Israel is because of this, not despite it.
posted by splitpeasoup at 9:39 AM on December 29 [27 favorites]
I have what I believe to be a reliable local contact in Gaza who is helping organize food and water distribution. If you're interested in donating, lmk via PM.
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 9:47 AM on December 29 [4 favorites]
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 9:47 AM on December 29 [4 favorites]
Bottom line: The world was a worse place for Joe Biden being in it.
He improved the conditions for Americans, which is what most Americans care about. What other U.S. president has made the world a better place? FDR, I guess?
Turns out, "We can do something about this after the election" was just lies by democrats.
Didn't that rest on the supposition of the Democrats winning? The only thing that matters now is what Trump will do. What will Trump do?
posted by gwint at 10:01 AM on December 29 [7 favorites]
He improved the conditions for Americans, which is what most Americans care about. What other U.S. president has made the world a better place? FDR, I guess?
Turns out, "We can do something about this after the election" was just lies by democrats.
Didn't that rest on the supposition of the Democrats winning? The only thing that matters now is what Trump will do. What will Trump do?
posted by gwint at 10:01 AM on December 29 [7 favorites]
However, with the massing far-right movements throughout Eurasia blooming, it's clear basic white supremacy/colonial thinking ultimately endangers Jewish people globally. That's why there's still shreds of international support for Israel - because WWII wasn't that long ago, and the goal of that war wasn't confined to hate, it was also about ending rules-based, democratic world consensus.
@mathjus : I'm jewish and I live in France. Call me crazy, but I have an increasingly bad feeling about this. It's all started about 10 years ago. Let me list a few dots :
- Do you remember the movie "Look who's back" from 2015 ? There exist a lesser-known Italian movie with exactly the same plot but Mussolini as its protagonist, Sono Tornato.
- On X and Telegram, there's more and more "cute" memes featuring Hitler or negationism. An early example : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEGeHxF0tF4 - now you have AI edited videos of a dancing Hitler, Kim Dotcom openly quoting from the protocols and Elon Musk supporting the AfD. Oh, and bankrolling Reform UK.
- Remember how in 2014 the press did its job and was alerting about the over the top, unnecessary nazi imagery of the Ukrainian paramilitary groups which had seized power? This is a verboten (ah) topic since 2022, but how do NATO instructors accept to train guys with swastika tattoos or SS patches? This kind of paraphernalia is illegal in Germany, where training takes place. This also means we (Europeans) have financed nazis.
- Do you think the "Ausländer raus" flashmobs this summer were organic?
- Don't you think the official Russian SMO goal of "denazification" was weird, in retrospect?
- Did you see since last year the various British and German high ranking officials talk openly of conscription and war with Russia in 2028-29 ?
Here's a disgusting way to connect the dots : Nazism never really died. It's a method. Like Gaza is a method.
The plebs have been deliberately whipped into a frenzy by populists, and it's all about to hit a paroxysm with the (avoidable) economic devastation in Germany (loss of cheap natural gas, Chinese EV competition, Trump's tariffs). The subtle "dediabolization" (a word we use in French wrt our own far right party, the RN) ongoing since 10 years provides a familiar but previously forbidden ideological wellspring to quench their thirst for revenge and easy solution. The right wing movements will stop being Euroskeptic, since all Europe (including Romania!) will be ruled by the far right. Instead, they will use the European construct to deploy the same methods everywhere at once. Then, when an older Putin has no choice but to hand over the power to a heir, around 2028, the nazified EU will go to war against Russia probably due to some pretext related to Russian "denazification" in Ukraine. Putin's heir (still wet behind the ears, and whose selection is bound to have created tensions) may be successfully destabilized in such a large scale war, leading to the dislocation of the Russian Federation. The nazified EU takes the Western part, up to Georgia (currently being nazified as well), and China the Eastern part.
Don't try to console me by saying Europe has no weapons and no serious army, remember that Hitler went from 0 to Blitzkrieg in only 6 years. Are we really sure 4 years is impossible in the 21th century? Especially since I think a big part of how they are going to remilitarize Western societies, including the US, is by building the infrastructure needed to catch, detain and deport millions of people, with possibly resulting urban warfare. Gaza may be some kind of military laboratory in that regard. Have a look at this French movie trailer.
I sure do hope I am wrong, but everything smells to high heavens, it's too fast and coordinated to be organic. And current events are fucking disgusting, even if I'm wrong.
posted by dragondollar at 10:11 AM on December 29 [15 favorites]
@mathjus : I'm jewish and I live in France. Call me crazy, but I have an increasingly bad feeling about this. It's all started about 10 years ago. Let me list a few dots :
- Do you remember the movie "Look who's back" from 2015 ? There exist a lesser-known Italian movie with exactly the same plot but Mussolini as its protagonist, Sono Tornato.
- On X and Telegram, there's more and more "cute" memes featuring Hitler or negationism. An early example : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEGeHxF0tF4 - now you have AI edited videos of a dancing Hitler, Kim Dotcom openly quoting from the protocols and Elon Musk supporting the AfD. Oh, and bankrolling Reform UK.
- Remember how in 2014 the press did its job and was alerting about the over the top, unnecessary nazi imagery of the Ukrainian paramilitary groups which had seized power? This is a verboten (ah) topic since 2022, but how do NATO instructors accept to train guys with swastika tattoos or SS patches? This kind of paraphernalia is illegal in Germany, where training takes place. This also means we (Europeans) have financed nazis.
- Do you think the "Ausländer raus" flashmobs this summer were organic?
- Don't you think the official Russian SMO goal of "denazification" was weird, in retrospect?
- Did you see since last year the various British and German high ranking officials talk openly of conscription and war with Russia in 2028-29 ?
Here's a disgusting way to connect the dots : Nazism never really died. It's a method. Like Gaza is a method.
The plebs have been deliberately whipped into a frenzy by populists, and it's all about to hit a paroxysm with the (avoidable) economic devastation in Germany (loss of cheap natural gas, Chinese EV competition, Trump's tariffs). The subtle "dediabolization" (a word we use in French wrt our own far right party, the RN) ongoing since 10 years provides a familiar but previously forbidden ideological wellspring to quench their thirst for revenge and easy solution. The right wing movements will stop being Euroskeptic, since all Europe (including Romania!) will be ruled by the far right. Instead, they will use the European construct to deploy the same methods everywhere at once. Then, when an older Putin has no choice but to hand over the power to a heir, around 2028, the nazified EU will go to war against Russia probably due to some pretext related to Russian "denazification" in Ukraine. Putin's heir (still wet behind the ears, and whose selection is bound to have created tensions) may be successfully destabilized in such a large scale war, leading to the dislocation of the Russian Federation. The nazified EU takes the Western part, up to Georgia (currently being nazified as well), and China the Eastern part.
Don't try to console me by saying Europe has no weapons and no serious army, remember that Hitler went from 0 to Blitzkrieg in only 6 years. Are we really sure 4 years is impossible in the 21th century? Especially since I think a big part of how they are going to remilitarize Western societies, including the US, is by building the infrastructure needed to catch, detain and deport millions of people, with possibly resulting urban warfare. Gaza may be some kind of military laboratory in that regard. Have a look at this French movie trailer.
I sure do hope I am wrong, but everything smells to high heavens, it's too fast and coordinated to be organic. And current events are fucking disgusting, even if I'm wrong.
posted by dragondollar at 10:11 AM on December 29 [15 favorites]
Apparently, to justify the recent murder of five journalists, the IDF is using the term combat propaganda (?), but I can't easily find a western media source corroborating the Hebrew announcements, at best it's stuff like PBS that went with "militants" to massage the insanity.
---
In other, "do you guys even hear yourself", a lot of people were pointing out that this US Amb Jack Lew's statement is basically an acknowledgement that an ethnic cleansing (via displacement at the very least) has occured, with no moral judgement:
The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate. We have worked closely with the Government of lsrael and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report.
COGAT estimates the population in this area is between 5,000 and 9,000.
UNRWA estimates the population is between 10,000 and 15,000.(...)
---
Summary of an announcement on Fake Reporter (Israeli news watchdog/debunking team: Released Israeli captive Hanna Katzir passed away at the age of 78. Right wing Israelis are celebrating: "One less leftist".
---
Itay Epshtain: (thread is English summary)
ALERT: The #Israeli think-tank that outlined the war of aggression laid on #Gaza, Misgav (headed by former National Security Advisor and #Netanyahu confidant, Meir Ben-Shabbat), suggests, in a new white paper, a "reboot of Israel's approach to international law,": - some ideas include exempting the military from judicial oversight
Summary of this Hebrew news: Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights wanted to transfer money from its account for the purpose of purchasing medical aid to be sent to Gaza, which is in dire need of medical supply. The Israeli bank refused to carry out the transfer.
---
MSF recent report also joins HRW and Amnesty, but stops short at "genocide", and went with ethnic cleansing: Gaza: Life in a Death Trap (PDF).
But uh, don't be relieved if you're the sort to be relieved, as this is their phrasing: In the north of the Strip in particular, the recent military offensive is a clear illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza, and we are witnessing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinian life is being wiped off the area. Our firsthand observations of the medical and humanitarian catastrophe inflicted on Gaza are consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza. While we don’t have legal authority to establish intentionality, the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation—including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment—are undeniable.
---
FT: Christians huddled in Gaza speak to the Pope every night -
Nightly calls from pontiff comfort Palestinians sheltering in churches for a second Christmas
(Good thing that there have been even worse Catholics in history or else I'd think someone close to his death is about to get excommunicated)
---
This is the Reviving Gaza fundraising linktree - they work with the Sameer Project that is currently working to provide waterproofed tents.
---
Another expert report finds Israel is committing genocide. The West yawns
posted by cendawanita at 10:22 AM on December 29 [20 favorites]
---
In other, "do you guys even hear yourself", a lot of people were pointing out that this US Amb Jack Lew's statement is basically an acknowledgement that an ethnic cleansing (via displacement at the very least) has occured, with no moral judgement:
The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate. We have worked closely with the Government of lsrael and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report.
COGAT estimates the population in this area is between 5,000 and 9,000.
UNRWA estimates the population is between 10,000 and 15,000.(...)
---
Summary of an announcement on Fake Reporter (Israeli news watchdog/debunking team: Released Israeli captive Hanna Katzir passed away at the age of 78. Right wing Israelis are celebrating: "One less leftist".
---
Itay Epshtain: (thread is English summary)
ALERT: The #Israeli think-tank that outlined the war of aggression laid on #Gaza, Misgav (headed by former National Security Advisor and #Netanyahu confidant, Meir Ben-Shabbat), suggests, in a new white paper, a "reboot of Israel's approach to international law,": - some ideas include exempting the military from judicial oversight
Summary of this Hebrew news: Israeli NGO Physicians for Human Rights wanted to transfer money from its account for the purpose of purchasing medical aid to be sent to Gaza, which is in dire need of medical supply. The Israeli bank refused to carry out the transfer.
---
MSF recent report also joins HRW and Amnesty, but stops short at "genocide", and went with ethnic cleansing: Gaza: Life in a Death Trap (PDF).
But uh, don't be relieved if you're the sort to be relieved, as this is their phrasing: In the north of the Strip in particular, the recent military offensive is a clear illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza, and we are witnessing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinian life is being wiped off the area. Our firsthand observations of the medical and humanitarian catastrophe inflicted on Gaza are consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza. While we don’t have legal authority to establish intentionality, the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation—including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment—are undeniable.
---
FT: Christians huddled in Gaza speak to the Pope every night -
Nightly calls from pontiff comfort Palestinians sheltering in churches for a second Christmas
(Good thing that there have been even worse Catholics in history or else I'd think someone close to his death is about to get excommunicated)
---
This is the Reviving Gaza fundraising linktree - they work with the Sameer Project that is currently working to provide waterproofed tents.
---
Another expert report finds Israel is committing genocide. The West yawns
posted by cendawanita at 10:22 AM on December 29 [20 favorites]
The EU right loves Putin and are deeply entangled with Russian dark money and business interests. For what possible reason would they want war with Russia? And carving it up together with China? China’s interests are far better served using Russia as a cats paw and by sucking up their resources on the cheap while they’re sanctioned by the west.
posted by Room 101 at 10:22 AM on December 29 [2 favorites]
posted by Room 101 at 10:22 AM on December 29 [2 favorites]
@Room101: For the same reason Hitler wanted war with Russia, its immense natural ressources.
posted by dragondollar at 10:25 AM on December 29
posted by dragondollar at 10:25 AM on December 29
When people uncritically repeat slogans like "from the river to the sea" and express that ending democracy as an idea is acceptable to end genocidal wars ….
1. That’s not what “from the river to the sea means”.
2. I am as pro-democracy as it gets, but what good is a democracy if people continually vote for genocide? I don’t mean that rhetorically; we need to know clearly what the value of democracy is and what it is not, and to not uncritically paint ostensibly-democratic countries as democratic if the reality is far from that.
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:37 AM on December 29 [10 favorites]
1. That’s not what “from the river to the sea means”.
2. I am as pro-democracy as it gets, but what good is a democracy if people continually vote for genocide? I don’t mean that rhetorically; we need to know clearly what the value of democracy is and what it is not, and to not uncritically paint ostensibly-democratic countries as democratic if the reality is far from that.
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:37 AM on December 29 [10 favorites]
Bottom line: The world was a worse place for Joe Biden being in it.
I have good news for you!
posted by 2N2222 at 12:43 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]
I have good news for you!
posted by 2N2222 at 12:43 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]
The only thing that matters now is what Trump will do. What will Trump do?
You have a point, true, but her emails.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:00 PM on December 29 [3 favorites]
You have a point, true, but her emails.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:00 PM on December 29 [3 favorites]
What other U.S. president has made the world a better place?
Back during the Obama years, when I struggled to get Democrats to acknowledge the murderous criminality of his drone bombing, one of them asked me, "Well, what do you want done about it? Have him prosecuted for war crimes?"
That my answer would be "yes, obviously, and the sooner the better" was literally unimaginable to them. Like 99.99% of their countrypersons, their mind was so poisoned by American Exceptionalism that they didn't even understand it had happened.
posted by Lemkin at 1:01 PM on December 29 [28 favorites]
Back during the Obama years, when I struggled to get Democrats to acknowledge the murderous criminality of his drone bombing, one of them asked me, "Well, what do you want done about it? Have him prosecuted for war crimes?"
That my answer would be "yes, obviously, and the sooner the better" was literally unimaginable to them. Like 99.99% of their countrypersons, their mind was so poisoned by American Exceptionalism that they didn't even understand it had happened.
posted by Lemkin at 1:01 PM on December 29 [28 favorites]
I think that maybe calling it American Exceptionalism is itself an exceptionalist fallacy, as if no other nation engages in basic tribal loyalty. There is nothing exceptional about wanting Our Guy to be protected against prosecution as they work towards Our Interest. Presuming this to be an exceptionally American quality is falling into the same trap, erroneously believing there's something uniquely special about us. I think it's more useful to frame this as Tribalism, a quality that all humans must watch out for, American or not.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 1:15 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
posted by I-Write-Essays at 1:15 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
> What other U.S. president has made the world a better place?
How about Jimmy Carter? Who died today, don't you know.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 1:22 PM on December 29 [3 favorites]
How about Jimmy Carter? Who died today, don't you know.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 1:22 PM on December 29 [3 favorites]
I had a baby in the middle of this genocide and his early months have been filled with moments where I saw a mirror image of motherhood in Gaza. As I sat in the car on the way to the hospital I thought of a mother in Gaza who could gave birth with a helper who was on the phone with a medical professional, because she could not access in person medical care. When I had excess milk production I thought of parents in Gaza for whom it would probably be a miracle to have too much. Often when I carry my sleeping children in my arms and gently lay them down I think of the thousands of families in Gaza who have held their precious children just like that for the last time. When my children tell me they are hungry I can feed them, easily, and I think of how it would break us to have to say no, we have nothing else.
My life feels to tied to theirs in a way I will probably never feel toward the politicians I have voted for all my life who are willing to give up their humanity (without any visible struggle) for the genocidal aims of a right wing authoritarian. It's like that line about how we are all closer to being homeless than to being billionaires. I feel closer to desperately attempting to protect my family from the violent onslaught than I do to casually voting to hand over billions of dollars to kill children and I hope I always will.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:27 PM on December 29 [26 favorites]
My life feels to tied to theirs in a way I will probably never feel toward the politicians I have voted for all my life who are willing to give up their humanity (without any visible struggle) for the genocidal aims of a right wing authoritarian. It's like that line about how we are all closer to being homeless than to being billionaires. I feel closer to desperately attempting to protect my family from the violent onslaught than I do to casually voting to hand over billions of dollars to kill children and I hope I always will.
posted by Emmy Rae at 1:27 PM on December 29 [26 favorites]
How about Jimmy Carter? Who died today, don't you know.
He did his best work after he left politics.
posted by gwint at 1:45 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
He did his best work after he left politics.
posted by gwint at 1:45 PM on December 29 [2 favorites]
When people uncritically repeat slogans like "from the river to the sea" and express that ending democracy as an idea is acceptable to end genocidal wars, I think they begin to express the "nihilism" that Hamilton Nolan touches on in this piece.
This is a strange strawman argument, if for no other reason than that it assumes that Israel is or was ever a "democracy." It's an ethnostate, for heaven's sake.
posted by fifthrider at 2:13 PM on December 29 [8 favorites]
This is a strange strawman argument, if for no other reason than that it assumes that Israel is or was ever a "democracy." It's an ethnostate, for heaven's sake.
posted by fifthrider at 2:13 PM on December 29 [8 favorites]
It's a weird stance to believe there has never been a democracy if you believe that being an ethnostate is disqualifying. All democracies define who "the people" are, and it is never all of the humans who reside within the territory. I don't think you're using the word the way it is normally understood.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 2:22 PM on December 29
posted by I-Write-Essays at 2:22 PM on December 29
It's a weird stance to believe there has never been a democracy if you believe that being an ethnostate is disqualifying.
Was apartheid era South Africa a democracy? And if your answer is "yes," why do you think so?
posted by fifthrider at 3:33 PM on December 29 [7 favorites]
Was apartheid era South Africa a democracy? And if your answer is "yes," why do you think so?
posted by fifthrider at 3:33 PM on December 29 [7 favorites]
MSF recent report also joins HRW and Amnesty, but stops short at "genocide", and went with ethnic cleansing: Gaza: Life in a Death Trap (PDF).
But uh, don't be relieved if you're the sort to be relieved, as this is their phrasing: In the north of the Strip in particular, the recent military offensive is a clear illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza, and we are witnessing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinian life is being wiped off the area. Our firsthand observations of the medical and humanitarian catastrophe inflicted on Gaza are consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza. While we don’t have legal authority to establish intentionality, the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation—including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment—are undeniable.
I read that as MSF in effect stating it's genocide, but refraining from saying so explicitly as they're not a legal organization (so restricting themselves to non-legal terms like "ethnic cleansing" and "devastation").
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 4:25 PM on December 29 [5 favorites]
But uh, don't be relieved if you're the sort to be relieved, as this is their phrasing: In the north of the Strip in particular, the recent military offensive is a clear illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza, and we are witnessing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinian life is being wiped off the area. Our firsthand observations of the medical and humanitarian catastrophe inflicted on Gaza are consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza. While we don’t have legal authority to establish intentionality, the signs of ethnic cleansing and the ongoing devastation—including mass killings, severe physical and mental health injuries, forced displacement, and impossible conditions of life for Palestinians under siege and bombardment—are undeniable.
I read that as MSF in effect stating it's genocide, but refraining from saying so explicitly as they're not a legal organization (so restricting themselves to non-legal terms like "ethnic cleansing" and "devastation").
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 4:25 PM on December 29 [5 favorites]
It's a weird stance to believe there has never been a democracy if you believe that being an ethnostate is disqualifying
Since this is all in response to the "river to sea" thing, let me once again point out: Likud's party charter.
15 months in, but I guess I can be comforted at least no one's willing to put their names in support to crimes actively being committed except for the part that musty basic arguments still get trotted out.
Palestinians and Israelis deserve equal human rights but not sure why it's so hard to wrap people's heads around that these are not parties with equal power or even responsibility to end the violence. And how this isn't something that won't impede Americans' quality of life? Gaza as a method isn't a hyperbole - look again at the photo of the doctor walking towards the tank. Notice how well the tank blends in against the rubble? Do you want to wait until the next stage of urban warfare arrives at your doorstep, because Cop City isn't urgent enough, the defanging of civil society isn't urgent enough, the shattering of student activism isn't urgent enough - the last two being critical components to build any coalition worth a damn if you still believe electoralism is viable to kick out fascists?
posted by cendawanita at 4:38 PM on December 29 [19 favorites]
Since this is all in response to the "river to sea" thing, let me once again point out: Likud's party charter.
15 months in, but I guess I can be comforted at least no one's willing to put their names in support to crimes actively being committed except for the part that musty basic arguments still get trotted out.
Palestinians and Israelis deserve equal human rights but not sure why it's so hard to wrap people's heads around that these are not parties with equal power or even responsibility to end the violence. And how this isn't something that won't impede Americans' quality of life? Gaza as a method isn't a hyperbole - look again at the photo of the doctor walking towards the tank. Notice how well the tank blends in against the rubble? Do you want to wait until the next stage of urban warfare arrives at your doorstep, because Cop City isn't urgent enough, the defanging of civil society isn't urgent enough, the shattering of student activism isn't urgent enough - the last two being critical components to build any coalition worth a damn if you still believe electoralism is viable to kick out fascists?
posted by cendawanita at 4:38 PM on December 29 [19 favorites]
And of course Americans aren't exceptional in not being being able to wrap their heads around their beloved leader being culpable for anything nasty. America is exceptional for having the ability to materially make other (non-voting) people suffer from their provincialism. The rump states of the Western order can only dream of having the cultural reach of Americana due to its hard power (both trade and military, like noting the breadth of foreign bases and outposts) - and they do dream, as that was them in the age of Colonialism.
posted by cendawanita at 4:43 PM on December 29 [9 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 4:43 PM on December 29 [9 favorites]
I-P is fucked and I have nothing other that Ashleigh Brilliant's "I don't have any solution, but I certainly admire the problem" , so wrt this above:
... buuuut, the one thing that united left, right, and center in 1930s Germany was re-starting WW I as soon as possible since the forced postwar territorial cessations were unacceptable.
posted by torokunai2 at 4:47 PM on December 29
Hitler went from 0 to Blitzkrieg in only 6 yearsis certainly accurate that Germany went from a gelded 100,000-man army in 1933 to a competent combined-arms army with modern equipment for two panzer corps spearheads and a doctrine 2-3 years ahead of its opponents (the Polish, French, and British in turn 1939 - 41).
... buuuut, the one thing that united left, right, and center in 1930s Germany was re-starting WW I as soon as possible since the forced postwar territorial cessations were unacceptable.
posted by torokunai2 at 4:47 PM on December 29
Oh damn, to be infected by l'esprit de l'escalier: Not only would I point out to Likud's own party founding documents and subsequent political statements, unless western media has been spectacularly bad and derelict, which nation-state has now annexed more land from neighbouring territories in this last year? Sure, at least half of the open war fronts is because "they're pointing rockets at us", but Jordan is feeling the heat, and Egypt's Sinai is feeling the same because Syria at present is doing everything possible to be nonconfrontational as the new leaders are trying to rebuild the country yet somehow Israel can preemptively air strike them (???) while taking more of the Golan Heights gets normalised and the ceasefire in Lebanon is still being broken daily. Which insane politicians are given the red carpet whenever they step foot in Wash. DC? Or even a mealy-mouthed announcement that in the end, they wouldn't be sanctioned?
posted by cendawanita at 4:54 PM on December 29 [12 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 4:54 PM on December 29 [12 favorites]
Was apartheid era South Africa a democracy?
I don't think you even need to go as far as that analogy with Israel and Palestine/Gaza. Even non-Jewish citizens do not have the same rights as their Jewish counterparts, and Jewish people who are critical of the state or the PM have their rights abrogated. At this juncture, the country is not really a democracy in the sense of the word as it has been classically defined.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:06 PM on December 29 [7 favorites]
I don't think you even need to go as far as that analogy with Israel and Palestine/Gaza. Even non-Jewish citizens do not have the same rights as their Jewish counterparts, and Jewish people who are critical of the state or the PM have their rights abrogated. At this juncture, the country is not really a democracy in the sense of the word as it has been classically defined.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 6:06 PM on December 29 [7 favorites]
At this juncture, the country is not really a democracy in the sense of the word as it has been classically defined.
This is the New Democracy
The dipshits bleating about "democracy" have not been paying attention
posted by ginger.beef at 6:27 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]
This is the New Democracy
The dipshits bleating about "democracy" have not been paying attention
posted by ginger.beef at 6:27 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]
"We can do something about this after the election" was just lies by democrats.
Those of you who couldn’t bear to get your hands dirty by voting for Harris because you were convinced other Americans would do it for you helped elect someone far worse for every vulnerable group, foreign and domestic, so that point has become moot.
posted by praemunire at 6:59 PM on December 29 [5 favorites]
Those of you who couldn’t bear to get your hands dirty by voting for Harris because you were convinced other Americans would do it for you helped elect someone far worse for every vulnerable group, foreign and domestic, so that point has become moot.
posted by praemunire at 6:59 PM on December 29 [5 favorites]
I read that as MSF in effect stating it's genocide, but refraining from saying so explicitly as they're not a legal organization (so restricting themselves to non-legal terms like "ethnic cleansing" and "devastation").
That, and MSF's main priority is and has always been access to patients. They've generally maintained a pretty studious neutrality about any given conflict, because they want all the parties to continue to allow them access. Given that that's their default, they've been remarkably clear and forceful about Gaza for basically this whole past year.
posted by adrienneleigh at 7:15 PM on December 29 [11 favorites]
That, and MSF's main priority is and has always been access to patients. They've generally maintained a pretty studious neutrality about any given conflict, because they want all the parties to continue to allow them access. Given that that's their default, they've been remarkably clear and forceful about Gaza for basically this whole past year.
posted by adrienneleigh at 7:15 PM on December 29 [11 favorites]
Those of you who couldn’t bear to get your hands dirty by voting for Harris because you were convinced other Americans would do it for you helped elect someone far worse for every vulnerable group, foreign and domestic, so that point has become moot.
but her emails
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:00 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]
but her emails
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 9:00 PM on December 29 [1 favorite]
If you're blaming Harris' loss on anti genocide activism, you're a liar. It's a trivially falsifiable claim.
Moving on:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/29/ai-israel-war-gaza-idf/ [ungated]
"Another machine learning tool, called Lavender, uses a percentage score to predict how likely a Palestinian is to be a member of a militant group, allowing the IDF to quickly generate a large volume of potential human targets."
posted by constraint at 9:07 PM on December 29 [12 favorites]
Moving on:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/29/ai-israel-war-gaza-idf/ [ungated]
"Another machine learning tool, called Lavender, uses a percentage score to predict how likely a Palestinian is to be a member of a militant group, allowing the IDF to quickly generate a large volume of potential human targets."
posted by constraint at 9:07 PM on December 29 [12 favorites]
Mod note: It would be great if folks could concentrate on the post (which took a lot of work), and not on sniping at each other about the US election. Also, one deleted. Still not okay to "fuck you" at people here. This is supposed to get a time-out, at least, and a ban if it continues. I'll ask you, please, just don't do this. A site full of that kind of engagement is useless to everyone except the person doing the "fuck-you"-ing, for maybe a nano-second. If you are doing this and relying on the fact that other people follow the guidelines and refrain, and that's what keeps the site from being garbage, then you are taking advantage of your fellow members.
posted by taz (staff) at 9:16 PM on December 29 [11 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 9:16 PM on December 29 [11 favorites]
It's just crazy how +972 broke the stories now being reported on WaPo and NYT this week months ago, and apparently after months of pooh-poohing it, at least for NYT: (with video from the Global Security Forum panel)
This week @nytimes reported on Israel’s use of AI in mass killing Palestinians in Gaza but in May when one of the reporters Ronen Bergman was asked about @972mag reporting he mocked it calling it a Netflix show.
Will there ever be a mea culpa? A Hollywood treatment about how complicated it all was would come sooner, I think.
posted by cendawanita at 9:21 PM on December 29 [10 favorites]
This week @nytimes reported on Israel’s use of AI in mass killing Palestinians in Gaza but in May when one of the reporters Ronen Bergman was asked about @972mag reporting he mocked it calling it a Netflix show.
Will there ever be a mea culpa? A Hollywood treatment about how complicated it all was would come sooner, I think.
posted by cendawanita at 9:21 PM on December 29 [10 favorites]
Thank you for posting this. It's a wonderful thing you have done.
I try and do what I can with extremely meagre resources, and part of that is trying to learn as well. Sometimes I just have to shut down, the horror is overwhelming.
And almost as overwhelming is the massive indifference.
At this point the IDF is its own rogue terrorist state, and no one cares in the official West.
I'm Canadian, and as we are so very good at the tut tut but don't really take action as a country on any valid level. Even our state sanctioned media, the CBC, bends over backwards to justify the horror of what's going on. Every single Palestinian hospital levelled by the IDF is 'Run by the Hamas hHealth Authority.' Orwellian to an extreme from a supposedly liberal media outlet.
And yes, Joe, he tried with domestic policies, bit the simplest of solutions, stopping the flow of arms to Israel, was too much for him.
May they all rot in hell.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 1:58 AM on December 30 [10 favorites]
I try and do what I can with extremely meagre resources, and part of that is trying to learn as well. Sometimes I just have to shut down, the horror is overwhelming.
And almost as overwhelming is the massive indifference.
At this point the IDF is its own rogue terrorist state, and no one cares in the official West.
I'm Canadian, and as we are so very good at the tut tut but don't really take action as a country on any valid level. Even our state sanctioned media, the CBC, bends over backwards to justify the horror of what's going on. Every single Palestinian hospital levelled by the IDF is 'Run by the Hamas hHealth Authority.' Orwellian to an extreme from a supposedly liberal media outlet.
And yes, Joe, he tried with domestic policies, bit the simplest of solutions, stopping the flow of arms to Israel, was too much for him.
May they all rot in hell.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 1:58 AM on December 30 [10 favorites]
At least there are people with a fucking spine:
posted by kmt at 5:07 AM on December 30 [14 favorites]
His next subject suggests that he won’t be. After the documentary’s premiere, Spiegelman told the sold-out audience in a Q&A session that his next comic will be about Gaza, in collaboration with Joe Sacco. He was wary of providing any details on a project that he thinks will struggle to find a publisher in the United States.Art Spiegelman Won’t Shrink Back From Controversy
“I’ll finish this thing or die trying. I’ve never had a bigger wrestling match inside my head,” he said. “My superego says, ‘You must do this if you’re going to live with yourself’,” and my id says, ‘Who wants the grief [of] being canceled by everyone on the planet?’”
posted by kmt at 5:07 AM on December 30 [14 favorites]
Sometimes with these posts I feel like I should also append a Palestine/Israel 101, so that we are not wading into the same arguments over and over again about Israel's right to exist, whether it's a democracy, whether it has a right to defend itself (short answers: states don't have rights to existence, people do, it's not, and no, not under current international law, and it's not doing that by any measure anyway). Anyway, if you need further history/education, I recommend historian Zachary Foster's Palestine Nexus, which will give you an overview of Israeli/Palestinian history with primary sources, maps, etc. If you want to learn more about how Israeli propaganda works on its citizens and on Jewish people abroad, watch Israelism. Simone Zimmerman, is founder of IfNotNow.
I came across the Sameer Project, which is a mutual aid project led by Palestinians.
From Al-Jazeera's liveblog today, Israeli forces kill 27 across the Gaza strip, and wound 149. We are also up to a fifth baby dying of hypothermia.
CNN confirming Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya appears to be held at the notorious Sde Teiman detention center. According to Quds Network, he was beaten until his eyes bled. If you missed it before, it is a torture camp. For which some Israelis protested on the side of the torturers.
In liberal, progressive San Francisco, Dr. Rupa Marya has been placed on paid leave for bringing up concerns about admitting students who may have served in the IDF to UCSF. For that she has been accused of anti-Semitism.
posted by toastyk at 6:53 AM on December 30 [15 favorites]
I came across the Sameer Project, which is a mutual aid project led by Palestinians.
From Al-Jazeera's liveblog today, Israeli forces kill 27 across the Gaza strip, and wound 149. We are also up to a fifth baby dying of hypothermia.
CNN confirming Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya appears to be held at the notorious Sde Teiman detention center. According to Quds Network, he was beaten until his eyes bled. If you missed it before, it is a torture camp. For which some Israelis protested on the side of the torturers.
In liberal, progressive San Francisco, Dr. Rupa Marya has been placed on paid leave for bringing up concerns about admitting students who may have served in the IDF to UCSF. For that she has been accused of anti-Semitism.
posted by toastyk at 6:53 AM on December 30 [15 favorites]
Democrats and Republicans split on Israel’s responsibility for war’s escalation, AP-NORC poll finds (1,072 adults, Oct. 11-14, 2024)
But there’s a big partisan split on whether the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility for the war’s escalation. About 6 in 10 Democrats say they do — similar to the share of Democrats who say Hamas bears “a lot” of responsibility — while only about one-quarter of Republicans say the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility.
posted by Brian B. at 8:42 AM on December 30 [2 favorites]
But there’s a big partisan split on whether the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility for the war’s escalation. About 6 in 10 Democrats say they do — similar to the share of Democrats who say Hamas bears “a lot” of responsibility — while only about one-quarter of Republicans say the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility.
posted by Brian B. at 8:42 AM on December 30 [2 favorites]
Nothing of substance to add at the moment but wanted to say thanks to cendawanita and toastyk for all the work they have put into posting on this topic. Like Phlegmco(tm) I often feel overwhelmed by the horror, but the great people I have met over the past year in person and online who are working to bring this nightmare to an end and realize equal rights for all in Palestine help me to keep going.
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 8:52 PM on December 30 [7 favorites]
posted by mydonkeybenjamin at 8:52 PM on December 30 [7 favorites]
Avi Steinberg: Israeli Citizenship Has Always Been a Tool of Genocide — So I’m Renouncing Mine (TRUTHOUT):
To those who will breathlessly invoke the talking point that Jews “have a right to self-determination,” I will only say that if such a right does exist, it cannot possibly involve the invasion, occupation and ethnic cleansing of another people. Nobody has that right. Moreover, one can think of a few European countries that owe land and reparations to their persecuted Jews. The Palestinian people, however, never owed Jews anything for the crimes committed by European antisemitism, nor do they today.posted by kmt at 11:00 PM on December 30 [13 favorites]
As a traditional Jew, I believe the Torah is radical in its contention that Jewish people, or any people, have no right at all to any land, but rather are bound by rigorous ethical responsibilities. Indeed, if the Torah has one single message, it’s that if you oppress the widow and the orphan, if you deal corruptly in government-sanctioned greed and violence, and if you acquire land and wealth at the expense of regular people, you will be cast out by the God of righteousness. The Torah is routinely waved around by land-worshipping nationalists as though it were a deed of ownership, but, if actually read, it is a record of prophetic rebuke against the abuse of state power.
A Deadly Apathy; David Shulman in The New York Review.
A blank indifference to cruelty and atrocity as a normative mode of waging war has infected Israel’s collective conscience.
posted by adamvasco at 8:05 AM on January 1 [3 favorites]
A blank indifference to cruelty and atrocity as a normative mode of waging war has infected Israel’s collective conscience.
posted by adamvasco at 8:05 AM on January 1 [3 favorites]
It's the first day of the new year and according to Al-Jazeera liveblog today, Israel has bombed another "safe" zone and a seventh baby has died of hypothermia. Additionally, the Palestinian Authority has temporarily taken Al-Jazeera off the air across the Palestinian territories after their coverage of clashes between the PA and resistance fighters in the West Bank.
Israel's former defence chief Yoav Gallant resigns from parliament over imminent bill to exempt Haredim from IDF service. Apparently the bill that was going to incorporate volunteer service in the Israel Prison Service has been removed from the agenda; it was criticized by the UN Special Rapporteur.
Also, in the US, an attack on New Orleans that left 15 people dead had nothing to do with Gaza or the Middle East, but that did not stop the New York Times from connecting the two.
Dropsite News has first-hand accounts of current winter conditions in Gaza.
CENTCOM forces strike multiple Houthi targets in Yemen.
I haven't watched this yet, but Zeteo hosted a roundtable with Congresswoman Cori Bush, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman, and Marc Lamont Hill on black and Palestinian liberation.
posted by toastyk at 9:59 PM on January 1 [8 favorites]
Israel's former defence chief Yoav Gallant resigns from parliament over imminent bill to exempt Haredim from IDF service. Apparently the bill that was going to incorporate volunteer service in the Israel Prison Service has been removed from the agenda; it was criticized by the UN Special Rapporteur.
Also, in the US, an attack on New Orleans that left 15 people dead had nothing to do with Gaza or the Middle East, but that did not stop the New York Times from connecting the two.
Dropsite News has first-hand accounts of current winter conditions in Gaza.
CENTCOM forces strike multiple Houthi targets in Yemen.
I haven't watched this yet, but Zeteo hosted a roundtable with Congresswoman Cori Bush, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Georgia State Rep. Ruwa Romman, and Marc Lamont Hill on black and Palestinian liberation.
posted by toastyk at 9:59 PM on January 1 [8 favorites]
but that did not stop the New York Times from connecting the two.
Maybe American ingenuity will show the Germans how it's done (last month's Christmas market attack had about 24 hours of this but Elon forgot to scrub the guy's right-wing Islamophobic Twitter account until screenshots were well and truly taken).
posted by cendawanita at 3:13 AM on January 2 [2 favorites]
Maybe American ingenuity will show the Germans how it's done (last month's Christmas market attack had about 24 hours of this but Elon forgot to scrub the guy's right-wing Islamophobic Twitter account until screenshots were well and truly taken).
posted by cendawanita at 3:13 AM on January 2 [2 favorites]
Itay Epshtain:
Eight members of the Israeli Parliament Foreign and Defense Committee - from coalition parties Likud, Religious Zionism and Jewish Power - write Defense Minister Katz, demanding he issues order to #Israeli forces in #Gaza to:Isi Breen:
1. Destroy all energy sources including fuel, solar systems, generators and power lines.
2. Destroy all food sources including warehouses, water and water pumps.
3. Lay siege and remotely kill everyone not flying a white flag of surrender.
These are the *exact same things* Democrats, all the way up through Blinken and President Biden, have been citing as reasons Putin is a genocidal war criminal.posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 3:18 AM on January 3 [4 favorites]
Explicitly.
Blinken talks about Putin intentionally targeting power plans and food stores *constantly.*
Ancient 2009 photo but..
Israeli soldiers wore T-shirts with a pregnant woman in cross-hairs and the slogan "1 Shot 2 Kills"
posted by jeffburdges at 11:11 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Israeli soldiers wore T-shirts with a pregnant woman in cross-hairs and the slogan "1 Shot 2 Kills"
posted by jeffburdges at 11:11 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Brian B.: the word for these actions is not "war" (unless you suffix it with "crimes"). It's "genocide".
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:15 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by adrienneleigh at 11:15 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]
Brian B.: the word for these actions is not "war" (unless you suffix it with "crimes"). It's "genocide".
Total war overlaps where genocide has war as political cover. Whether one likes the word or not it has a history of academic study.
posted by Brian B. at 1:48 PM on January 3
Total war overlaps where genocide has war as political cover. Whether one likes the word or not it has a history of academic study.
posted by Brian B. at 1:48 PM on January 3
I've been struggling with what to post lately. I'm still not sure how the "official" count of the dead is still under 50k when today AlJazeera's liveblog indicates that Israeli bombing kills 140 even as there are talks (again!) of a ceasefire.
According to Times of Israel, the IDF is denying Palestinian media reports that they struck and ordered the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza.
Israel, after originally denying it, is confirming that it is holding Gaza hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and investigating him for "terrorist activities" - i.e., he's Hamas.
I don't want to be doing these posts again next year. I feel an obligation now, but I really wish it wasn't necessary.
posted by toastyk at 5:08 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
According to Times of Israel, the IDF is denying Palestinian media reports that they struck and ordered the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in north Gaza.
Israel, after originally denying it, is confirming that it is holding Gaza hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and investigating him for "terrorist activities" - i.e., he's Hamas.
I don't want to be doing these posts again next year. I feel an obligation now, but I really wish it wasn't necessary.
posted by toastyk at 5:08 PM on January 3 [6 favorites]
Just a quick note, Haaretz has plugged up the archive services.
posted by cendawanita at 10:47 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
posted by cendawanita at 10:47 PM on January 3 [1 favorite]
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Bottom line: The world was a worse place for Joe Biden being in it.
posted by Lemkin at 6:53 AM on December 29 [15 favorites]