Israel / Palestine

“Even though the land could not yet absorb sixteen million, nor even eight, enough could return... to prove that the enterprise was one that blessed him that gave as well as him that took by forming for England a little loyal Jewish Ulster in a sea of potentially hostile Arabism.”

Ronald Storrs, Military Governor of Jerusalem 1917-20

But I guess this just shows how much colonialist thinking has become dominant in Israeli politics.

Israel is an intrinsically colonial project, which has guided it’s political trajectory from it’s inception.

IDF issues evacuation order for building in Beirut’s southern suburbs

When this is done to people of a foreign country, it's not an "evacuation order". It's a threat.

@itsbruce open to hear any other suggestions to help separate civilian from military infrastructure when they are so deeply intertwined.

How would you say the strategy is working for minimising civilian casualties over the last year?

Call it what it is, or at least something that doesn't pretend that it's some natural disaster that the IDF is trying to protect them from.

I'd assume civilian casualties would be far higher than if they made no attempts to warn civilians in advance.

Think you've hit the nail on the head there. It's not a natural disaster. Military infrastructure has been embedded within a civilian population as part of a deliberate defensive strategy.

Military infrastructure has been embedded within a civilian population as part of a deliberate defensive strategy.

A bit flawed when it comes up against an enemy hellbent on ethnic cleansing and genocide though, isn't it?

Ah, the old human shield fallacy.

How long have you got? The duplicity in not also noting there are many IDF military installations "embedded" in highly dense urban population centres. Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv are a prime example.

Now, you want to talk about human shields?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_shields_in_the_Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_conflict

How about a one state solution where the most belligerant and comabative demographic give up their fixation on founding an ethnostate through blood and fire. Maybe a start would be to get that demographic weaned off the billions of dollars of funds, arms, and all the other political and military support from the West that facilitates it.

Exactly. Is it's been diabolical.

E.g. Record number of journalists killed in a conflict since the stat has been tracked over 30 years ago, in a tiny 17sq mile strip to add. some 80% of Gaza destroyed in the early months? Direct attacks on hospitals (today marks the anniversary of the al-Ahli attack), refugee tents and what have you. Let alone the many cases of the IDF hiding behind civilians and using them as human shields, contrary to and often accusing the Palestinian resistance of doing worse.

As sick as it is, this genocide has been well documented and live-streamed. Israel and their gimps seriously need to STFU. They have nothing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/19/israel-nuclear-weapons/

WaPo article from early in the year. Worth a read.

Probably worth mentioning here that I've been in dialogue with Yellow Bird Thread Works since March, cooking up a 1 1/8" brass top cap as a Palestine Action fundraiser. The project is nearing fruition and the theme is based on the final two lines of the late Professor Refaat Alareer's poem 'If I Must Die' with a small kite motif lasered in the brass. Will share more details once it's done but I'll probably order 30 and do a pre-sale for about £25 a pop.

In memorial eulogies and obituaries, people sometimes say "He died doing what he loved". That's what Shuvael Ben-Natan's family said at his funeral, except that as well as being one of the four IDF reservists who died in Lebanon last week, he was a settler who loved killing palestinians for trying to harvest their own olives.

“You entered Gaza to take revenge — as much as possible. [Against] women, children — everyone you saw. As much as possible. That’s what you wanted,” said Uriah Ben-Natan, the brother of 22-year-old Sgt. First Class (res.) Shuvael Ben-Natan

Another eulogist said, "You were the happiest, most optimistic, and most mischievous person in the unit. We first met in Gaza, when you burned a house without permission just for the atmosphere."

What a fun guy.

https://x.com/BBCWorld/status/1854782763246711123

Hey Israel, come pick up your shitty kids

Yeah ripping down Palestine flags and anti Arabic chanting.

Oh well it is anti Semitic https://www.itv.com/news/2024-11-08/israel-condemns-antisemitic-attacks-on-its-football-fans-in-amsterdam

/* 'antisemitic'

wink wink

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FBI unsealed charges against 3 men they say were operatives and agents for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard ordered to eliminate DT.

Things in the ME are not going to get prettier next year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/nyregion/iran-trump-assassination-plot.html

‘Israel has a right to defend itself’:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/nov/08/gaza-unparalleled-suffering-jan-egeland-norwegian-refugee-council-aid-ceasefire-hostages-peace-process

Nothing screams regional superpower like overacted victimhood

Oh and the anti Arabic chants are the normal chants on the Israeli terraces allegedly

Christ this thread is a bin fire. There was organised racist violence in Amsterdam from both sides, and innocent people attacked on both sides. People need to read outside their bubble. 100% guarantee I'll be accused of supporting genocide for saying this.

I worked for some time at one of the big five tech, in AI and machine learning to keep it simple. We sometimes (e.g. when Israel was busy doing what they're best at - killing Palestinian children) saw trending phrases make it to Hebrew and Yiddish language models Israel saying "death to Arabs/Palestinians" and all other kinds of shit. I must say, despite Arabic being one of the five major world languages, I was surprised how one-sided it was. I expected more/equal hate to creep into Arabic models, but nope, hardly any in comparison.