Israel/Palestine post 10/7 - follow-on events/thoughts as relate to other countries

And lots of defence contracting

Protests are being planned for Armistice Day. Looks like the match will be lit on the tiniest pretence

"They died for your freedom, but don't you dare think about exercising it." https://t.co/xyCICKV35j

— James B (@piercepenniless) November 3, 2023

Clare Hymer
@ClareHymer
HAPPENING NOW: Another peaceful sit-in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, this time at Kings Cross Station.

the only additional freedoms that came because of GB participation in the world wars was the bankrupting and partial destruction of an evil global empire and the resultant decline arguably sped up the process of decolonisation that followed. "Protect our freedoms" my fucking arsehole, it was a warfare state that forced conscripts onto the battlefield, which is the absolute opposite of freedom.

David Adler
@davidrkadler
New bill in the French 🇫🇷 Senate : 'An insult committed against the State of Israel is punishable by two years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.'

I don't even want to paste in what Germany are doing, just utterly disgusting

Belgian transport workers saved the lives of thousands of Jews in the 1940s by unlocking the doors of trains headed for the extermination camps. Now, they're refusing to load weapons onto ships headed to Israel. This is a meaningful & timeless solidarity with humanity. pic.twitter.com/kvcUMcnJd7

— Amro Ali (@_amroali) November 3, 2023

Wokeness run amok

Scoop: Blinken told Israeli war cabinet humanitarian pause will buy Israel time for Gaza operation. My story on @axioshttps://t.co/PkpZ8vrk5H

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 4, 2023

Sorry, I blocked the Nazi social media website but it seems as if somebody is accusing Biden in being “complicit” in Palestinian massacre? What a concept

Quite an interesting set of remarks by this father (terrible headline), on his daughter's who have torn up those Israeli hostage fliers.

https://nypost.com/2023/11/03/news/father-of-aya-and-dana-bakaret-who-tore-israeli-posters-insists-they-are-good-girls/

“What happened in Manhattan with my daughters, I believe them. The lady provoke them, stole from their hand a picture of the baby and told her ‘this is going to keep happening to you as long as you support these people.’”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2023/11/04/nyt-jazmine-hughes-resigns/

Central London blocked. Charing Cross station occupied.

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Georgie Robertson
@_GeorgieBlaise
·
2h
🚨 HAPPENING NOW: huge sit in at Charring Cross station. Police have closed every entrance so hundreds more outside can’t join us. #CeasefireForGazaNOW #FreePalestine

The New York Times
@nytimes
Jazmine Hughes, an award-winning New York Times Magazine staff writer, resigned from the publication on Friday after she signed a letter that voiced support for Palestinians and protested Israel’s siege in Gaza.

These new twitter links are hella annoying

psa for all you can paste x links into ilx and then just erase the x in the url and type in twitter and the tweet will embed like the old days

There are issues with tweets embeds as outlined here.

Is this anti-semitism?

While that's to do with threads and not individual tweets I am trying to just link tweets as it makes some people mad that I am just linking to twitter at all (I am not going to stop, though I am having a go at defusing the issue).

But right now I think we're past that, because a lot of the messaging that causes people to link together Israel and The Jews In General is coming direct from Israel and pro-Israel Jewish groups, on purpose, with no concern for how they are setting up Jews around the world for a rise in antisemitism. The corollary to "Israel = The Jews; if you are anti-Israel you are anti-Semitic" is "If Israel does something you have to take a stance against, then you may as well embrace antisemitism in general." And right now Israel is committing atrocities and the world is not going to forgive the Jews for that. It's been 2000 years and people are still saying "The Jews killed Jesus" - how long will "The Jews carried out an ethnic cleansing" be used as a weapon against the world's Jewish population? I was talking to my dad about this, and he pointed out that an explosion in global antisemitism means more Jews seeing Israel as the only safe place to live, which means more settlers, which is what Netanyahu wants, so why would he care about the safety of Jews worldwide?

I don't mean this to suggest that I'm looking at this whole conflict through the lens of "Is this good for the Jews?" My primary concern is for Gaza. But when I do take a moment to look through that lens, it is undoubtedly very bad for the Jews.

― Lily Dale, Sunday, 5 November 2023 17:11 (six hours ago) link

I understand this line of thinking, but will never accept it, it's just excusing antisemitism. No one is saying "well Islamophobia is mainly the fault of Muslim groups that associate Islam with radicalization" Plenty of people are just happy to have an excuse to be antisemitic. Antisemitism quite obviously did not start with the founding of Israel. Whatever Bibi does, it shouldn't change that we don't have to prove we are "one of the good ones" before being afforded basic respect and dignity. I apply the same standard to all groups of people.

Yes, it's sometimes difficult to discuss how it feels to experience this as an American Jewish person without others getting weirdly defensive about the mere suggestion that they may have a slight bias or blind spot.

It feels a bit like being a woman and trying to discuss sexism with someone who gets angry and then mansplains to you how he's one of the good ones.

I find it most discouraging when people try to rationalize by explaining there has always been antisemitism, and surely we need to admit this, as if it's just a natural feature of the landscape that we should just be expected to tolerate.

Luckily, I did not grow up to believe that. I had very idealistic and accepting friends and supportive family. I just tune people out that try to explain my own experience back to me in a negative way. We do not just experience history. We also make it.

man alive, I didn't mean to say that antisemitism was mainly the fault of Israel, or that Israel's messaging is an excuse for antisemitism. I just meant that I think any message that represents Jews as a monolithic group is its own form of antisemitism, and one that I find very dangerous right now.

I think the analogy man alive makes in your previous post is quite a good one. Regardless of whether or not one thinks that all Muslims bear responsibility for the actions of groups who purport that atrocities they commit are in the name of Islam (and, to be clear, this is similarly a horrible and racist idea) it is clear that to do so is common and, based on a quick skim of British newspapers, respectable in many quarters. In this equation I think its pretty clear that there are a range of actors linked by an interest in making Islam and violence synonymous, regardless of the extreme divergence of their motivations. Both are culpable for forging this slanderous connection.

The wholesale commandeering of identities by fringe or conservative elements within them, motivated by deep animus, is common and tends to be enthusiastically embraced by the sensible, measured bigots that populate the opinion columns of the world. I think also of the, often unchallenged, framing of transphobia as the protection of women's or "LGB" rights. The spectacle of swivel-eyed right-wing thugs 'standing up for "LGB" rights' is not a reassuring or comforting development, and I feel a deep but difficult to articulate resonance with the images of the Jewish protesters being arrested in NYC with 'Not in my name' t-shirts. The horror and nauseating feeling of being implicated and used in such a cynical way. It seems especially galling given that apportioning blame for the state of Israel to jewish people everywhere is recognised as a fundamental expression and vector of antisemitism.

Nicholas Courtman
@CourtmanNick
German MP from the liberal party (!) calling for the parliament to eliminate foreigners’ right to organise protests and deny their right to association as a response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, I see

dunno what that ! is about - the liberal party is the FDP, i.e. libertarian cranks, no surprise they'd be into this

Have seen a strong reaction to protests in Germany (and ofc the UK), across the pol class. But yes it's to be seen whether something is ratified in Parliament...just something to keep an eye on.

I could imagine it going through yeah, and it is v scary

wouldn't put it past the german left either tbh

Interesting thread on why the US having no red lines is bad foreign policy.

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Jeet Heer
@HeerJeet
·
1h
1. I want to suggest that Biden shouldn't be guided by domestic politics on this but by what is in the foreign policy interest of the USA. Biden is giving de facto unequivocal support (with a few rhetorical cautions) to a massacre. That is bad for America. Period

the thing about this copy paste technique is that there's no way for us to click to the rest of the thread

I prefer it

I know, it's responding to something else so the embed would be an issue here.

People who are on twitter can seek it out.

People who hate the platform can ignore it.

xp

8. What you have right now is a State Dept filled with people who know the policies they are executing are bad for America and for the world, in addition to being morally revolting. The domestic politics of this seem secondary to me compared to that.

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) November 6, 2023

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-wanted-to-fire-far-right-minister-caved-under-ben-gvirs-opposition-tv/

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to fire Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu for saying one of Israel’s options in the war against Hamas is to nuke Gaza, but buckled following opposition from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Channel 12 news reports.

Ben Gvir, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, of which Eliyahu is a member, told Netanyahu he would not cooperate with the effort, saying the government should be focusing on destroying Hamas, not “educating ministers,” according to the network. Netanyahu then folded."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/humber-student-boycott-israeli-apartheid-1.7020897

kicked out of school for a "boycott Israeli apartheid" sticker...

Rashida Tlaib censured by the House due to "from the river to the sea"....https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/us/politics/tlaib-censure-house-israel-gaza.html?te=1&nl=from-the-times&emc=edit_ufn_20231107

A source shared with me this resignation letter from Victoria Ruiz, the pro-Palestine public defender who was forced out of her position this week by a NY Post-led harassment campaign. Tells her side of the story. pic.twitter.com/a17KTgYjH7

— Brendan O'Connor (@_grendan) November 8, 2023

New York public defender forced to resign for attending a pro-Palestine vigil

Surrounded by some of her progressive Democratic colleagues, Tlaib said earlier Tuesday she would not be "silenced" and accused members of distorting her words.

"I can't believe we have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable," she said before she broke down in tears for several seconds earlier on Tuesday. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., stood to comfort Tlaib before she continued.

"We are human beings just like anyone else. My sity, my grandmother -- like all Palestinians -- just wants to live her life with freedom and human dignity we all deserve," she said. "Speaking up to save lives no matter faith, no matter ethnicity should not be controversial in this chamber. The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don't understand is why the cries of Palestinian children sound different to you all. We cannot lose our shared humanity."

ridiculous censure vote, ridiculous institution

This is something at least:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/congressional-staffers-stage-walkout-gaza-ceasefire-1234872959/amp/

Over 100 congressional staffers staged a walkout in front of the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, calling on the representatives they work for to endorse a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.

The staffers held a vigil for the 1,400 Israelis killed in Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack against Israel, as well as the more than 10,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s retaliatory siege against the Gaza Strip.

“We were horrified by the brutal October 7th attacks on Israeli civilians, and we are horrified by the overwhelming response by the Israeli government that has killed thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Congressional Staff For A Ceasefire wrote in a statement. “Our constituents are pleading for a ceasefire, and we are the staffers answering their calls.”

“Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent. We demand our leaders speak up: call for a ceasefire, a release of all hostages, and an immediate de-escalation now,” they added.

A friend was fired

https://hardcrackers.com/on-being-fired-academic-repression-and-the-struggle-for-palestine/

Fired for teaching by the syllabus? I hope she does file a complaint.

From the latest Bookforum newsletter:

Since we last wrote you, more than five hundred writers have signed a letter boycotting Artforum and other Penske Media Corporation (PMC) art publications, including Art in America and ARTnews, in the wake of editor David Velasco’s firing. n+1 has published an open letter drafted by a group of Jewish writers, artists, and activists disavowing the idea “that any criticism of Israel is inherently antisemitic.”

BED BATH & BEYOND SCION PRESSURED ARTISTS TO RETRACT GAZA CEASEFIRE CALL IN ARTFORUM LETTER
The editor who published the letter in Artforum was fired after the wealthy art patron Martin Eisenberg’s behind-the-scenes push

Big Pillow strikes again

That popped up a lot on my feed last week. Quite a few people (writers and staff members such as editors) also resigned or pulled written pieces from Artforum in protest.

Taj Ali
@Taj_Ali1
·
21h
BREAKING: The Trade Unionists for Palestine group have shut down a Melbourne port, preventing trucks from accessing the area where an Israeli shipping line operates.

Protesters say shipping line ZIM has a long history of complicity in the oppression of the Palestinian people

Taj Ali
@Taj_Ali1
·
7h
When Nelson Mandela was released from prison he came to Australia to especially thank the trade unionists who had blockaded ships carrying goods to and from apartheid South Africa.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/09/palestinian-author-adania-shibli-frankfurt-book-fair

The Zoomers are all right:

https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2023/11/an-open-letter-from-jewish-students

There is a big protest at Union Station in Toronto today, Jewish people staging a sit-in in solidarity with Palestinians.

https://x.com/surjto/status/1722601639666696560

That statement from the Jewish students of Brown is really good

Certainly the best student statement I’ve read

this is some fucking bullshit

The Spanish government has decided to allow the Trump administration’s controversial extradition request to extradite wealthy activist James “Fergie” Chambers to continue in the country’s courts.

Chambers, a US citizen and wealthy donor to leftwing and humanitarian projects, is currently imprisoned in Madrid. It is the first known case of the US seeking to extradite a citizen over alleged support for Hamas, an accusation tied to money Chambers has donated to support Palestinians, including the Sameer Project, in Gaza.

I wasn't sure whether to post this here, the Canadian politics thread, or somewhere else, but this is deranged: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/yoni-goldstein-jewish-law-tells-us-how-to-deal-with-avi-lewis

For non-Canadians: Avi Lewis is the leader of the NDP, our most viable though currently very diminished leftist party.

Yoni Goldstein: Jewish law tells us how to deal with Avi Lewis
His Yom Kippur message was indefensible

By Yoni Goldstein, Special to National Post

The Jews were well into their desert journey when Korach, a member of the privileged Levite clan, openly questioned Moses’ leadership. Two-hundred-and-fifty people, a tiny fraction of the nation that then comprised hundreds of thousands of adults, sided with him. Korach and his leadership group refused Moses’s summons, accusing him of leading the Jews out of Egypt for his own glory. Suddenly, God caused the earth to open up, and Korach and his family were swallowed alive. The 250 admirers were consumed by fire.

The biblical story of Korach presents a stark lesson in how Jews think about internal dissent, when it escalates to become a threat to the continued viability of the community itself. It is indeed an extreme consequence for eliciting communal harm, but then Jewish law is fairly clear on the subject: when a Jew endangers the Jewish community, the community is obligated to stop them.

Such is the case with NDP Leader Avi Lewis. Critics have accused him of laying blame for the deaths in Gaza at the feet of all Jews in a pre-Yom Kippur social media message. “Tonight Yom Kippur begins,” he wrote. “It’s a time of atonement — a time to grieve those who have been lost, a time to acknowledge and take responsibility for harms we have caused, individually and collectively.”

“For Jewish people,” Lewis continued, “the personal has always been political and the political always personal. This year I’m reflecting on the fact that we failed to do our part to stop an ongoing genocide committed in our name.”

Around an hour earlier, a gunman shot up a synagogue in Belleville, Ont., grievously injuring a police officer on Judaism’s holiest day of the year. It’s not clear to me that you can draw a straight line from Lewis’ post to the Belleville shooting, but, on their own merit, Lewis’ comments endanger Jews everywhere in Canada.

Lewis later tried to backtrack, saying he meant Gaza was the fault of “humanity,” not just the Jews — but the damage was done. And in any case, his original comments were completely in line with his other public remarks about Israel’s war with Hamas, and very much agreed upon within the ranks of the NDP, where Israel is seen as the enemy of all things right and good. In Lewis and his supporters’ construction, Israel and Jews are uniquely to blame for the bloodshed — and when there is blowback, that’s their fault, too.

Fortunately, the corpus of Jewish law and thought provides ample advice on what to do when one of their own threatens the safety of the community.

In Leviticus, God orders the Jewish people, “You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart,” but rather to, “Reprove your kinsman.” The rabbis generally understood this to mean that the Jewish response to a disagreeable community member is to approach privately and attempt to convince them, through honest discussion, to change their ways. Maimonides later added that the confrontation is an essential element — not only to impress upon the subject the seriousness of the matter, but also to avoid holding the contempt in until it boiled over into something worse.

None of this applies, however, when a Jewish person presents a clear and present danger to the Jewish community. When that happens, Jewish thought is much more forceful: you must prevent the perpetrator from causing harm.

Jewish law developed two character sketches to describe such scenarios. The first is known as a “mosar” — a Jewish person who informs to oppressive authorities, potentially leading to the imprisonment, torture or death of community members. The second, called a “rodef,” refers to a Jew who is actively pursuing another with the intent to harm or kill them. In both scenarios, the law is clear that a Jew is duty-bound to step in. Protecting the community and its members is the most important thing.

Judaism has a robust history of debate, codified by the Mishnah, Talmud and centuries of textual disagreement. Perhaps most famously, Hillel and Shamai, two great sages of the first century who headed competing schools of Jewish learning, disagreed about pretty much everything. And that was great, because the foundation of their disagreement was “for the sake of heaven,” which Judaism highly encourages.

But all of that goes out the window when a Jew endangers another Jew. There is no real debate to be had — only rebuke and, in extreme situations, removal from the community. In March 1363, for example, the Jewish community of Tudela, the largest in the Navarre kingdom located in what are now parts of Spain and France, made a resolution that any Jew caught informing against the community was subject to excommunication from all the city’s synagogues for 50 years. Such a person’s presence was simply not tolerated in the city.

Avi Lewis is unlikely to be swallowed up by the earth or officially excommunicated, whatever that might entail, but the story of Korach still offers some metaphorical guidance for a modern-day response to internal threats. Jewish thought does not treat every critic as an enemy. But when the community is endangered from the inside, reasoned debate and private conversations are no longer options. We are left with no choice but to say, “this person does not represent us, they have no connection with us and we will not tolerate being made unsafe, even if it’s by one of our own.” The wellbeing of the community comes first.

It’s not clear to me that you can draw a straight line from Lewis’ post to the Belleville shooting

yeah no shit

esp. because from all available evidence the shooting had nothing to do with Israel, it was just the plain old fashioned anti-semitism that's cheered on by so many of the National Post's favourite world leaders

What's absurd about that bit about the Belleville shooting is it starts with "Around an hour earlier" so the only way to draw that line is via time travel.

there's an Israeli Satmar hasid being detained by ICE for protesting against Israel:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/nyregion/anti-israel-protest-ice-detention.html

Fair play to the Greens passing their 'Zionism is racism' motion at their conference.

Small step, as they are not anywhere near power, but reflects well on them