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

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

Yes, it's incredibly well-articulated. When you consider, too, that the most vitriolic anti-Semitism is being directed toward them, it's inspiring to see such erudition and grace in the face of such bullshit.

Just a week ago, an op-ed from The Jerusalem Post argued to strip anti-ceasefire Jewish protesters of their Judaism, calling them "un-Jews":

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-771479

*pro-ceasefire, excuse me

I really hope the students don't have their lives totally destroyed over this

I thought this was the most interesting part of that deeply unpleasant article:

The prominence of visibly Jewish anti-Zionists in the ongoing flood of bile and opprobrium targeting the Jewish state in the aftermath of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust should repulse us all.

bile and opprobrium is right - the existence of these people is clearly irritating on an existential level - does "should repulse us all" imply that they aren't repulsing enough people yet?

There was an absolutely horrific editorial in the Jerusalem Post saying that left wing Jewish people involved in the protests shouldn’t be considered Jewish at all.

oh sorry, I didn’t scroll up.

I hope it goes no further than just being a horrific editorial - it is evidence that the protests are genuinely undermining their propaganda efforts which is something

Would like to find out where in halakha it is written that the editor of the Jerusalem Post has the power to determine who is and is not Jewish

https://www.timesofisrael.com/avi-mayer-prominent-pro-israel-activist-named-editor-of-the-jerusalem-post/

Propagandist zaddy tbf

fp

:)

I hope it goes no further than just being a horrific editorial - it is evidence that the protests are genuinely undermining their propaganda efforts which is something

― Left, Thursday, November 9, 2023 12:59 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

there are a lot of people in the israeli government very interested in adjudicating who exactly is jewish. small example below

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/ultra-orthodox-mk-compares-reform-jews-to-pigs-672296

also waht is a person who is "visibly jewish" they see them at protests

I think there are still a lot of liberal American Jews, especially older ones, who don't realize that the Israeli right wing is also against them. It's easy to not get it if you just go hang out in Tel Aviv, see the Wailing Wall, and come home.

even the wailing wall isn't safe, the kind of thing described in the below article happens fairly regularly

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ultra-orthodox-clash-with-reform-worshipers-at-western-wall/

https://newrepublic.com/article/176781/open-letter-why-leaving-democratic-socialists-america

In the face of the wanton slaughter of innocents by Hamas, the calculated and depraved cruelty of its premeditated murder and kidnapping of the defenseless, including children and the elderly, several DSA locals—including its flagship New York City chapter—and the DSA International Committee promoted cheerleading demonstrations in support of Hamas’s actions. Given the well-known history of the organizations with which the NYC local and the International Committee partnered, it was predictable that the NYC demonstration would feature speeches that callously mocked the victims of Hamas and provided a venue for open expressions of antisemitism.

Not a single person I know who is a DSA member in NY— and all of them are Jewish!— agrees with that article, fwiw. It’s been making the rounds.

well, that's why they had to quit I guess

Good thread on the Indian "export" of up to 10k construction workers to replace Palestinians. As the thread notes they will face shitty conditions and racism.

Like they do in much of the middle- east. Not really sure what unions can do.
---
Ayushi Nayak ଆୟୂଷୀ ନାୟକ
@ayushi_nayak
Trade unions in India have noted their decision to oppose this, and I really hope the different groups can come together to protect the rights and safety of all Indian workers which will undoubtedly be put at risk if they are “exported” to Israel right now 1

There is a close relationship between Netanyahu and Modi.

I think there are still a lot of liberal American Jews, especially older ones, who don't realize that the Israeli right wing is also against them.

Liberal American Jews fully realize this, which is why they have always been anti-Netanyahu, especially now that Netanhayu has welcomed the true psychos, once consensus pariahs, into the government.

One of the DSA quitters wrote a “why I’m quitting the DSA” piece two years ago.

I wonder how often you can do the “I’m a lifelong supporter of blah, but now I’m voting the other way” as a grift. Maybe do some compensated cable channel appearances. One such guy was documented doing this twice in the last year on twitter!

The key is flip-flopping. "I was a lifelong Democrat but" "I became a born again Christian Republican but" into infinity.

i have always been of opinion that consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative

There is a close relationship between Netanyahu and Modi.

Yes, they both hate Muslims.

What a joke.

---

Eylon Levy
@EylonALevy
If Hamas is holding your relatives as human shields in Gaza City, please ask them to call the
@IDF
’s Human Shield Hotline.

It could save a life

Workers for a Free Palestine
@Workers4Pal
BREAKING: 400+ trade unionists are blockading multiple entrances to an arms factory in Kent which provides weapons for the Israeli military.

We demand an immediate #CEASEFIRENOW to halt the killing of civilians in Palestine & an end to British complicity in Israeli war crimes!

Not read this yet. In the latest LRB you have this piece on the arms industry and it's exports to Israel.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n22/james-butler/up-in-arms

_There is a close relationship between Netanyahu and Modi._

Yes, they both hate Muslims.

... and they both hate Muslims and prefer them dead.

yes

There is a close relationship between Netanyahu and Modi.

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Thursday, November 9, 2023 5:27 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

hating muslims really brings people together

lol sorry i'm the 70th person to say that but narendra modi is my bete noir

Indian elections next year, not sure how he is doing with the polling (or what the BJP are doing to get the system to work for them, e.g. cheat).

I haven't been following Indian politics as much lately, but thus far the problem with ejecting Modi has been the lack of credible opposition. Would love to have missed something on that front though

Same, don't think Congress are up to scratch but like to be wrong.

Modi is more popular than ever afaict.