umm al-hamam pigeons are an unjustly mistreated bird. free them This user account status is Approved Comments Comments Posts Posts Tel Aviv is very much like Manhattan: indigenous Lenape land that was expropriated by settlers while the natives were expelled, massacred in several extremely one-sided wars, forced to sign treaties with the United States and finally deported to distant reservations, mostly in present-day Oklahoma, where the majority of them are now landless, in poverty and cut off from their cultural and linguistic origins. Or probably more accurate to say that the Manhattan model is what the Zionist settlers hope to achieve in Tel Aviv. On They made the real estate section bloom Even Zionists recognise this—see also this article by Uri Avnery of the Zionist anti-"occupation" organisation גוש שלום. https://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/12/bibi-the-great-and-the-new-enemy-bds/ On The Gaza blockade is illegal– and so is the use of force to maintain it You are seriously underestimating the power of BDS. Israel is in a state of panic that they will end up like South Africa. They are spending 30 million dollars to fight BDS The fact that Zionist authorities are spending a great deal of money (much more than 30 million at this point) to combat BDS is not necessarily proof that BDS poses a genuine threat to the Zionist entity. Zionist leaders have always needed an existential threat to their fledgling state to distract their citizens and the rest of the world from the continued colonisation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine. First it was Egypt and Syria who were constantly supposedly plotting to destroy Israel and throw the Jews into the sea, until Nasser was replaced with Sadat and peace agreements were signed. Then it was the PLO, supposedly a terrorist organisation necessitating the invasion of Lebanon and massive internal repression, until Oslo. Then it was Iran and Hizbullah, which were supposedly seeking to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons, until the JCPOA was signed (over Netanyahu's objections). BDS then became the newest faux-threat to be incited against. That should not obscure the fact that the Zionist entity enjoys widespread legitimacy and the repression it carries out against the Palestinians is more severe than ever, and that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine is succeeding on the ground. Ali Abunimah goes into more detail here: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/why-bds-replacing-iran-israels-biggest-existential-threat On The Gaza blockade is illegal– and so is the use of force to maintain it One can see the application of Buddhism on a state level in one of the Zionist entity's allies, Myanmar, which is carrying out a project of genocide against minority ethnic groups in the name of religious purity. We see this in any state where religious authorities are inextricably linked with the government: Hindu nationalism in India, Jewish supremacy in Israel, Islamic government in Saudi Arabia, Protestant rule in Northern Ireland. The problem is not any specific religion but rather religious rule, which inevitably defines only followers of that religion as true citizens. There is no religion, however peaceful its teachings, which can rule politically over others without violence or oppression. On Birthright dissident calls on 1000s of Jews doing trip to ‘make Birthright uncomfortable’ I don't have much patience for American Jews who take up the offer of free trips to stolen Palestinian land, when millions of Palestinian refugees are barred from returning to that land. They are crossing the BDS picket line, spending money at Zionist businesses that enable the continuing occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine, contributing to Zionist propaganda by inflating the numbers of Jews who are participating, and reinforcing—however unintentionally—the belief that Palestine is essentially a Jewish waqf to which all Jews around the world are entitled. And this is American Jews who are already aware that the occupation exists! They can't even plead ignorance.... if they truly want to learn about the occupation, why not travel to the West Bank the way Palestinians have to (through Jordan) and meet with Palestinian organisations within the occupied territories? (Instead they choose Breaking the Silence, an organisation that collects stories from Zionist war criminals—which tell us nothing we could not have heard from listening to Palestinian survivors—in exchange for guaranteed anonymity and impunity.) On Birthright walkout is met with vitriolic rage in Israel — ‘Radicals’ ‘You will get raped’ I certainly hope the world does in fact pay attention. The world has, so far, ignored peaceful Palestinian demonstrations unless they're getting shot by Zionist snipers, and then it's largely to blame the Palestinians for their own deaths. Will any large media outlets be showing these artistic, cultural and social events? Stokely Carmichael's words, "In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.", also seem to apply to the US's puppet states, very much including the Zionist entity. My suspicion is that nothing short of overwhelming force will work, whether economic, socio-political or military, and Palestinians currently are not able to leverage that force alone. On Organizer of the Great March of Return says protests in Gaza ‘must go on’ ...and the PA is already calling for the prohibition of demonstrations. Not looking forward to the crackdown this signals. They will only succeed if they can mobilise in large numbers & I'm not sure if that is even possible with how demoralised people are.... http://shehab.ps/post/34519/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%8A%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%8A-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9 On Palestinians protest in Ramallah against the ‘Authority of Shame’ this is very encouraging. wishing them success, safety & solidarity. الله يحميهم On Palestinians protest in Ramallah against the ‘Authority of Shame’ I *suspect* that what Ronel was reporting was that no specific orders were given to kill her. For all that the IOF claims it knows "where every bullet landed" and all its pretensions of hypercompetence and discipline, it's very likely individual snipers are treating the protests as a free fire zone and shooting at will to satisfy their genocidal desires. (Note also the number of children killed & severely injured over the past few months.) It still comes down to premeditated murder, but murder inevitably resulting from the IOF & Gadi Eisenkot's cynical decision to station snipers around the apartheid fence in the first place in full knowledge that this would happen, with the plausible deniability of no "direct orders" to kill 12 year olds or medics or journalists. The culture within the IOF has shifted in the past few years to become even more overtly genocidal incl rabbis preaching that it is their duty under Jewish law to kill all Palestinians. (which is untrue, btw. that's basically an ISIS level of distance from mainstream jewish thought) On The unwarranted presumption of Israeli soldier innocence in the killing of Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar >>Zionism has nothing to do with economics.<< Gershon Shafir's book Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882-1914 is the most in-depth & effective analysis of the Zionist project from a labour and economics perspective. The basic summary is: 1) Zionism is almost entirely an economic project based on land exploitation 2) The "prosperity" and "economic miracle" of the Zionist entity post-1917 and especially post-1948 is based on expropriation of land and resources that rightfully, if not legally, belonged to the indigenous people 3) The partition plan in 1947 granted the Zionists the bulk of Palestine's most fertile arable land, and one of the main purposes of the 1948 war was for the Zionists to seize as much of the remaining arable land as possible, particularly in the north. So e.g. the 1948 conquest of Jerusalem was also, and just as significantly, a conquest of the highly fertile & productive Wadi es-Sarar (Nahal Soreq) valley, one of the few permanent rivers in Palestine, & one that is now almost entirely diverted for Zionist agricultural purposes 4) until 1988, and to a lesser extent from then until the present day, the continued economic growth of the Zionist entity owes a significant amount to the existence & exploitation of cheap Palestinian labour 5) the settlements in the West Bank & East Jerusalem derive their prosperity entirely from these two factors—cheap Palestinian labour and expropriation of natural resources. If Palestinians launched a general strike and took control of the water, land & agricultural resources that rightfully belong to them under international law, the settlements would collapse overnight 6) although the USA primarily supports Zionism at the moment in order to have a client state/military base in the Middle East, economic concerns are an important secondary concern, especially the large military and technological industries within the Zionist state & their close working relationship with military forces and private military contractors throughout the USA & Europe. place an arms embargo on the Zionist state and its ability to sustain itself would collapse. On How to tell when defending Israel is actually racist load more comments
