cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/20051547

by Arwa Mahdawi

Fri 6 Sep 2024 06.07 EDT

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/19853836

by Jake Johnson

Aug 30, 2024

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/19845397

August 29, 2024

Contemporary left-wing antizionist discourse reproduces with stunning fidelity some of the central tropes of Soviet antizionist propaganda, which demonized Israel and Zionism. The article explores the background of these tropes, looks at the biographies of the right- wing Soviet ideologues who developed them, and examines the mechanisms through which they reached the West. The article concludes that these tropes are inextricably linked to antisemitic conspiracy theory, containing seeds of anti-Jewish violence that we ignore at our own peril.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) prioritizes its payments to terrorists, and has therefore lost more than 6.96 billion shekels (over $1.88 billion) in the last 5 years alone, according to its own data.

The official PA news agency, WAFA, criticized Israel for causing the PA’s financial crises largely by deducting money that the PA uses for terror payments. However, a look at the PA’s numbers shows that the PA itself is responsible for its crises.

Support for the two-state solution drops significantly among Palestinians and Israeli Jews, from 43% in September 2020 to 33% among the Palestinians and 34% among Israeli Jews. Among all Israelis, Jews and Arabs, 39% in total support the two-state solution. This is the lowest level of support for this concept among Palestinians, Israeli Jews, and all Israelis, since the beginning of the Pulse, in June 2016. Still, fewer people among Palestinians and Israelis as a whole support two possible alternatives to a two-state solution: one state with equal rights and one state without rights. Among Israeli Jews, however, support for one unequal state under Israeli rule is higher than the two-state solution

Support for the alternative of a two state confederation has varied over time, with different dynamics among Israelis and Palestinians. Among the Israeli population, support moved steadily upwards from 2016 through late 2017 and 2018, then fell once again to the same level as 2016, with 28% in total at present. Among Palestinians, support for a confederation plan reflects similar dynamics to other solutions: a mostly consistent downward trajectory from 2016 onwards, and 22% total support at present. The current survey for the first time tested five component aspects of the two state confederation, regarding freedom of movement, citizenship and residency for refugees and settlers, Jerusalem and joint authorities for civic affairs; most did not reach 30 percent support among Israeli Jews or Palestinians. The only exception was half of Israeli Jews who support joint civic institutions. However, a majority Israeli Arabs support both the full package and each item (for just one item, support was slightly below half), consistent with their pattern of support for all frameworks for a democratic resolution of the conflict.

As in previous surveys, levels of trust in the other side are very low: 86% of Palestinians and 85% of Israeli Jews believe the other side is not trustworthy.

Each side perceives itself as an exclusive victim (84% of Palestinians and 84% of Israeli Jews), while an overwhelming majority of Palestinians (90%) but only a smaller majority of Israeli Jews (63%) think this suffering grants them with a moral right to do anything they deem as necessary for survival. A vast majority among both groups (93%) see themselves as rightful owners of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan river. While a third of Israeli Jews are willing to accept some ownership right of the Palestinians, only 7% of Palestinians are willing to accept such idea about the Jews.

We asked Israelis and the Palestinians about their support for a list containing confidence building measures that the Palestinian and the Israeli sides can jointly take to improve the Palestinian-Israeli environment and promote healthy conditions for a resumption of viable peace negotiations:

1. ICC and area C: Palestinians will stop going to the International Criminal Court and Israel will allow the PA to build new cities in area C of the West Bank
2. Payments to prisoners and release of prisoners: Palestinians will replace the current system of payments to security prisoners and families of those killed in conflict with a social security system based on family needs and Israel will release to the Palestinian Authority hundreds of Palestinian prisoners among those who are sick, those that have already spent most of their prison terms, female prisoners, and others who do not pose a security threat
3. Textbooks and PA elections: Palestinians will revise their current school textbooks to remove any incitement against Jews and Israeli will allow Palestinians in East Jerusalem to participate in the PA elections in accordance with the terms of the Oslo agreement
4. PA security deployment and Israeli incursions: Palestinian security services will enter all areas under the PA control to arrest and disarm any armed Palestinians and those planning to carry out attacks against Israelis and the Israeli army to stop its incursions into area A of the Palestinian territories

Old but essential article from 2014 to understand the media space around this conflict.

To make sense of most international journalism from Israel, it is important first to understand that the news tells us far less about Israel than about the people writing the news. Journalistic decisions are made by people who exist in a particular social milieu, one which, like most social groups, involves a certain uniformity of attitude, behavior, and even dress (the fashion these days, for those interested, is less vests with unnecessary pockets than shirts with unnecessary buttons). These people know each other, meet regularly, exchange information, and closely watch one another’s work. This helps explain why a reader looking at articles written by the half-dozen biggest news providers in the region on a particular day will find that though the pieces are composed and edited by completely different people and organizations, they tend to tell the same story. (…)

foreign activists are a notable feature of the landscape, and where international NGOs and numerous arms of the United Nations are among the most powerful players, wielding billions of dollars and employing many thousands of foreign and local employees. Their SUVs dominate sections of East Jerusalem and their expense accounts keep Ramallah afloat. They provide reporters with social circles, romantic partners, and alternative employment—a fact that is more important to reporters now than it has ever been, given the disintegration of many newspapers and the shoestring nature of their Internet successors. (…)

My colleagues and I did not, that is, seek to analyze or criticize them. For many foreign journalists, these were not targets but sources and friends—fellow members, in a sense, of an informal alliance. This alliance consists of activists and international staffers from the UN and the NGOs; the Western diplomatic corps, particularly in East Jerusalem; and foreign reporters. (There is also a local component, consisting of a small number of Israeli human-rights activists who are themselves largely funded by European governments, and Palestinian staffers from the Palestinian Authority, the NGOs, and the UN.) Mingling occurs at places like the lovely Oriental courtyard of the American Colony hotel in East Jerusalem, or at parties held at the British Consulate’s rooftop pool. The dominant characteristic of nearly all of these people is their transience. They arrive from somewhere, spend a while living in a peculiar subculture of expatriates, and then move on. (…)

Hamas understood that journalists would not only accept as fact the Hamas-reported civilian death toll—relayed through the UN or through something called the “Gaza Health Ministry,” an office controlled by Hamas—but would make those numbers the center of coverage. Hamas understood that reporters could be intimidated when necessary and that they would not report the intimidation; Western news organizations tend to see no ethical imperative to inform readers of the restrictions shaping their coverage in repressive states or other dangerous areas. In the war’s aftermath, the NGO-UN-media alliance could be depended upon to unleash the organs of the international community on Israel, and to leave the jihadist group alone.(…)

It is time for a new voice to rise concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are two Palestinian-Israeli Citizens, who are unapologetic about our views, and our vision for a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians. Join us as we record as the war is going on in Israel and Gaza, as we delve deep into the roots of the war, and the way forward.

Really good podcast outside the radical circlejerk of western activists. Actual Palestinians and Israelis talk and listen to each other, building bridges to a common future.

An Israeli official said the IDF conducted strikes on long-range missiles Hezbollah prepared to launch at Israel. The official said the missiles were intended to be launched toward central Israel at 5:00 a.m. local time and were destroyed in the Israeli airstrikes several minutes before then. The IDF said Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets in two hours. Hezbollah said the "large-scale air attack" was directed at "a specific Israeli military target to be announced later, and against several enemy sites with a large number of missiles and drones." "These military operations will take some time to complete, after which a detailed announcement will be issued about their progress and goals," the statement from Hezbollah continued.

Jews, along with the other segments of the local population were expelled from Gaza by the Turks during World War I. By the end of 1917, Palestine came under British rule. Jews returned to Gaza soon after and in 1919, on the ruins of the old pre-war Talmud Torah School, they established the Shimshon School, one of the most important schools in the entire area. In 1920 and 1921 during the first of many post-war Arab riots, the Gaza Arabs engaged in ethnic cleansing of the local Jews. In the 1929 riots, the rest were driven from their homes and the Arabs, thereafter, banned Jews from living there. All evidence of a Jewish presence in Gaza, including the cemetery, were summarily desecrated, with the full approval of the Zionist authorities. This is the situation to this day. The community was now dispersed throughout Palestine but they made their contributions to Israeli society. Marcel Liebowitz for example, a native of Gaza, became a successful film distributor in the 30s, working with local and international film companies. In the meantime, due to the British military presence and the accompanying opportunities of employment, Arab immigrants poured into the area as they did the rest of Palestine, without any hindrance from the British. Such immigration continued until the War of Independence.

In 1930, a certain Tuvia Miller of Rehovot, purchased a plot of swampland near Gaza City and built an orchard. This plot was the site of the ancient Jewish town of Darom which flourished in the Talmudic era. Although the orchard was later destroyed by Arabs, the site continued to remain under Jewish ownership and in 1946, it was acquired by a Jewish group and the Kibbutz Kfar Darom was built. During the War of Independence, the Jews of Kfar Darom were expelled by the invading Arab army of Egypt which was also closing in on Gaza City. A story was told of one Abu Ish, Mukhtar of a neighboring Arab village who had gone to Gaza City on business. An Arab Muslim, he was a descendant of 7th century Jewish refugees from Arabia. Because of his ancestry, and because of his village’s good relations with the Jews, he was accused of being a Zionist spy and without any trial or investigation, was promptly hanged in the public square.

“The damage to the State of Israel, especially now and to the vast majority of the settlers, is indescribable: global delegitimization, even among our greatest allies; spreading thin the IDF’s personnel which is already struggling to keep up with all its missions and which wasn’t intended to deal with this; vengeful attacks that are sparking another front in the multi-front war we are in; putting more players into the cycle of terror; a slippery slope to the feeling of a lack of governance; another obstacle to creating local alliances that we need against the Shiite axis; and above all, a massive stain on Judaism and us all,” Bar wrote.

Hezbollah instead expanded its military footprint along the border, prohibited UNIFIL from patrolling broad swaths of territory, and routinely harassed, assaulted, and even killed the force’s personnel.

According to official quarterly reports on UNIFIL’s activities, the force has continued operating inside Lebanon since October, when Hezbollah stepped up its attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas. The force’s activities included nearly 6,000 monthly vehicular patrols in south Lebanon, consisting on average of 389 border patrols and 542 counter-rocket-launching patrols (foot patrols are a separate category discussed below). Yet these seemingly impressive numbers do not account for the many sensitive areas UNIFIL has been completely barred from entering for years, in blatant violation of Resolution 1701. Moreover, the latest report (covering February 21-June 20) revealed a spike in the already-common “freedom of movement incidents”—specifically, thirty-eight discrete cases in which “plainclothes” Hezbollah members or their local supporters harassed UNIFIL patrols, threatened them with weapons, fired at them, stole their equipment, or blocked their communications signals.

Regarding the UN prohibition on Hezbollah’s military arsenal south of the Litani, UNIFIL rarely if ever seized the group’s weapons prior to the outbreak of war in October and Israel’s resultant air campaign. The latest report indicates that UNIFIL found and disposed of “unauthorized weapons” on seventeen occasions since February, “mostly mobile rocket launching platforms and rockets.” More tellingly, however, it has failed to investigate a single one of the more than 3,000 Hezbollah arms depots and other military sites targeted by Israel since October—including bombed-out bases run by Hezbollah’s supposed environmental group “Green Without Borders.”

Joshua Leifer—a leader of the anti-Zionist organization IfNotNow and author of the new book Tablets Shattered, about how American Jewish life has gone down the tubes—was denied entry to his own book launch at an indie bookstore in Brooklyn. Why? Because the rabbi who was supposed to interview him is a Zionist, and, according to Leifer, “they would not permit a Zionist on the premises.”

“My biggest worry was about synagogues not wanting to host me,” Leifer posted on X about the ordeal. “I didn’t think it would be bookstores in Brooklyn that would be closing their doors.”

Jews are not merely a religious group but an ethno-religious people for whom the land of Israel is a symbol and embodiment of their spiritual and territorial sovereignty. The relationship between Jews and Israel is intrinsic and inseparable. To sever this bond is to deny our historical and cultural rights, an act of profound injustice that perpetuates historical wrongs.

Recent efforts to portray Jews as interlopers from "Poland," a crass and ignorant reference that trivialises the horrors of the Shoah, are part of a broader narrative aimed at delegitimising Jewish claims to Israel. This narrative insists that Jews are merely practitioners of a faith, not a people with a legitimate claim to a homeland. Such rhetoric conveniently aligns with the propaganda of Hamas, which frames its violent actions as "resistance" rather than terrorism.

The libellous assertion that Zionism is a Western colonial project reveals a deliberate effort to undermine Jewish historical and legal claims. It seeks to deny the Jewish people's right to self-determination and to delegitimise their connection to their ancestral land. This narrative not only distorts history but also fuels the extremist ideologies that justify violence against Israel.

Zionism, at its essence, is a movement of liberation and affirmation. It stands as a testament to the resilience of the Jewish people, our unbreakable bond with our homeland, and our enduring right to self-determination.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Prays For The Soul Of 'Martyr' Ismail Haniyeh In Turkish Parliament Speech, Adds: We Are Implementing Shari'a Law – Victory Or Martyrdom; America Is The Plague And The Plague Is America; The Palestinian Leader

archived

RSS was founded in the 1920s, taking direct inspiration from the original Nazi party in Germany (NSDAP), and today considers Israel as the ideal model ethnostate to achieve in India. The growing ideological, economic, and political alliance between India’s ruling class and Israel has culminated in the Indian state becoming the top purchaser of Israeli weaponry. And especially since the current Prime Minister of India came into power, the escalation of state violence and patterns of occupation and militarization — targeting Kashmiris, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits, and Adivasis — has been modeled on the Zionist settler-colonial regime.

Zionism and Hindutva are two ethno-nationalist ideologies which are related to Nazi fascism. Both have found a home in the Euro-settler societies of the imperial core.

Recent incidents in academic spaces highlight how the RSS’ efforts to spread Hindu supremacist ideology within the U.S. imitate the overall strategy successfully utilized by Israel’s political advocates for decades. To dismiss and denounce anyone critical of Hindutva, RSS elements have begun to deploy the term “hinduphobia,” emulating the Zionist playbook of accusing anti-Zionists of being “anti-semitic.”