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Sunday, March 17, 2024

Links - 17th March 2024 (2 - Palestine/Middle East Peace)

What Are We To Make of ‘Queers for Palestine’? - "What explains these signs and sentiments, which seem to be springing up organically around the country and other parts of the world? How is the Hamas-Israel war connected to climate change? Why is it a feminist issue? Why are “queers” standing in solidarity with Palestine when Israel’s government is far more permissive than Palestine’s (for example, same-sex activity is criminalized in Gaza)? What has inspired an outpouring of egregious and unconscionable antisemitic rhetoric and behavior in various cities and on a number of college campuses?  The answer is, in a word, intersectionality... So in what ways does intersectionality shape progressive views on the Israel-Hamas War?  First, through its embrace of the social binary; second, through its implicit adoption of the category of “whiteness,” and finally through its commitment to solidarity in liberation. While the concept of intersectionality can be understood narrowly to refer to the trivial claim that our identities are complex and multifaceted, Crenshaw intended a far more robust understanding rooted in a prominent feature of critical social theory, what we call the “social binary.” The social binary refers to the belief that society is divided into oppressed groups and oppressor groups along lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, physical ability, religion, and a host of other identity markers. Crenshaw did not merely believe that Black women (and White men, and Hispanic lesbians) all had different social locations, but that they had differently-valued social locations. In a 1989 paper, Crenshaw asked the reader to “[imagine] a basement which contains all people who are disadvantaged on the basis of race, sex, class, sexual preference, age and/or physical ability” and who were then literally stacked “feet standing on shoulders with the multiply-disadvantaged at the bottom and the fully privilege at the very top.” This understanding of intersectionality necessarily assumes a hierarchy of oppression and privilege such that people can be ranked in order from most to least oppressed... Later critical social theorists, and especially postcolonial scholars, believe that colonialism—like white supremacy, the patriarchy, and heterosexism—divides society into oppressed and oppressor groups. Because the Israeli government is positioned as a “colonizing foreign power,” it is therefore necessarily oppressive. Conversely, Palestinians are then necessarily positioned as a colonized, oppressed group. Never mind the spurious assessment of both. Note here that critical theorists make these judgments not on the basis of the actual history of the region (which is complex) or a careful analysis of particular Israeli policies (which are certainly open to debate). Rather, the mere identification of Israel as a “colonial power” is all that is needed to set up a social binary between the Israelis and Palestinians.  The social binary then explains why some progressives make such a quick, simplistic analysis: intersectionality deceptively primes them to see the world in these black-and-white terms... CRT, which was birthed concurrently with intersectionality in the late 1980s, conceptualizes whiteness not as a skin color or even as an ethnicity, but as a social construct that provides tangible and intangible benefits to those raced as “White.” (Notwithstanding that white skin and whiteness are often conflated when it serves the interests of progressives). Whiteness as a social construct signals that “whiteness” is fluid and malleable and need not only include people traditionally understood as White... Critical race theorists have long wrestled with the place of Jewish people within their racial hierarchy. On the one hand, Americans did not traditionally consider Jews “White” and the U.S. has explicitly discriminated against Jews in the recent past (Jewish admission quotas at Ivy League Schools being one glaring example). On the other hand, many critical race theorists today believe that most Jews have assimilated to whiteness and benefit from “White privilege” and therefore should be classified as White. In her chapter “Whiteness, Intersectionality, and the Contradictions of White Jewish Identity,” Jewish psychologist Jodie Kliman writes that,
'As European Jews have slowly ‘become’ white over the last three generations (Brodkin, 1998), we have internalized White supremacy in general and anti-Black prejudice in particular...Immigrant Jews and their descendants assimilated into US society, becoming white, or sort of white...'...
One could, in principle, accept that both LGBTQ people and Palestinians are oppressed groups and still conclude that their goals are mutually exclusive. For example, most Palestinians are Muslim and traditional Islam rejects the sexual autonomy demanded by LGBTQ activists. Yet an intersectional framework insists that homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and colonialism are all “interlocking systems of oppression” that can and must be overturned simultaneously—never mind the details. Lest anyone worry that we’re misinterpreting or overstating the degree to which popular progressive sentiments surrounding this issue are shaped by a fundamental commitment to intersectionality, consider the article “Palestine is a Feminist Issue” from the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. It begins with a quotation from Mariam Barghouti “Fundamentally speaking, feminism cannot support racism, supremacy and oppressive domination in any form” and immediately explains intersectionality in its opening paragraph... While the reaction of some progressives to the Hamas-Israel war took many people, especially Jewish people, by surprise, it was largely predictable given the powerful influence that intersectionality exerts on our culture. Intersectionality can lead to a grotesque moral calculus that justifies Hamas’ rape of Israeli girls as an understandable response of the oppressed lashing out at their oppressor. It has caused university presidents at our elite institutions to shamefully equivocate and prevaricate when given opportunity to unapologetically condemn antisemitism. Unfortunately, these examples are natural outworkings of the intersectional worldview.  For those who are alarmed by what seems to be growing acceptance of anti-Semitism within some segments of the left, we offer the following action items.  First, we should resist critical theory’s simplistic moral categories of Oppressor vs. Oppressed. To the extent that we see every conflict as a battle between innocent victims and cruel victimizers, we will gloss over the moral complexities of reality.  Second, we need to see people primarily as individuals rather than as avatars of their demographic groups... Personal connection is an antidote to demonization.  Finally, we need to be realistic about the perniciousness of “woke” ideology, which has been infiltrating our institutions, universities, businesses, and places of worship for decades. Many social movements have waved the banner of progress and justice while slaughtering tens of millions. If we don’t learn from history, we very well may repeat it."
Another example of a Jew saying Jews have white privilege"

Are we guilty of watermelon washing? - "Recently, the Israel-Hamas conflict is a hot topic for many of us Muslims, and has drawn even non-Muslim allies to speak up on behalf of Gaza and Palestine.  But for businesses or individuals who have been silent on other Muslim persecutions, we should also ask ourselves why they only talk about Gaza. I call this "watermelon-washing".  For those that are not aware, let me first educate on other historical instances of Muslim persecution... Some businesses or individuals (I don't want to name local names) have been silent on other Muslim persecutions, but only talk about Gaza. Here is an example of Indonesian influencer @ilona_twita.  On 15 November 2023, she wrote a heartfelt message in support of "beloved brothers and sisters in [Palestine]", saying that they deserve to feel safe, and that she will be here for them. On 4 December 2023, a mere two weeks later, she called for the Rohingya refugees to be expelled from her country. She only wants to write feel-good posts, but does not want to offer help"
Not to mention persecution of non-Muslims, even

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Toronto reception Trudeau hosted for Italian PM Meloni : canada - "Palestinians either go with a) the holocaust didn't happen or b) it happend but Jews deserved it."
Palestinian leader's comments on Holocaust draw accusations of antisemitism from US and Europe - "The United States, Germany and the European Union on Thursday condemned recent comments about the Holocaust by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, accusing him of distorting history and promoting antisemitic stereotypes.  In a speech last month to senior members of his Fatah movement, Abbas said that Adolf Hitler killed European Jews not because of antisemitism, but because of their “social functions” in society, such as money lending.  “These people were fought because of their social function related to money, usury,” Abbas said in the speech. “From Hitler’s point of view, they were sabotaging, and therefore he hated them.”... Abbas has previously faced accusations of antisemitism. Last year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned Abbas for accusing Israel of committing “ 50 Holocausts ” against the Palestinians. Abbas later apologized.  Abbas also apologized in 2017 following a speech that said Jewish money lending had caused animosity toward them in Europe and dismissed the Jewish connection to the Holy Land... In his doctoral thesis in the 1970s, Abbas also questioned the extent of the Nazi genocide. He has since distanced himself from those assertions.  Abbas’ spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, condemned the “rabid campaign” against the Palestinian president."
Fatah official: Holocaust happened because Jews planned to take control of Germanya - "Yasser Abu Sido, an official with PA chairman's Fatah faction, says in TV interview that while he is not a "fan of Hitler," the Holocaust was committed for "obvious reasons."... Fatah is often touted by the West as a “moderate peace partner” for Israel, but its officials and leaders incite against Israel and make antisemitic remarks... Despite the severity of his remarks and the fact that Holocaust denial is outlawed in Germany, Berlin’s attorney general dismissed incitement to hate charges against Abbas, saying he was protected by diplomatic immunity even though Germany does not recognize the Palestinian Authority as a state."

Meme - Richard Hanania @RichardHanania: "Half of Palestinian propaganda is bragging about how much they love death, the other half is crying about Israel giving it to them."
Jackson Hinkle @jacksonhinklle: ""We love DEATH as you love LIFE." - Abu Obeida"
They know the terrorism supporters are either gullible or don't care

The Palestinians' Lost Marshall Plans - "The phrase used often by those who wish to assist Palestinians is that we need a new Marshall Plan. A detailed study with just this title has been prepared by successful Israeli businessman Stef Wertheimer, who has garnered support from such influential figures as chairman of the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee Henry Hyde, as well as, of course, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. The essence of the Marshall Plan was to provide financing for dollar-starved European countries, which had many highly profitable investment projects that could not be financed by the limited private funds then available. In other words, these countries had good business environments and well-functioning governments but lacked money. The situation of the Palestinian territories is exactly the opposite. As is well known, they have a bad business environment and poorly functioning governance. But what may come as a surprise is how well endowed the Palestinians have been with foreign-aid funds.  A comparison to the Marshall Plan is telling. The Marshall Plan distributed $60 billion (at today's prices), which worked out to $272 per European in the main participating countries. By contrast, by the end of last year according to the World Bank, the Palestinians had received $4 billion since Oslo, which translates into $1,330 per Palestinian. In other words, the Palestinians have already gotten more than four times as much as the Europeans got from the Marshall Plan. Or if done on an annual basis, the Palestinians have gotten $161 per person per year compared to $68 per person annually under the four-year Marshall Plan meaning the Palestinians have gotten more than twice as much aid for twice as long as Europe got under the Marshall Plan. Another way to gauge aid to the Palestinians "WBG" (West Bank and Gaza) in the lexicon of international agencies is to compare aid levels to other poor areas. In 2000, according to the World Bank's World Development Indicators 2002, WBG received $636 million in aid or $214 for each of the three million WBG residents. That is the highest in the world by far. Only Bosnia, at $185, is close... Compared to the $214 for the Palestinians, the average for sub-Saharan Africa is $20; for South Asia, it is $3. Those areas are much, much poorer than the Palestinian territories. Consider a country like Ethiopia, which got about the same amount of aid as the Palestinians but has more than 20 times the population. In Ethiopia, national income is $100 per person that is per year, not per week. In other words, each Ethiopian's income from all sources is, on average, less than half what Palestinians receive from foreign aid alone. The cynic could suggest that if the Ethiopians caused more terrorism or threatened global political stability, they would see more dollars headed their way. But that is not all that is at work here. Even compared to countries of great terrorism concern, the Palestinians are in a special class. The world has become concerned about unemployed Pakistani youth educated in radical madrassas, but aid to Pakistan was a mere $7 per person, one-30th the Palestinian level. How has the intifada affected aid? The aid has shot up since intensified violence began. The increased aid has come overwhelmingly from Arab states... So with all this aid, why has WBG not had better economic performance? The easy answer is that aid to the Palestinians has been used extraordinarily badly. Aid programs the world over face renewed criticism from those who argue that aid "too often has done harm, by sustaining either grossly inefficient policies, or corrupt and brutal leaders, or too often both together" (in the words of Martin Wolf of the Financial Times).  But the problem is not just with the aid agencies, which keep shoveling the money out the door irrespective of results. The bigger problem is that aid cannot provide what the Palestinians need, which is peace and better governance. The biggest single barrier to Palestinian growth is their violence against Israel, which forces Israel to impose closures and curfews. Those who want to relieve the suffering of the Palestinians should concentrate on stopping their offensive, which would allow Israel to lift the devastating restrictions on the flow of goods... Reforming Palestinian governance the popular issue over recent weeks would also help, but in fact, the PA functions at about the same level of corruption and incompetence as most Arab governments, and those countries have had better growth records than WBG since Oslo. The main problem is the violence which causes closures and restrictions.   The Palestinians have many valuable assets: a well-educated labor force, entrepreneurs used to competing with artificial state aid, and large markets right next door in Israel. The Palestinian economy could grow rapidly if we could put in place a non-Marshall Plan: more peace and better governance, without aid money that props up failing leaders and reduces the urgency for needed political actions like ending the violence... Palestinians are middle-income, not poor.  It is instructive to compare Palestinian incomes to those of other Arabs. According to the World Development Indicators 2002, in 2000, WBG income per person was $1,660. That was higher than in such middle-income Arab countries as Algeria ($1,580) or Egypt ($1,490)... It is rare indeed to hear the hard truth that the real economic basket case among Israel's Arab neighbors is Syria, not the Palestinian territories. That fact is inconvenient for those who would blame Israel for all the ills of the region... Even after the terrible blows they have brought upon their economy, the Palestinians remain head and shoulders above the poor Arab states with average incomes below $400 a year, namely Yemen ($370), Sudan ($310), and the fringe Arab League members Mauritania, Somalia, and Comoros. In their desperate condition of 2002, Palestinian income remains more than three times higher than that of Arabs in these poor countries. If the Arab League is concerned about poverty among the Arabs, it might think about mobilizing international attention to the plight of these people... he evidence about social indicators among Palestinians is striking.  To quote the World Bank, in its 2001 report Poverty in the West Bank and Gaza, "on basic health indicators, such as infant and under-five mortality and life expectancy, WBG performs at the level of upper middle countries. When compared with the regional averages, its health indicators are above average."... It is galling to many Palestinians that the occupation years saw better economic performance than since the establishment of the PA... the lesson of the last few decades is that economic prosperity depends upon political stability. Business cannot prosper during low-level warfare."
From 2002. Clearly, the problem is there was not enough aid, so they couldn't destroy Israel

@joerogan shares in our confusion as to why none of the over 40 Muslim nations take in any Palestinian refugees. - ""That one Jew nation, Israel has done more for the Palestinian nation, ever.  So it's ludicrous and insulting to the Palestinian people to start throwing stones at Israel when in fact they're the only group that has been trying to protect, in any administrative way.""

‘BBC Arabic treats Israeli guests disgracefully, spreads misinformation,’ interviewees say - "Failing to provide full disclosures, purposefully misusing names of Israeli governmental functions or locations, lauding the October 7 massacre and other terror attacks, general impartiality, and constant interruptions are only some of the issues Israeli guests and experts describe they face... the Telegraph published an exposé revealing that BBC journalists who were being investigated for expressing support for Hamas’s October 7 massacre – returned to cover the war once again... Sir Michael Ellis, former attorney-general for England and Wales, warned in Parliament about the harmful effect of the BBC’s coverage of the war, blaming the outlet of “failing the British public” and accusing the network of flaming the rise in antisemitism in the UK. One of the main protagonists of these trends is anchor Noureddine Zorgui, who insinuated that Jewish students in the UK were instructed by Israel to “pursue a campaign of censorship,” said he was broadcasting “from Palestine” while visiting Nazareth, and defended the comparison between Palestinian criminals serving time in Israeli prisons and Israeli children and elderly taken hostage by Hamas... Yoseph Haddad, a well-known Arab Israeli face across the globe, tells of an inherent anti-Israel bias at the station. “They fail to comply with journalistic standards; their coverage is unbalanced. One of the anchors stopped me in mid-sentence while I was talking about the issue of sexual violence and rape and scolded me, arguing that there was no evidence. “In another instance, I talked about the viral videos of Gazans complaining that Hamas is hiding among them and using them as human shields, and the anchor outright denied the existence of these videos. Their questions are pre-formulated against me specifically or against Israel – they rarely want to expose the truth; rather they seek to tackle me personally. And of course, they don’t refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization, which is true for their English-speaking channels as well.” Idit Bar, a researcher and lecturer for the Arab world and Arabic language, also faced unpleasant events while being interviewed on BBC Arabic. Bar tells The Jerusalem Post that she is well aware that whenever she’s invited to speak, all other panelists receive much more airtime than she does. “Sometimes the anchors themselves take the liberty to respond to my comments to other panelists, instead of acting somehow neutral and allowing the others to respond,” she adds. Bar also talks about one time when she was stopped by the anchor altogether after referring to the issue of sexual violence and rape by the sadistic Hamas fundamentalists, being told that she “did not comply with the BBC’s standards.” Bar also says “I still go up there and try my best to give them a fight, regardless of the poor treatment I get. We need to be there, as the Arabic-speaking arena is usually left behind.” Idan Ronen, an Israel advocate who appeared several times on BBC in Arabic, expresses even more anger. “The last thing they’re interested in is listening to Israeli guests. Sometimes the facilitators add their personal opinion as if it were a fact, or as part of the formulation of their question. At other times, when I finished a comment, they added a personal comment against me without even allowing me to respond and immediately moved on to the next question. “When I push back, they do everything to prevent me from completing my point, either by repeated interruptions or by changing to another subject. For example, I showed one moderator a screenshot showing a Palestinian flag waving next to the Nazi flag and added that some Palestinians sympathize with the Nazis. The moderator immediately interrupted me and changed the subject: ‘And what about the siege? And what about the attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque?’  “In another interview, when I accused the BBC of showing only a partial picture, the moderator interrupted me by saying, ‘Mr. Idan, don’t blame the BBC. We are not a party to this conflict,’ and, as he was saying that, an image of a waving Palestinian flag was displayed across the entire wall behind the presenter’s head,” he adds. Another interviewee who chose to remain anonymous adds that, while he appreciates the platform offered by BBC, he also identifies a certain lack of impartiality, adding that lately he was interrupted several times by hosts, in addition to the usage of skewed or twisted terms such as “Israeli genocide,” “arbitrary executions,” or “prisoners of war,” which sometimes amount to emulating Hamas propaganda. The source added that he believes that public Western channels that have decided to open Arabic-language outlets should become more involved in monitoring and supervising what is said on their behalf and at their taxpayers’ expense, as impartiality is “not an option but rather the basis of professional and responsible journalism.” A spokesperson from the CAMERA media watchdog group added that “part of the problem is the double standard,” says a spokesperson from the Arabic department. “The same presenters who would confront Israeli and American speakers with the falsehood that Hamas did not kill civilians until February 1994 or the false claim that its antisemitic 1988 charter is no longer in effect, suddenly go silent when Palestinian propagandists (labeled as ‘experts’) tell them confidently that Hamas only attacked military targets on 7/10. Other BBC Arabic programs uncritically platform voices accusing Israel of controlling the international media and carrying out a ‘Holocaust’ against the Palestinians for 75 years.” The spokesman also mentioned that the corporation’s complaint system came under scrutiny several times, with a late January Telegraph piece exposing the failure of the BBC to investigate anti-Israel bias. Additionally, in November 2022, the BBC itself referred to the way complaints about its Arabic output were handled as “unacceptable,” publicly apologizing on the pages of the Jewish Chronicle. “In the end, this is an issue of accountability,” adds Hadar Sela, CAMERA’s BBC expert, pointing out that the BBC – its Arabic service included – is funded by the license fee payers of the United Kingdom. “The lack of adequate oversight of BBC Arabic’s output – especially in a language that most British people and their elected officials do not understand – is ultimately an own goal for the BBC.”"

Meme - Demon_Fae_Shae 🏳️‍⚧️ 🔆 @SimplyShae13: "So I finally got to play the tutorial for Helldivers 2.  It's hilarious that there are people who take the game seriously, like it's a reflection of their moral worldview. Cus that means those guys sat through that tutorial and loved all the fake praise it throws at you lol"
🏳️‍⚧️ Brisket Enjoyer 🏳️‍⚧️ @8008tastic: "Honestly I sometimes struggle to start playing it since you basically play as colonizers and that doesn't feel right when I have a Palestinian friend."
AngeVarg674 @SFiotera: ">Bugs = Palestinians. You could genuinely offer the most racist person on this site 1000 dollars and he'll never come up with something this racist this genuinely"

Meme - "No one:
Queers for Palestine: MTFs/Femboys: "HORNY 4 THE FALL OF EMPIRE"
"DEFUND THE IDF. FUND MTFs."
"DEFUND THE IDF. ARM MTFs."

The Persian Jewess on X - "📚HISTORY LESSON📚  What’s the Nakba?   75 yrs ago, Egypt, Iraq, TransJordan & Syria w/ corps from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, & Arab Liberation Army INVADED #Israel to “Drive all Jews into the Sea.”  They LOST.   Arabs who supported the war left Israel planning to come back and rape and pillage the Jews once they were defeated.  The Arabs who did NOT support the war stayed in Israel and became integrated into society.   That’s the Nakba.   75 yrs of INCESSANT WHINING about losing a genocidal war of aggression targeting #Jewish people.  #IStandWithIsrael #HamasISIS #HamasRapists  #BringThemHomeNow"
Ryan Abrams on X - "You forget that afterwards, Egypt and Jordan kept the part meant to be a state for Palestinian Arabs!"
Jeremy Musighi on X - "A "nakbah" is when you're offered half, but instead you gamble to try to get it all, and then you lose"

Peace in the Middle East? Only When the Future Becomes More Important Than the Past - "The more perspectives I encounter, the more I understand why this conflict has been raging for 75 years: it’s very, very complicated. There is a mixture of interlocking claims and counterclaims from both sides. I’ve yet to encounter an argument that has convinced me of the historical right of to that isn’t met with an equal and opposite claim from the other side.  But, as Bill Maher brilliantly pointed out in a brave and incisive recent monologue, obsessing about historical “rights” to land and who did what generations ago is not going to get us anywhere... If we attempt to resolve territorial disputes between countries and peoples by going back centuries, we will only be stuck in a perpetual hell of endless conflict. Europe learned that the hard way in the 19th and 20th centuries. I can’t imagine that with the benefit of hindsight anyone would think that adjudicating who owns Alsace-Lorraine through a series of wars was worth the millions of lives the Franco-German rivalry ended up costing humanity.  Ultimately, all peace is made by putting the past where it belongs: in the past.  But there is also a different reality we must acknowledge: you can only make peace with people who want peace."

Meme - Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇦🇹🇼🇨🇾 @DrewPavlou: "Brooklyn socialists: “Houthis Houthis make us proud turn another ship around”
Houthis: Aight *blows up cargo ship bringing humanitarian aid to Yemen*"
Kareem Rifai 🌐 @KareemRifai: "The Houthis just attacked an American-owned ship.  It was carrying humanitarian aid.  To Yemen."
The left will then blame the West for not enough aid getting to Yemen. It's brilliant

Meme - "Influencer now trying to garner support for terrorists in Yemen. This is exactly why we don't want foreign politics in Singapore.
ferdaus.chia
Yemen x Genocide
The US and UK just bombed Yemen and said "we did this to defend ourselves." How do you bomb Sana'a, kill Yemenis, and say it's to defend yourselves?"
khaledbeydoun: "When money is your god, it becomes easy to contort lies into "truth'"
As usual, terrorism supporters have no idea what genocide really is

Meme i/o: "Without the right and ability to hijack airplanes, the anti-Zionist movement will be impeded, a writer for The Nation complains."
Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd: "You can’t protest peacefully. You can’t boycott. You can’t hunger strike. You can’t hijack planes. You can’t block traffic. You can’t throw Molotovs. You can’t self-immolate. You can’t heckle politicians. You can’t march. You can’t riot. You can’t dissent. You just can’t be."
When terrorism supporters claim that "pro-Palestinian speech" is being censored/suppressed, this is what they mean

Meme - "When the jews genocide you so hard for 50 years that your population triples"

Meme - visegrad24 @visegrad24: ""The existence of a separate Palestinian identity is only there for tactical reasons. In reality, there's no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians & Lebanese. We talk about the existence of a Palestinian people to oppose Zionism" PLO executive Zuheir Mohsen, 1977"

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