Balderdash: Links - 11th October 2024 (2

Friday, October 11, 2024

Meme - "*Palestinian flag* Starting a brutal war
Celebrating the massacre
Losing the war & Playing the victim"

Thread by @Aizenberg55 on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "🧵Many leading worldwide military experts affirm that Israel is complying with rules of war in Gaza – no war crimes, no genocide, no indiscriminate attacks. In sharp contrast all reports by NGOs UN ICJ ICC claiming war crimes never cite military experts. Review of 10 experts:
John Spencer @SpencerGuard is the leading expert on urban warfare, at West Point the top US military academy. Spencer has written extensively how Israel’s actions to limit civilian harm are unprecedented. Like the others, he is simply pro-truth.
British General Sir John McColl was Deputy Commander of NATO Forces, so his view carries weight. He wrote piece titled “I know Israel’s doing all it can to save civilians” which says it all. NGOs can’t cite NATO leaders to support their fake “reports.”
General Mark Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended Israel’s actions in Gaza noting the US would certainly do the same, and that there was no way around collateral damage given Hamas’ tactics.
Major Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox served in UK Army 2005-21 and lectured at Sandhurst, UK’s top military academy. Fox has spent considerable time on the ground in Gaza and with IDF leadership, noting how IDF actions comply with international law.
Military experts Geoffrey Corn @cornjag1 (Chair of Military Law at Texas Tech Univ. & Lt Col US Army) and Lt. General George Smith noted Israel “consistently implements its legal obligation to avoid, whenever feasibly, [civilian deaths].”
Colonel Richard Kemp @COLRICHARDKEMP who led British Forces in Afghanistan also spent extensive time in Gaza with IDF. He said “No army takes more precaution than the Israel Defense Forces in order to prevent civil casualties.”
Italian general Vincenzo Camporini and former Chief of the Defence General Staff, among many military leaders and experts, wrote a detailed brief to the ICC defending Israel’s action in Gaza, that they conform with the Laws of Armed Conflict, see key paragraph from document:
General David Petraeus, who led US forces in Afghanistan & Iraq, has been critical of Israel’s Gaza strategy & endgame, but defended IDF action to get rid of Hamas, noted collateral damage is to be expected and Gaza is "vastly harder" than US faced.
Lt. Gen David Deptula @Deptula_David & scholar on aerospace studies wrote: “The military activities I saw, as well as the processes and procedures followed by the Israeli military, are indicative of the IDF complying with the laws of armed conflict.”
A group of 7 US generals, admirals, etc. (see list of names below) in an 85-page study noted Israel’s “overall compliance with the Laws of Armed Conflict.” There are many more names that could be added to this thread.
A search for military experts arguing Israel is violating the rules of war in Gaza comes up empty. There is plenty of criticism of strategy, endgame & leadership, but not that IDF is deliberately killing civilians. Fake NGOs @hrw @amnesty @btselem can only fabricate & lie. END"

Thread by @AmichaiChikli on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "UNRWA was meant to operate for only two years, providing assistance to 199,000 Arab refugees in the Gaza Strip from the War of Independence and about 500,000 additional individuals registered as war refugees. —— A thread 🧵
However, unlike millions of war refugees around the world, the palestinian's refugees were given a privilege that no other group has ever received – they were given the right to pass down their refugee status to future generations, regardless of their political or economic situation. This made the Palestinians the only group in the world that continues to expand the global refugee population, with 5.9 million Palestinian refugees as of 2023 (in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and more). To understand just how distorted this organization is, UNRWA employs almost twice as many staff as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The eternal refugee status of the Palestinians serves one purpose only: to perpetuate the conflict with Israel and challenge its right to exist through the claim of the “Right of Return.” UNRWA quickly became the spearhead for indoctrinating young Palestinians into a war of annihilation against Israel and the “re-establishment” of the so-called State of Palestine, all under the guise of a humanitarian organization with the UN’s seal of approval. Over the years, UNRWA has siphoned billions from European countries, the United States, Canada, and others.
It is impossible to understand the eruption of the volcanic hatred we saw on October 7 without understanding the mechanisms of incitement that operated under UNRWA, from early childhood through to high school, in both formal and informal education: kindergartens, summer camps, elementary schools, high schools, and youth movements. This is beyond the direct involvement of 12 UNRWA staff members in the massacres and the participation of hundreds in Hamas activities in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. UNRWA is a terror entity that operates a propaganda and incitement mechanism not unlike that of Hitler Youth. Money flows to terrorist organizations, and its facilities are often used as a haven for terrorist activities, rockets, and weapons."

Eyal Yakoby on X - "Breaking: The UN is now seeking diplomatic immunity for its employees involved in the Oct. 7th massacre. The UN, rather than holding their employees accountable, are actually trying to get them immunity. We should not send another dollar to this terror-supporting organization."
"Disclosure: The UN demands immunity for UNRWA employees involved in the October 7 massacre"

Vivid.🇮🇱 on X - "BREAKING: The United Nations 🇺🇳 demands immunity for UNRWA employees involved in the massacre on October 7th. This is a photo of two UNRWA terrorists after killing an Israeli civilian on October 7th and kidnapping his body. Am I tripping, or has this world gone mad?"

Rep. Ilhan Omar on X - "We must restore funding to UNRWA now. With this bill to restore UNRWA funding, we have an opportunity to bring back life-saving care to nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees. It's time to show moral courage and stand up for the vulnerable."
Wilfred Reilly on X - ""The Squad" is just straight-up pro-terrorism - like, legitimately cheering for Hamas. UNRWA is the Hamas front that ran the madrasa-style schools in pre-war Gaza, teaching such lessons as "Why the Nakbah (founding of Israel) can never be forgiven.""

Visegrád 24 on X - "Great video showing that UNRWA pretends to help Palestinians but in reality only serves Hamas & other Islamist forces in Palestine. Regular Gazans are oppressed by UNRWA. The UN body operates like Qatar. Pretends to help Palestinians but in reality sacrifices them for Islamism"
*7 Palestinians testifying that UNRWA supports Hamas, engages in terrorism and hates Palestinian dissidents, and 3 about rejection of welfare applications/job applicants because the applicants aren't sufficiently religious or supported by the mosque*

Eyal Yakoby on X - "Breaking: Palestine Action US has released a video of them epoxying credit card readers and door locks at 6 NYC banks. They then spray painted Hamas logos onto buildings. The founder of the UK arm of the group was arrested on grounds of materially supporting terrorist groups."

Kassy Akiva on X - "🚨BREAKING🚨 A man wearing a Palestinian pin was shot in the stomach this evening after he charged through traffic and tackled a pro-Israel Iraq war veteran in Newton, Massachusetts."
Kassy Akiva on X - "They are charging the veteran with:
- Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
- Violation of a constitutional right causing injury
On the second: Yes, the man who got tackled while protesting is being accused of "violation of a constitutional right." What?"

Kassy Akiva on X - "Here is the press conference with Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan announcing that Scott Hayes will be charged after shooting the man with a pro-Palestinian pin who tackled him during a protest."
Walter Sobchak on X - "The prosecutor who charged Scott Hayes, Marian Ryan, has a dangerous past. She once charged & convicted an innocent woman, Jaime Caetano, whose boyfriend was abusing her, for possessing a stun gun. SCOTUS unanimously reversed the decision - with this rebuke from Justice Alito:"

Meme - Kassy Akiva @KassyAkiva: "Caleb Gannon, the man who tackled Scott Hayes and was shot, retweeted a post saying Zionists should feel "unsafe everywhere.""
Caleb *hiccup* Gannon reposted: trans judeo-bolshevik @transjewtalian: "the correct response to zionists feeling unsafe on college campuses is "good, zionists should feel unsafe everywhere-no one who supports a genocidal ideology should ever feel safe from repercussions""

Meme - *Israeli soldiers waving flag with civilians in bunker below*
*Palestinian civilians in house waving flag with bunker with weapons and militants below*
"THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW"
Palestinian militant: "BABA! I murdered 10 people!"
Israeli soldier: "Mom! I saved 10 people!"

Steve McGuire on X - "BREAKING: “Princeton students, alumni, and community members” have published a “People’s Style Guide” that defends Hamas, questions the concept of terrorism, and complains that we keep hearing about the hostages. They say “‘terrorist’ is the word that Western governments use to malign political actors that threaten western hegemony.” They think it is critical to know that Hamas is not “just a militant group, it also has a sophisticated political infrastructure concerned with governance, movement building, and development of a welfare state in Palestine.” And they complain: “Since October 7, we have been hearing, almost daily, about the two hundred or so Israeli hostages, of which around a hundred have already been released.”"

Gwyneth Paltrow tells hostage families ‘I send you my heart’ - "she highlighted the ongoing plight of female hostages, asking, "There are still 17 women being held by Hamas. Where are the feminists?" She accompanied this message with the hashtag "#rapeisnotresistance," drawing attention to the reports of sexual violence against the hostages and raising awareness of victim Shani Louk's story."

Gazans Turn Hamas Gunmen Away From Shelters to Avoid Israeli Airstrikes, Report Reveals - ""We will quickly kick out anyone who has a gun or a rifle out of this school," said one man. Tuesday's report details firsthand accounts of several Gazans who say they are doing everything they can to protect themselves and their families from becoming human shields for Hamas militants. Nasser al-Zaanin, for example, was forced to flee his home in northern Gaza in October, and relocated to a school that had been turned into a shelter in the town of Deir al-Balah, along with his adult sons and grandchildren. When al-Zaanin arrived at the shelter, he helped set up a system of committees to improve life for families who had taken refuge by overseeing the distribution of food, water and medical needs. They also established one hard and fast rule: no armed men allowed in the compound. "All the families agreed," said al-Zaanin, who once worked as a civil servant for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. "We simply want to save all families, women and children and not let there be any potential threat against us because of the existence of police and members of the Hamas government." The report included several similar testimonies from central Gaza, although it also added the caveat that it is not known how widespread the phenomenon is and whether the attitude is the same in other areas of Gaza."
Damn Zionists!

The BBC breached editorial guidelines over 1,500 times in Israel-Hamas conflict, report claims - "the report analyzed four months of BBC output on television, radio, online, podcasts and on social media during the height of the conflict and found a "deeply worrying pattern of bias" against Israel. British lawyer Trevor Asserson and a team of about 20 lawyers and 20 data scientists used artificial intelligence to analyze nine million words from the news outlet, starting the day of the October 7, 2023, terror attack. The researchers allegedly identified 1,553 instances where the BBC violated its own editorial guidelines on impartiality, accuracy, editorial values and public interest. The report accuses the BBC of downplaying Hamas terrorism and painting Israel as the aggressor in dozens of instances. Israel was associated with "war crimes" four times more frequently than Hamas (127 vs. 30); genocide 14 times more often (283 vs. 19), and breaching international law six times more often than Hamas (167 vs. 27). BBC reporters who had shown hostility toward Israel on social media were also featured in the network's war coverage, the report claimed. Researchers reportedly found 11 instances on the BBC's Arabic channel, where it featured reporters who had previously made public statements in support of terrorism and Hamas. "The findings reveal a deeply worrying pattern of bias and multiple breaches by the BBC of its own editorial guidelines on impartiality, fairness and establishing the truth," the report said"
This doesn't stop terrorist supporters complaining, because to them anything short of celebrating terrorism is unacceptable anti-Palestinian speech

BBC Chair denies plea from 200 Jewish staffers calling for formal probe into antisemitism at the newsroom - "The group detailed their "anguish and disbelief because we fear we have now exhausted the process of raising our very serious concerns about anti-Jewish racism with BBC Management"... The group provided the board with a list of "impartiality breaches in matters of public controversy relating to Israel and Gaza," broadcast errors that they say "suggest bias" and personal details "of the fear and mental health toll on Jewish BBC staff, their feelings of isolation and alienation from their bosses and experiences of prejudice and racism at work," according to Deadline. They say there have been blatant breaches of the BBC’s social media guidelines without sufficient discipline... The letter cited social media posts from Dr. Asif Munaf, "Match Of The Day" host Gary Lineker, and BBC Arabic staff and others... BBC director-general Tim Davie said in March that some tweets by BBC Arabic staff were "unacceptable," and said that the broadcaster was "acting fairly and judiciously," JewishNewsUK reported. The BBC has been plagued with embarrassing gaffes, apologies and corrections related to the Israel-Hamas war, prompting critics to dismiss the corporation as simply too "woke" to accurately cover the conflict. In January, the BBC was forced to apologize for airing an unverified December radio report that accused Israel Defense Forces troops of executing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Much of their coverage has raised eyebrows with inaccurate reports that erred on behalf of Hamas and Palestinians. In November, BBC News Channel aired a report that claimed Israeli forces had descended on Al Shifa hospital in Gaza and targeted "medical teams and Arab speakers" inside. While reports did indicate the IDF had entered the hospital, none corroborated the claim that soldiers had targeted those inside. The error led the BBC to issue an on-air apology, retraction and a written statement. Following Hamas' invasion of Israel on October 7, the BBC repeatedly referred to the organization as "freedom fighters," "gunmen" or "militants" rather than terrorists. As the situation escalated into a war, viewers became increasingly frustrated with the news organization's refusal to use the term "terrorists," particularly after reports of Hamas' brutal actions against civilians."
Good luck if you deny 200 Muslim staffers' demands for a probe into Islamophobia

World reacts to UN vote calling on Israel to end Palestinian occupation - "The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly adopted a resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories within a year and the imposition of sanctions for non-compliance."
Withdrawing from Gaza led to October 7th, so good luck with that

The world must admit the two-state solution is dead - "Even many Israeli peaceniks living in the Gaza envelope who dreamt of coexistence are changing their politics. The reason is simple: they are loath to reward terror. Part of the problem is that the two-state solution isn’t actually a solution — it’s a catch-phrase. It’s neither a proposal for reconciliation nor a path toward peace. Presuming the only thing standing in the way of peace was land, three decades ago, Israel took the world’s advice and began giving land away — for peace. Yet if the “land for peace” theory had any merit, terrorism coming from Judea and Samaria (a.k.a., the West Bank) should have decreased after Israel ceded Areas A and B to the Palestinian Authority 30 years ago, as part of the Oslo Accords. It didn’t. Terrorism should have shrunk after Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. Very much the contrary. “Land for peace” thus became a meaningless slogan (or perhaps a clever marketing term). Israel’s concessions didn’t even lead to an uneasy peace, only to more death and destruction. From the get-go, “land for peace” was flawed to its core, as it was premised on the notion that the onus is on Israel to sacrifice for peace — the corollary being that if Israel didn’t make concessions, it didn’t truly want peace. This rationale presupposes that the land didn’t belong to Israel in the first place, and infantilizes the Palestinians, who need to be bribed in order to agree to be peaceful. What the world is asking now is that Israel try again, after the worst slaughter of innocents in its history, and not just to dip its toe in the water, but to give the entire house away. Israel has tried “land for peace” so many times. Perhaps, for once, the world should try placing the burden on Palestinian leaders by forcing them to clean up their act, in exchange for concessions from Israel. Perhaps it’s time to flip the script to “peace for land.” And what, precisely, would Israel want to see, besides the obvious clamp down on terror attacks? For starters, there’s a niggling problem of incitement and widespread hate. After the Second World War, Germans had a day of reckoning, a moment of judgment and accountability, where actions were evaluated and consequences were faced. They went through a process of denazification, where Nazi ideology was speedily scrubbed from the country’s discourse and replaced with western values. What we need today is a similar process to scrub antisemitism from Palestinian society. From the cradle to the grave, Palestinians are inundated with hatred that rivals Nazi Germany’s vilest antisemitism. They’re taught that Jews are the cause of every ill in their lives. They’re taught that Jews are mosquitoes, to be killed with impunity. Children are brainwashed and propagandized to believe that their greatest and most heroic duty is to kill Jews. If you don’t believe me, spend time surfing the vast media library compiled by Palestinian Media Watch, which has been tracking this material for decades. One might retort that there is plenty of hate coming from extremists in Israel. True enough. But they are the exceptions, not the rule, and they are marginalized within Israeli society. One might also argue that we should expect this level of hatred from the Palestinians given the conditions they live in. But this presupposes that the extremists and corrupt Palestinian leadership haven’t villainized the Jews to deflect attention away from their own failures. And it takes agency away from Palestinian leaders who have consistently chosen war over economic advancement. Nor has preaching hatred helped their case. Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan have all made peace with Israel, because the alternative wasn’t worth it and the benefits were vast... three-quarters of Palestinians support the October 7 attacks. And therein lies the crux of the problem: peace cannot be had when one side wants to kill the other. No land bribes are going to appease the religious extremists. It will only result in more attacks on Israel. It’s a lie to say the Palestinians’ “armed struggle” and “resistance” is about land. This is the narrative for useful idiots and naive westerners. This conflict is unmistakably religious and ideological. After all, whenever terrorists invaded Israel and slaughtered civilians — including on October 7 — they were screaming “Allahu akbar!” (Allah is great), not “Free Palestine.” The terrorist groups chiefly responsible for the October 7 massacre were Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, which is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas’s leaders readily admit that the entire point is to destroy Israel and kill Jews — it’s right there in its charter. And it is no coincidence that Hamas named the operation the Al-Aqsa Flood — a reference to Islam’s third-holiest site. (Can anyone even name Judaism’s third-holiest site?) In the lead-in to the one-year anniversary of the October 7 massacre, the two-state delusion is alive and well. Once upon a time, one could hope that the two sides could sit down and come to some sort of a deal. But giving it another go would be the very definition of insanity — i.e., doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And given the new reality, it would also be the definition of suicide."

Experts warn Iran, others encouraging anti-Israel protests in Canada - "Marcus Kolga founded DisinfoWatch in 2007 to monitor and expose state-sponsored attempts to hijack social media for malicious intents. Since the Hamas invasion of Israel last October, he’s seen a spike in such activity. “Over the past nine months at DisinfoWatch, we’ve observed social media accounts that were previously posting aggressively anti-Ukrainian content, adding anti-Zionist content to their toxic mix,” Kolga told the National Post in an email. “We also know that Russian intelligence has been sponsoring antisemitic active measures and influence operations.” There have been reports of foreign governments sowing divisions in the West in the wake of the wars in Ukraine and Israel. The U.S. director of national intelligence issued an official statement in July warning that the Islamic Republic of Iran was boosting anti-Israel protests online, and, five months earlier, France accused Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — the successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB — of a secret campaign to graffiti Paris with Jewish stars to plant fears of antisemitism... 60 per cent of anti-Israel social media posts concerning McGill were posted by fake accounts. By comparison, the company found 75 per cent of commentators critical of the encampment were authentic users... “The hashtag campaigns we’ve analyzed, such as #FreePalestine, are often inauthentic, driven by coordinated inauthentic behaviour. Our findings consistently confirm this trend, which is why these analyses are crucial.” This squares with the Islamic republic’s decades–long campaign to infiltrate democracies, said Michael Bonner, a historian of ancient Iran and senior fellow with the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy. “Iranian intelligence now targets Western domestic cultural and political weaknesses and inflames them, as we saw in recent protests”... NCRI revealed that the Chinese government was instrumental in promoting anti-Israel protests in the U.S., “mobilizing frequent demonstrations as well as gradually escalating direct-action campaigns targeting critical infrastructure and public spaces.” The report, which highlighted the involvement of groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) in the Chinese network, drew the condemnation of senior American political leaders."
Ironic, given that the left always dismisses those who disagree as "bots"

Meme - Steve McGuire @sfmcguire79: "Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway on why he's stepping down: "I don't want to be in an environment where I need, where my family needs, protection. That's the part I didn't bargain for.""
"Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway to resign from $1M-a-year job over toxic campus environment: 'The part didn't bargain for'"
JL Sherman @jsherman39: "Imagine how Jewish students feel at Rutgers."

Andy Ngo 🏳️‍🌈 on X - "NYC, Sept. 20 — Shellyne Rodriguez, the far-left academic who put a machete to the throat of a NYPost reporter last year, lead a crowd outside the Brooklyn Museum in chanting: “Our ancestors dreamed of us, slitting the masters throat.” Video by @L2FTV:"
Art instructor who threatened journalist with machete chants about ‘slitting the master’s throat’ - "Rodriguez was fired from Hunter College in 2023 after tussling up a pro-life student table and later threatening a journalist and his photographer with a machete... earlier this year, Rodriguez lost another teaching job at the Cooper Union after making anti-Israel comments... In a post on her personal Instagram page, Rodriguez described former Bronx Borough President Rubén Díaz Jr. as a “dirty f—ing roach” and “a Zionist lapdog,” the New York Post reported. Rodriguez also urged a rent strike against Jewish landlords and people who support Israel during a CUNY for Palestine virtual panel... she urged people to target individuals who support Israel, saying, “Find them, go to their offices, don’t let them sleep,” according to the blog. However, Rodriguez blamed her firing on “fascism” in an email to students, according to an Instagram post by the Cooper Union Students for Justice in Palestine chapter."

Meme - "*Palestinian flag* Starting a brutal war
Celebrating the massacre
Losing the war & Playing the victim"

Friday, October 11, 2024

Links - 11th October 2024 (2 - Hamas Attack Oct 2023)