Notices by Raph (raph@social.coop)

This is the leader of the Israeli opposition. The person who should be debunking the justifications for never-ending war and re-humanize Palestinians.

Instead, he parrots Netanyahu and shows that the entire Israeli establishment is complicit.

We need an arms embargo now.

#Israel #Palestine #Gaza

Journalist: Do you believe that Israel has a right to exist?

UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese:

#Israel #Palestine #Gaza

A small but sweet victory ✊🏻

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich canceled his visit to Paris due to pressure from human rights groups. He was to attend the far-right "Israel forever" conference (notably, the French government didn't ban the conference, though they've repeatedly banned pro-Palestinian events out of "security concerns").

#Israel #Palestine #France #BDS

UPDATE: Chomsky seems to be recovering from a stroke. I'll keep the beginning of my post up so folks know his death was a now-debunked rumor.

-----

ORIGINAL POST:
Noam Chomsky is dead. He was 95.

Few people had more influence on me. He was the one who introduced me to anarchism (the superior political theory), but he also modeled what a life committed to justice could look like, and what rigorous research and writing in service of liberation could be. He wasn't perfect (who is?) and....

A poll by Tel Aviv University between Oct 23-28 asked Israelis whether the IDF was using too much or too little firepower in Gaza.

Only 2% of Jews said the IDF used too much firepower. 58% said Israel used too little firepower in Gaza.

https://social-sciences.tau.ac.il/sites/socsci.tau.ac.il/files/media_server/social/2023/Findings-November-2023-EN.pdf

2/9

A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute between Dec 11–13 found that 81% of Israeli Jews thought that Israel should only consider the suffering of Gaza civilians to a fairly small or to a vert small extent.
https://en.idi.org.il/articles/51872
3/9

In Jan, Israel's Channel 12 found that 72% of Israelis said “the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip must be stopped until the Israeli prisoners are released”. Collective punishment and using hunger as a weapon of war is fully normalized.
4/9
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240131-72-of-israelis-say-aid-deliveries-to-gaza-must-be-stopped-survey-finds/

After 5 months of devastation, an overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews continue to support the war.
In a Feb 28th-Mar 4th poll, the Israel Democracy Institute found that 74% were in favor of a military operation in Rafah.
https://en.idi.org.il/articles/53305
5/9

The Israel Democracy Institute asked two more times, in December 2023 and March 2024, if Israel should consider the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza.
The results continued to be appalling: 80% of Israeli Jews think to a fairly small extent or not at all.
6/9

Most Israeli Jews hate the messianic right & the settlers but still oppose sanctions against them for the extreme violence against Palestinians in the West Bank (which amount to actual pogroms). From a May 1-6 poll by the Israel Democracy Institute:
7/9
https://en.idi.org.il/articles/54052

There is nothing wrong with investigating the rise of Israel's far right. This is actually a good piece of reporting: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/magazine/israel-west-bank-settler-violence-impunity.html
The issue is the disproportionate focus on Netanyahu & the far right and the unwillingness to call out Israel and Zionism itself.
8/9

Once again, the issue is portrayed as a bunch of extremists who took over Israel. This is not untrue, but it hides the fact that before these extremists were anywhere near power, Israel was already systematically dispossessing, colonizing, and brutalizing Palestinians.

Every Israeli I know hates Netanyahu, Israel's messianic far right, settlements, and settlers. And I mean HATES them.

But Israeli society is still overwhelmingly supportive of the war.

1/9
#Israel #Palestine #Gaza #WestBank

I have the utmost respect for my colleagues at the Department who have given so much of themselves to doing the good work of preserving our public lands and strengthening Indian Country, and the many public servants across the federal government. I urge you all to take a stand for Palestinian lives. All of our futures depend on this.

Respectfully,
Lily Greenberg Call

Original letter: https://twitter.com/LGreenbergCall/status/1790835052374360348

13/13

I am committed to creating a world where this does not happen — and this cannot be done from within the Biden Administration.

My choice to leave is not a reflection of this office or the Department. I have felt supported by many individuals here, but I do not feel supported by the policies and actions of this Administration.

12/13

Any system that requires the subjugation of one group over another is not only unjust, but unsafe. Jewish safety cannot — and will not — come at the expense of Palestinian freedom. Making Jews the face of the American
war machine makes us less safe. What seems like a lack of awareness in the Administration leadership of how critical this issue is to the American public is devastating to both communities, and politically disastrous.

10/13

Today, May 15th, is Nakba Day, which recognizes the destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948 and the displacement of the majority of the Palestinian people for the formation of today’s modern Israel. Nakba and Shoah, the Hebrew word for Holocaust, mean the same thing: catastrophe. I reject the premise that one people’s salvation must come at another’s destruction.

11/13

The United States has long enabled Israeli war crimes and the status quo of apartheid and occupation. That status quo does not keep Israelis safe, nor Jews around the world. It certainly does not protect Palestinians, who have the right to freedom, safety, self-determination, and dignity, just as much as Jewish people do, and every person does.

9/13

The President has the power to call for a lasting ceasefire, to stop sending weapons to Israel, and to condition aid. The United States has used nearly no leverage throughout the last eight months to hold Israel accountable; quite the opposite, we have enabled and legitimized Israel’s actions with vetoes of UN resolutions designed to hold Israel accountable.' President Biden has the blood of innocent people on his hands.

8/13

And yet I am certain that the answer to this is not to collectively punish millions of innocent Palestinians through displacement, famine, and ethnic cleansing.

Israel’s ongoing offensive against Palestinians does not keep Jewish people safe — in Israel nor in the United States. What I have learned from my Jewish tradition is that every life is precious. That we are obligated to stand up for those facing violence and oppression, and to question authority in the face of injustice.

6/13

As of writing this, Israel has killed over 35,000 people in Gaza, including 15.000 children. The Israeli military has bombed medical infrastructure, besieged a hospital, left mass graves behind, destroyed every university in Gaza, targeted journalists and aid workers, and committed many, many inexcusable atrocities. These are all violations of international law, none of which would be possible without American weapons, and none of which have been condemned by President Biden.

7/13