Hamas/Israel conflict: news and discussion

[Dystopiary]

Majd Arandas, 29 year old photographer and reporter, was one of at least 53 journalists killed so far since October 7th in the Israel bombardment of Gaza.

He was working with the Avaaz project Let Them Grow Up before his death. They posted:

Reposted avaaz_org In Loving Memory of Majd Arenda (1994-2023)

Majd was a dedicated journalist and photographer from Gaza. He wanted to show the world a different Gaza from the one we normally see: his lens didn’t focus on the chaos of war but on the vibrant life and resilient spirit of the Gazan people. From the laughter of children to the tranquility of the sea, Majd’s mission was to show the Palestine of hope, dreams, and daily joy.

For the last couple of weeks, Avaaz had been working with Majd to help share these stories with the world. Tragically, Majd was killed in the very conflict his art sought to transcend. This video is more than a tribute; it’s a call to see the world through Majd’s eyes - a world where every picture is a story of perseverance and hope.

Let his legacy be our action. #CeaseFireNOW #LetThemGrowUp

----------------------------------------------------------------------

There are some examples of his lovely photography in this Middle East Eye tribute from earlier this month.

Gaza life through the eyes of a photographer killed in an Israeli air strike

 

[PTK]

I think that, when I was a teenager in the 1970s, I would not have imagined that in the year 2023, almost a quarter of the way into the 21st century, people would still be being slaughtered in such numbers that they were buried in mass graves.

 

[deeyo]

The novel sounds interesting. Voices like this should be able to use their position to talk about this conflict from a Palestinian point of view.

The way it ends up being portrayed is either Palestinians as victims ( bombing of Gaza) or islamic terrorists ( Hamas) run by Iran.

That the Palestinians have a culture and are more complex than the media portrayal is lost.

From the article she wanted to attend the award ceremony. To be able to speak in light of recent violence.

Cutting out these voices ends up doing the Palestinians no service at all Or giving a more rounded look at the ongoing conflict.

i've read it now. it's a short, good book. recommended.

‘Minor Detail’: Adania Shibli’s Novel About Helplessness

A horrifying act committed by an Israeli platoon in 1949 sets in motion a tale in which all roads towards agency are revealed to be dead ends

artreview.com

the real story behind:

'I saw fit to remove her from the world'

Newly revealed documents obtained by Haaretz tell the long-hidden story of what Ben-Gurion described as a 'horrific atrocity': In August 1949 an IDF unit caught a Bedouin girl, held her captive in a Negev outpost, gang-raped her, executed her at the order of the platoon commander and buried her...

www.haaretz.com

 

[Brainaddict]

The article spiked by the Harvard Law Review and published by The Nation is well worth a read: The Harvard Law Review Refused to Run This Piece About Genocide in Gaza

 

[ska invita]

Press have moved on from reporting the daily killings it seems to

Euro-Med Monitor to UN: Recognise Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide

Euro-Med Monitor to UN: Recognise Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide

euromedmonitor.org

View attachment 401082

Let that sink in...

i cant see how the death toll won't end up in above a hundred thousand through illness, starvation, preventable deaths etc

 

[Dystopiary]

A silencing of Palestinian voices.

Palestinian voices ‘shut down’ at Frankfurt Book Fair, say authors

Open letter rebukes LitProm decision to cancel award ceremony for Adania Shibli due to ‘war started by Hamas’

www.theguardian.com

Here's the letter.

An Open Letter in Support of Adania Shibli’s ‘Minor Detail’ and Palestinian Literary Voices

I see under "writers, editors, academics & artists", a lot of names of those usually quick to shout about "cancelling" and "silencing" aren't there.

​

 

[_Russ_]

Knowing full well that Israel is going to get away with it as it always has...well its sickening to me and I probably can't comprehend how sick it makes the Palestinians feel.
Our Country's so called leaders are more than complicit in this, they are enthusiastic facilitators...........fucking sick of them all

 

[Mezzer]

This band had album of the year in one of the UK's monthly music mags (either Uncut or Mojo, can't recall which).

Lankum gig in Germany cancelled due to the group's support for Palestine | Hotpress

Irish folk group Lankum's Sunday night gig in Leipzig was cancelled last minute due to the group's support for Palestine

www.hotpress.com

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

This band had album of the year in one of the UK's monthly music mags (either Uncut or Mojo, can't recall which).

Lankum gig in Germany cancelled due to the group's support for Palestine | Hotpress

Irish folk group Lankum's Sunday night gig in Leipzig was cancelled last minute due to the group's support for Palestine

www.hotpress.com

I am under threat of banning from LinkedIn for writing from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Argued with a robot for 3 days and have now decided to fuck it all off and make as much noise as possible until I’m banned.

 

[Larry O'Hara]

I am under threat of banning from LinkedIn for writing from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Argued with a robot for 3 days and have now decided to fuck it all off and make as much noise as possible until I’m banned.

If its a robot change words slightly: eg fromthe streams and rivers….will hopefully sometime soon be liberated. Worth a try?

 

[Boris Sprinkler]

Or post the flag emoji instead of the word.


I’m on it

 

[belboid]

I am under threat of banning from LinkedIn for writing from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Argued with a robot for 3 days and have now decided to fuck it all off and make as much noise as possible until I’m banned.

'between the Sea and the Jordan' is part of the opening of the original Likud platform, so they can't argue with that.

 

[Mezzer]

It's like the McCarthy era all over again.

Melissa Barrera: Actress fired from Scream 7 over Israel-Gaza posts

Melissa Barrera is sacked from the film sequel for posts the production company say were antisemitic.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[ska invita]

Harrowing and unsurprising read
Anxiety, nightmares and self-harm : How Israel is pushing children’s mental health beyond breaking point in Gaza
Can't begin to imagine how id feel after a day never mind weeks of this

"Some are ripping out their hair or scratching their thighs till they bleed. They’re in extreme distress, leading to self-harm and noticeable behavioural changes,” Iman El Madhoun, a psychologist who has worked across clinics in Gaza, explained to The New Arab."

“The unfortunate act of children having to write their names on their body in case they die is extremely harmful to the child’s thoughts, it destroys their mental health. It is like preparing them for death, thus making the child more anxious, overwhelmed, and fearful,” Iman added.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

So a temporary truce is agreed, starting tomorrow, and Israel continues its bombardment today. Get a few extra kills in while it can.

 

[Gramsci]

German Museum Shutters Curator’s Contribution Over Pro-Palestine Instagram Activity, Igniting Censorship Outcry

Museum Folkwang has closed a portion of a planned group show in response to a curator’s engagement with pro-Palestine content on social media.

www.artnews.com

Saw this curator had his section of of a show in Germany removed due to his support of BDS. I didn't know but in Germany the government has decided BDS movement is anti semitic.

On 10 November, a post appeared on this account calling for support for the BDS network. The German Bundestag has categorised this network as anti-Semitic.”

The statement continued: “This decision was made neither for artistic-curatorial reasons nor because of the exhibition’s theme, but solely because the curator personally takes sides with the BDS campaign, which questions Israel’s right to exist

So it wasnt content of the show it was on basis of the curators personal opinion.

There is a section of opposing anti semitism which equate criticism of Zionism and Israel with anti semitic tendencies.

the article at end lists other artists who have had shows curtailed due to opinions on this conflict.

 

[WhyLikeThis]

If you love horror but hate genocide…



…niche but it should tell you something about gatekeeping management in the media.

 

[ska invita]

On Palestinian prisoners

Thread by @nour_odeh on Thread Reader App

@nour_odeh: 🧵Some context and background on Palestinians detained & imprisoned by Israel: 1) A Palestinian "prisoner" does not refer to someone tried & convicted in a normal court of law that follows due process. Pa...…

threadreaderapp.com

 

[PTK]

When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I saw a cartoon depicting officials of the Department of Social Security as members of the SS, and the letters “SS” in “DSS” rendered in the German gothic fashion. It has been a common practice in my lifetime for people or organisations accused of oppressive or unjust behaviour to be likened to the SS.

Pro-Palestinian protesters halt council meeting

Unionists accuse protestors of antisemitism over a banner unveiled at Derry and Strabane Council.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Larry O'Hara]

On Palestinian prisoners

Thread by @nour_odeh on Thread Reader App

@nour_odeh: 🧵Some context and background on Palestinians detained & imprisoned by Israel: 1) A Palestinian "prisoner" does not refer to someone tried & convicted in a normal court of law that follows due process. Pa...…

threadreaderapp.com

Might be appropriate to refer to them as Palestinian hostages

 

[ska invita]

Might be appropriate to refer to them as Palestinian hostages

Inwym, well they're being swapped now but weren't imprisoned for the purpose of hostage

 

[Larry O'Hara]

Inwym, well they're being swapped now but weren't imprisoned for the purpose of hostage

Ok how about abductees?

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Israel is "intensifying" its bombing campaign of the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned four-day truce on Friday, according to Middle East Eye correspondent Maha Hussaini.

She said it was a common tactic of Israel to ramp up its attacks on Gaza before a pause in violence:

"We are used to Israeli forces intensifying attacks and air strikes on different places across the Gaza Strip only a few hours before a truce.

"Last night when we were supposed to wake up to a humanitarian truce we witnessed some of the most intense bombing that we have seen since we evacuated our homes and came to the central Gaza Strip to take refuge.

"Dozens, or hundreds even, of artillery and naval attacks and bombings were hitting everywhere around us... just very, very close to the place where we're taking refuge and many houses across our areas were targeted, [including] residential buildings, with people taking refuge in these buildings, including extended families.

"So as the humanitarian truce was postponed for another 24 hours we are also expecting that we will be witnessing another intense night of Israeli bombing across the Gaza Strip."

Israel-Palestine live: Qatar says truce in Gaza to begin at 7am on Friday

Doha said it received lists of civilians set to be released and expects truce to include both north and south Gaza

www.middleeasteye.net

 

[Cloo]

I saw a social media post today about photos of Holocaust survivors holding photos of hostages and talking about 'I never thought I'd see something like this again'

And it makes me uneasy, it doesn't sit right with me.

I don't think the situations are at all parallel, in fact there's a horrible irony in it to my mind.

This is not the same as mass persecution of European Jews as scapegoats for the troubles of Germany by a ruling authority whose thumb they were under. Obviously, individual Israeli hostages bear no blame either, nor is it excusable to act as Hamas did on 7 October, but what they did did not emerge from nowhere - something happened that created people full of enough fury and hatred to do what they did. The Palestinians are the ones under a thumb and at the mercy ultimately of Israel. It is not a parallel to the Holocaust.

I hope everyone on both sides is released as promised over the next few days.

 

[CH1]

What do people make of this one then?

 

[Gramsci]

i've read it now. it's a short, good book. recommended.

‘Minor Detail’: Adania Shibli’s Novel About Helplessness

A horrifying act committed by an Israeli platoon in 1949 sets in motion a tale in which all roads towards agency are revealed to be dead ends

artreview.com

the real story behind:

'I saw fit to remove her from the world'

Newly revealed documents obtained by Haaretz tell the long-hidden story of what Ben-Gurion described as a 'horrific atrocity': In August 1949 an IDF unit caught a Bedouin girl, held her captive in a Negev outpost, gang-raped her, executed her at the order of the platoon commander and buried her...

www.haaretz.com

Thanks I will get it.

Read the Haaretz article.

What the article does not acknowledge is the other crimes the platoon was doing. Orders from the top.

They orders were:

"You are to shoot to kill at any Arab in the territory of your sector," the company commander said

The border wars were to stop what the new state of Israel referred to as stopping "infiltrators". That is people trying to get back to land they had been expelled from. Land that had been theirs.

The article does say that another job of those guarding the new border in that area was to expell Bedouin tribes.

The article points out the platoon commander , unlike the others who were recent immigrants, was an established Israeli who was experienced IDF soldier.

Who had served under Yitzhak Sadeh- A famous Haganah commander. Who had taken part in expelling Palestinians from villages. Which the article does not point out.

What comes across in the article is that the "normal" things IDF did were killing Arabs trying to get back home and expelling people left in Israeli new borders.

That is not criticised in article. As that is what the IDF did. That was its purpose.

What the article does not suggest is that this might contribute to leading to this platoon commander to egg on his men to rape a Bedouin woman they find in the area. if Arab life was so little respected that orders could be given to shoot any on sight then this was taking it one step further.

 

[Cloo]

I honestly don't know what to believe - both sides are going to be pushing a narrative and I wouldn't wholly trust anything either of them says. One way or another I'm pretty convinced Palestinian casualities are massive though, they can't not be.

 

[ska invita]

Two months. That will do it. No more Gaza. How many Palestinians survive this.... Horrible odds

 

[Duncan2]

Is it intense fighting or intense massacring of Palestinians?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

My hope is that once they stop, they will find it difficult to start again. There are still plenty more hostages to be freed and international pressure will be on them to remain stopped.

I fear they will find a pretext to start again, citing a Hamas attack. Boys throwing stones have been enough in the past to 'provoke' retaliation.