This!!! I can’t stand how the Democratic Party constantly pushes the worst candidates imaginable and then when they lose, the blame is always shifted onto the voters. How about y’all give us candidates that will show basic human decency towards Palestinians and that people will actually WANT to vote for???

White liberals are riding Biden so hard and are acting as if criticizing him and protesting his aiding and support of Palestinian genocide means you’re trying to “hurt” his chance of being reelected because you support Trump, whom they lecture you on how awful he is as if you don’t have a clue yourself. They’re even shamelessly begging for people to overlook Biden’s role in the genocide and reelect him as if it’s miniscule matter that can be ignored. 

If anyone is hurting Biden’s chances at winning this election, it’s him, who’s actively supporting and aiding the genocide of Palestinians at the hands of Israel. 

Advice for dealing with transphobes:

Any time an idiot terf tries to act like they’re an expert in biology with “iT’S XX FoR fEMaLe and XY fOr MaLE” just say “well, what about people with Turner Syndrome/Klinefelter Syndrome/Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome?” Then when they don’t know what any of those things are, laugh in their face.

Sincerely,

A medical student

Hi OP! Owen Jones has actually been a massive voice for Palestinian rights for years in independent journalism. In the video you’re referring to, the soldier he interviewed (Ariel) fought in Gaza in 2014, not the conflict now. Ariel talked about the systematic dehumanization of Palestinians that leads to IDF soldiers believing their actions are justified and he is an anti-occupation activist. It’s a really insightful interview on how the IDF operates and I highly recommend it (along with really all of Owen Jones’ videos on the topic.) Not every former IDF soldier is bigoted against Palestinians! Many of them are openly talking about their experiences to educate others and advocate for peace.

”Listen to this Israeli soldier” How about we don’t?

Has anyone heard of a YouTuber named Owen Jones? Because I found a video by him about a soldier who is fighting in Gaza. I haven’t watched it, but I bet it’s filled with xenophobic crap. Making it look like it’s them who are the victims and the “big bad” Palestinians are the aggressors. If someone has watched it, can you tell me if I was correct in my assumption?

If international law doesn’t apply to everyone, then it applies to no one. It might as well not even exist if this is the logic we’re going to use. Being the descendants of genocide survivors does not give you “special privileges” to commit genocide against someone else. I don’t want to live in a world where that statement is controversial.

Just watched the trailer for Deadpool 3 and seriously, why couldn’t they have waited until this movie to introduce the TVA??? It would’ve made a lot more sense than having them in a show about Loki, who I’m pretty sure never even interacted with them in the comics. Crazy idea, I know, but maybe the Loki series should’ve actually been about… you know… LOKI???

People getting mad at Jon Stewart for his segment last night are so fucking ridiculous… like did you seriously think he was going to kiss Joe Biden’s ass??? Have you watched The Daily Show before??? Jon Stewart frequently criticized Obama when he was in office - why should the Biden administration be any different? Because he’s not Trump? That doesn’t absolve him of criticism. Jon is completely right for saying this election cycle sucks, because it does. If these candidates are seriously the options we’re given, then there’s something very wrong with our political system.

And yet she’s still done more damage to the environment over the last couple of months than that guy will ever do in his entire life. It’s unbelievable how easily people will believe someone’s a “good” billionaire just because they claim to care about social issues. There is no such thing as an ethical billionaire, and EVERY private jet user needs to be held accountable for the irreparable damage they are causing to our planet. Taylor Swift marketing herself as a “feminist activist” and triggering a couple of conservatives on Fox News does not make her an exception to that.

Hi. I’m Israeli, I saw a few of your posts and I would like to share my perspective with you.

You talk a lot about Zionism as an ideology, but I think it’s important to distinguish between the ideology itself and what is being done today.

Zionism is an ideology that states that Jews have a right for self determination in their own state. A lot of it is rooted in religion, but a large part of it was a response to Jewish persecution in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Being a minority you are essentially helpless when people decide to pillage you or treat you like a second class citizen (and yes, that also happened to Jews in North Africa and the Middle East) when you have your own state, you can at least defend yourself.

Just like any other group of people can strive for self determination (including Palestinians) so can Jews. It’s not just a matter of being secluded from others, or being elitist, it’s a matter of insuring your own security as much as you can as a people.

Zionism is not an evil ideology. You can maybe argue that the way it was achieving its goal is evil, but by that logic you can also argue that Palestinians are evil since they had also committed heinous acts against Jews in this land way before the invention of Zionism and even before they defined themselves as Palestinians.

Zionism is also very tied to Judaism. The longing for returning to “the homeland” is referenced throughout countless Jewish texts in the diaspora, again, way before the invention of Zionism.

There are some sects of Judaism that are against it, but saying “hey, Judaism and Zionism are completely detached!” Is I’d say… incorrect. Like to a point where the overwhelming majority of practicing Jews have some sort of Zionist views.

So about the situation today. in an ideal world, I believe that Palestinians have a right for self determination as much as we do. Saying Zionism is just like this evil, western colonial power, whose sole purpose is to harm and torture Palestinians is very very incorrect.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day 🙏🏽

This is gonna take me a whole essay to respond to so I’m gonna do y’all a favor and put a cut below feel free to read more if you want

If Zionism were purely about “Jewish self-determination”, that would be one thing. However, the reality is that the ideology of Zionism is inseparable from anti-Arab racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The argument you are making only works if you are operating under the assumption that Palestine was an empty piece of land before it was settled by Israelis, which is a notion that many Zionists have tried to push, hence the Zionist slogan: “A land without a people for a people without a land.” However, this is not true. There were always people living in Palestine, and there is no way that an exclusively Jewish state could have existed there without systematically murdering them and expelling them from their land. If you go back and read the texts of the original Zionist leaders, they make it explicitly clear that this was their objective from the very beginning. Ilan Pappe’s book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” documents this extensively. I’ll include a few excerpts here. This is Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion’s second in command Moshe Sharett explaining how he wanted to pay off villagers to leave in order to “reduce the number of Arabs” in Palestine:

This is the description of “Plan Dalet”, which was explicitly designed to drive out Palestinians and murder whoever remained:

This is David Ben-Gurion explicitly saying that even 40% “non-Jews” (aka Arabs) in Palestine was unacceptable:

This is an example of how Plan Dalet was carried out in the village of Deir Yassin (tw: murder, sexual assault, this is extremely graphic)

While to some, Zionism might seem like a nice idea, in practice, it requires murder and systematic cruelty towards the Palestinian population that is continuing to this day. This is why people are opposed to it. It has nothing to do with religion or antisemitism; it is because people can very plainly see that the occupation and genocide it has caused is morally wrong. To quote Dr. Gabor Mate on why he is no longer a Zionist: “Yes, we created this beautiful dream, but we created a nightmare for somebody else.”

I don’t know what percentage of the Jewish population are Zionists, but I think the fact that there is such a strong Jewish anti-Zionist community is proof enough that Zionism should not be linked to Judaism. In fact, you could even argue that saying so is antisemitic because it implies that every single Jewish person is complicit in Israel’s war crimes, which is not true. Furthermore, I strongly believe that many Jewish Zionists subscribe to the ideology because they have been told lies and propaganda about the creation of Israel. It is very evident that Israel is going out of its way to cover up its crimes against Palestinians (i.e. outlawing mentioning the Nakba, planting trees over destroyed Palestinian villages to make it look like nothing was ever there, etc.) I think more Jewish people would have second thoughts about Zionism if they knew the truth behind the ideology.

As for the notion that the military occupation and apartheid of Palestinians is somehow “necessary” for Jewish safety, I would say that this is not only untrue but also makes no sense. Violence is inherently necessary to run a military state and keep a population under an occupation, and violence is always going to beget more violence, which is the exact opposite of the “safe utopia” that Israel strives to depict itself as. Think about it: if you were in a Palestinian’s shoes, would you not do exactly what they are doing? If you were born under a military occupation where you were routinely at risk of being bombed and having your home stolen by settlers, would you not resist by any means necessary, even if it meant resorting to violence? At the end of the day, the only difference between you and a Palestinian is luck in where you were born - that’s it. Safety is not achieved by oppressing others. Safety is achieved with peace and respect for others. I am not against Israelis living in Palestine. But there is no reason why Palestinians need to be ethnically cleansed for that to happen. People of different religions coexisted in Palestine before Israel; there is no reason why that can’t happen again. The more Israelis that realize ending the occupation is in their best interest, the faster the violence will end. It really is that simple.

People need to stop insisting that anti-Zionism is antisemitism because it’s absolutely absurd and false. Judaism is a religion. Zionism is a political ideology - and the majority of Zionists literally aren’t even Jewish. The fundamental goal of Zionism is and always has been the removal of the Arab population from Palestine by any means necessary, including mass murder. Anyone with an ounce of humanity should understand why that’s morally wrong. This is not a complicated issue at all; you’re either against genocide or condoning it.

The U.S. is such a fucking joke omg “a cEAsEFirE wOulD oNLy pLaNT tHe SeEds fOR tHe nEXt wAR” WHAT AND BOMBING THE SHIT OUT OF THESE PEOPLE ISN’T DOING THAT?????

So, here’s the thing: I used to have the “vote blue no matter who” mindset. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely hated the two party system and the fact that the Democratic Party always pushed the absolute worst fucking candidate imaginable on us. But the way I saw it, no third party candidate ever realistically had a chance at winning anyway, so we might as well vote for the candidate that would cause the least damage. But recent events have made me realize that when you have that attitude, you’re basically giving the Democratic candidate a free pass to get away with whatever they want as long as they’re “not as bad” as the Republican candidate. No matter what they do, no matter how many promises they break, people will still vote for them. Yeah, no, screw that. EVERY politician needs to be held accountable. You don’t get to actively fund and support genocide and still expect people to vote for you. You don’t get to break your campaign promises and still expect people to vote for you. I think Biden’s response to what is happening in Gaza has been absolutely unforgivable, and I could NEVER in good conscience vote for him again. Yes, I know a Republican president would be even worse. Yes, I know the chances of a third party candidate winning are basically zero. But what’s the point of electing a president at all if we’re never going to hold them accountable for anything? The Democratic Party needs to learn that people are not going to stand by and let them continue murdering people for their own self-gain. This entire political system can collapse for all I care - I’m done.

THIS THIS THIS

When I was a freshman in high school, my world history teacher said something that continues to resonate with me, even a decade later. She said, “if there’s one thing history has shown us time and time again, it’s that you can only oppress people for so long before they snap, and the whole system falls apart.” Please don’t give up hope. If we give into despair, then we’re just giving Israel exactly what they want. I know that this genocide is getting worse by the minute and it’s hard to see a way out of it. But with every crime Israel commits, more and more people are learning the truth about how evil and brutal this occupation is. There are more people with the Palestinians than against them. And even though our governments aren’t representing us right now, they will have to eventually. Despite what Israel thinks, they cannot keep doing this forever. No system based on apartheid can be maintained in the long run. I recently saw a video of young Israeli teenagers burning their conscription letters. They’re refusing to join the IDF despite the threat of jail time. I strongly believe that the arrogance of Netanyahu and the Zionist movement as a whole will ultimately be their downfall. So, no matter what, keep fighting for Palestine! 🇵🇸

Motaz and Bisan (and other journalists too) sounding hopeless is heartbreaking and fucking scary. We cannot stop. We cannot slow down. We must fight and raise our voices. For them and every Palestinian, until Palestine is free 🇵🇸

I think the thing that frustrates me most about the ongoing genocide is how quick people in the Western world are to judge Palestinians for committing violence against the IDF after they’ve been bombed and murdered indiscriminately. Like these people have been through hell and back and you think you get to act like you’re somehow “morally superior” to them? You will never understand what it’s like to live under an occupation. You will never understand what it’s like to have to carry your children’s limbs in plastic bags because that’s all that remains of them. You will never understand what it’s like to have bombs rain down around you on a daily basis while the rest of the world cheers on your murderers. You will never understand what it’s like to have your entire childhood stolen from you because you were convicted in a military court at nine years old. These are people who have been pushed to their absolute breaking point, and yet racist assholes will insist that their actions just show that they’re all somehow “inherently violent”. Like how dare you point to someone at their most vulnerable and desperate point and say that’s just who they are? If you were in their shoes, you’d be doing the exact same thing. Check your goddamn privilege.

Hi everyone. I wanted to make this post clarifying a few things since I have been on the receiving end of a lot of anger and frustration for defending Susan Sarandon. I have stated before that I believe a lot of people’s assessments of her controversial statement are an incorrect interpretation of what she meant. I don’t believe she was saying that Jewish Americans are “privileged” or have never faced any kind of discrimination; anyone with half a brain cell knows that’s not true. Instead, I believe what she was insinuating was that Jewish Americans have not faced the same level or amount of discrimination that Muslims have. Now, let me be clear on this: while I myself am not religious, I do come from a Muslim family and I have been on the receiving end of Islamophobic and racist harassment before. So when I see people being blacklisted for supporting Palestine while Amy Schumer and Noah Schnapp can make Islamophobic jokes and call all people in Gaza rapists with no repercussions, I can understand why someone might come to the conclusion that Muslims are the ones that “have it worse” in this country. However, I reject this assessment for two reasons: Firstly, I really don’t think Ms. Sarandon is in any position to be determining which group faces “more discrimination” given that she is neither Jewish nor Muslim herself and therefore has no personal experience with receiving either type of bigotry. Furthermore, (and I truly hope that Ms. Sarandon realizes this as well), the argument of “which group has it worse” is a pointless conversation anyway. At the end of the day, bigotry is bigotry, regardless of who is on the receiving end of it, and all forms of bigotry are interconnected. You cannot fight antisemitism without also fighting Islamophobia and vice versa. So I agree that her comment was invalidating to the pain that Jewish Americans have suffered and it was not something she should have said. However, being making one insensitive and ignorant comment is not the same thing as being antisemitic. I have looked at her history of activism, and the ADL has unfairly labeled her as an antisemite for years simply for speaking out against Israel, when she has not done or said anything that I think warrants that accusation. She has made her stance against antisemitism clear and has worked with many Jewish peace activists as well. There is also no doubt in my mind that the reason she was dropped is because she made the remark at a pro-Palestinian protest and not because some people found it offensive. There are plenty of Zionists who are also Christian nationalists and have said INSANELY antisemitic things, but as long as they support Israel, nobody bats an eye at it. I understand not everyone will agree with me on this, nor do I expect them to. But at the very least, I think people should have an accurate understanding of what she was trying to say before forming an opinion. Thanks for taking time to read this and I hope you guys are taking care of yourselves in these difficult times.

I saw this dress in the mall and it gave me MASSIVE Lady Loki vibes 💚💚💚

So I’ve been getting a lot of remarks from people saying that me pointing out that the mainstream media is biased towards Israel and Zionism is somehow “antisemitic” because it’s a “dog whistle” for the bigoted conspiracy theory that “the media is controlled by Jews.” To which my response is: NO. IT’S. FUCKING. NOT. Even if you yourself are not a Zionist, you are still repeating Zionist propaganda by saying this. The fact that the mainstream media is biased is not a “conspiracy”; that is objectively the truth. That is not just my assessment; that is the assessment of MANY people, including both Palestinian and Jewish scholars alike. In fact, many of the people I’ve watched and listened to on this topic are Jewish and Holocaust survivors themselves, including Dr. Gabor Mate (highly, HIGHLY recommend his videos btw). The media is UNDENIABLY biased towards covering up Israel’s war crimes and painting anyone who speaks out against Israel as an antisemite, and a LOT of people are being hurt as a consequence. People are losing their jobs and livelihoods simply for saying that genocide is bad. People in Gaza are being sniped during this so-called “truce” for just trying to go back to their homes. Doctors are having to operate on children without anesthesia because they have no supplies, and no one with any power is willing to help them. And yet every major news station is either not reporting on it at all or basically saying “well too bad, that’s just war.”You CANNOT expect me to look at this situation and not point out how fucked up this is. Now, is it true that there are people who will use this as an excuse to be antisemitic? Yes. Am I one of those people? Of course not. I have said time and time again that the reason for the bias is US capitalists and war profiteers protecting their own interests, not Jewish people. If people still continue to look at that and cry that “Jewish people are controlling the media,” then I am not responsible for their stupidity (but for the record anyone who tries to come onto my blog with that shit is getting banned on sight). I am responsible for what I say; I am not responsible for how people choose to interpret what I say. Of course, being someone who is not Jewish themselves, I acknowledge that I am obviously not the most qualified person to determine what is or isn’t antisemitic and I want people to tell me if I say something offensive or insensitive. But I am not going to put up with being labeled antisemitic simply for demanding that the mainstream media do their fucking jobs and tell the truth.

what happened with barrera is terrible, but susan sarandon’s comment that “there are a lot of people that are afraid, afraid to be Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country” is not only tone deaf, but antisemitic, especially for her as a non-Jewish individual to say.

antisemitism in the US has been on the rise for years and statistically, hate crimes against jews are higher than any other religion. antisemitism didn’t end with the holocaust and for her to act like Jewish people deserve this treatment because of what Israel is doing, is just plain wrong. there is no need to put these two religious minorities against each other either so yes, her comment was gross and antisemitic.

Yes I agree that what she said could have been worded better but when did she say that Jewish people “deserve” bad treatment because of what Israel is doing? Every accusation I’ve heard against her just sounds like people putting words in her mouth without understanding what she’s trying to say. She’s basically saying “do you think it sucks to be hated for your religion? Well, this is what Muslims have been facing for years.” She never said that was a good thing or that we SHOULD be antisemitic. Yes, it’s true that pitting marginalized groups of people against each other is not going to solve anything and I don’t think we should be making trauma into a competition, but I strongly disagree that’s what she was trying to do and to act like this one comment makes her a raging anti-Semite is just straight-up wrong. The people who fired her don’t give a shit about stopping anti-Semitism; they just want to silence anyone who is willing to speak out for Palestinians. People who support Israel have said much, MUCH worse things about Muslims and faced zero consequences for it. Susan Sarandon has made it clear that she is firmly against antisemitism and any form of bigotry and one comment that people are so eager to take out of context doesn’t change that. So no, I don’t agree that what she said was antisemitic and I certainly don’t think it justified her being fired.