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matan4il · 2 months

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Daily update post:

Another day, another independent Palestinian terrorist attack in Israel. This time, a 64 years old man was stabbed in Jerusalem, in the northern neighborhood of Neve Yaakov. The terrorist is a 14 years old Palestinian from East Jerusalem. I honestly wish we could arrest the people radicalizing these teenagers, using them like their lives and their futures mean nothing. Technically speaking, actively recruiting a teenager to a terrorist organization IS a war crime, but as we know from the way ISIS recruits people, it's not always done in a manner straightforward enough, for someone to be arrested. In this case, there is an estimate that someone has helped this teenager, and searches for this person are currently underway.

We're five months into the war, and the IDF has arrested 250 terrorists in Khan Yunis, among them are terrorists who had participated in the Oct 7 massacre. We're talking about thousands of people who were a part of those war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated on that day, and I hope Israel manages to bring them all to trial, if they choose to surrender.

Israel's National Security Council has issued an official travel warning for Israelis who happen to be abroad during the month of Ramadan this year, when there is an increase in Islamist calls for violence. I know this is for Israelis, but I personally think this is a good warning for all Jews, given that most Islamist organizations target us all, and make no distinction between Israeli and non-Israeli Jews. So please, wherever you are, whatever your political views, if you're Jewish, be extra cautious this upcoming Ramadan (starts Mar 10), and please pass it on to others as well.

In ocntinuation of what I wrote yesterday, that Israeli officials believe Hamas isn't interested in a hostage deal that would include a truce, and that American ones seem to think the same, now we have sources that say that yep, that's exactly US officials' impression.

Israeli minister (and Prime Minister hopeful) Benny Gantz is in the US, and has apparently tried to explain to American officials that de-militarizing Gaza of Hamas' terrorist forces, without touching the organization's last stronghold, Rafah, is like putting out 80% of a fire, and that in such a scenario, Hamas would be able to use a truce to re-arm, keep fighting, and will overall prolong the war.

Loay Al-Shareef, a Saudi man who speaks up for peace with Israel, has to be one of the bravest people I've heard about. Here is a short vid from an interview with him, talking about how he came to know Jews, and stopped hating them:

youtube

And here's a short intro for the full interview he did (I haven't had a chance to see the whole thing yet, but I want to, so this link is for me as well), which I found very interesting:

This is 71 years old Batia Holin.

She's an amateur photographer from kibbutz Kfar Azza, who has also believed deeply in coexistence, and even managed to put together a joint photography exhibition with a Gaza photographer. Here's a part of the Facebook post she used to find a Gazan partner for this:

Out of 5 photographers who contacted her, 4 ended up backing out, which is how she ended up with the one partner she did have for the exhibit. On Oct 7, as she and her husband (Nachum) ran into the bomb shelter, she saw strange men with headbands in their courtyard, realizing these must be terrorists. Batia and Nachum were scared for their family, which also lives in southern Israel, and went for 18 hours in the bomb shelter without food and water. When the soldiers arrived, she refused to be evacuated before she would know that her daughter and two grandchildren are, too. During that day, the Gazan photographer who became not just a partner, but also a close friend, called her. Claiming that Gaza was being bombed (this was a lie, the IDF was not yet operating in Gaza, it was still fighting terrorists in southern Israel), he asked her for info on the number and position of Israeli army forces. She realized he needs this info for Hamas, and hung up. Rotem, Batia's daughter, was shot and wounded, but they were all eventually rescued.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #israelunderattack #Youtube

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the-garbanzo-annex-jr · 22 days

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By Isabel Vincent

The cash from Soros and his acolytes has been critical to the Columbia protests that set off the national copycat demonstrations.

Three groups set up the tent city on Columbia’s lawn last Wednesday: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Within Our Lifetime.

At the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment,” students sleep in tents apparently ordered from Amazon and enjoy delivery pizza, coffee from Dunkin’, free sandwiches worth $12.50 from Pret a Manger, organic tortilla chips and $10 rotisserie chickens.

An analysis by The Post shows that all three got cash from groups linked to Soros. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund also gave cash to JVP.

The fund is chaired by Joseph Pierson, and includes David Rockefeller Jr, a fourth-generation member of the oil dynasty, on its board of directors. The non-profit gives money to “sustainable development” and “peace-building.”

And a former Wall Street banker, Felice Gelman, a retired investment banker who has dedicated her Wall Street fortune to pro-Palestinian causes, funded all three groups.

17Free sandwiches from upscale takeout joint Pret a Manger are on offer at the encampment, worth up to $12, and $10 rotisserie chickens. Cash for the encampment has come from billionaire investor George Soros.NYPJ

Both SJP and JVP were expelled from Columbia University in November for “threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” JVP blamed Israel for the Oct 7 Hamas terrorist attack that left 1,200 Israelis dead.

“Israeli apartheid and occupation — and United States complicity in that oppression — are the source of all this violence,” JVP said in a statement on its website.

SJP called the terrorist strike on Israel “a historic win.”

17Also on offer for the thirsty anti-Israeli protesters camped out at Columbia is free coffee from Dunkin’. Behind the scenes, the groups organizing the encampment have received cash from Soros and another former Wall Street banker.NYPJ

An analysis by The Post shows how Soros and Gelman’s cash made its way to the students through a network of nonprofits that help obscure their contributions.

Soros has given billions to the Open Society Foundations which his son Alexander — whose partner is Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s top aide and the estranged wife of pervert Anthony Weiner — now controls.

In turn, Open Society has given more than $20 million to the Tides Foundation, a progressive nonprofit “fiscal sponsor” that then sends the cash to smaller groups.

Those groups include A Jewish Voice for Peace, which between 2017 and 2022 has received $650,000 from Soros’ Open Society. Its advisers include the academic Noam Chomsky and the left-wing feminist author Naomi Klein.

JVP has been a prominent part of the protests at Columbia and one of its student members was among a group expelled from the university for inviting the leader of a proscribed terrorist group, Khaled, to the “Resistance 101” Zoom meeting.

Soros has also donated $132,000 to WESPAC, called in full the Westchester People’s Action Coalition Foundation.

#george soros #columbia university #open society foundations #rockefeller brothers fund #jewish voice for peace #gaza solidarity encampment #within our lifetime #students for justice in palestine

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beardedmrbean · 5 months

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When dozens of protestors halted traffic on a major Los Angeles highway this week, it was the latest in a string of major public calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. The demonstration, led by the notorious anti-Israel group IfNotNow, followed a vote for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas from 153 countries (the U.S. voted against) during an emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As an Israeli Jew who helped Palestinian civilians during my five year service in the Israeli Defense Forces, I would love nothing more than for our two peoples to live side by side in peace. Innocent Palestinians deserve every freedom and to realize their national aspirations. Sadly, the only thing standing between us and a ceasefire is Hamas, a terrorist organization whose raison d'etre is to eliminate Israel and kill Jews.

For this reason alone, calls for a ceasefire are neither a commitment to human rights nor an effort to preserve life. Instead, they are a demand that Jews not defend themselves from genocide.

To pretend that this isn't the case not only ignores the reality on the ground but is deeply antisemitic and an outright denial of the Indigenous connection and national rights that Jews have to Israel.

Public demands for a ceasefire will do little more than serve an aggressor who has violated past ceasefires at will, including on Oct. 7 when Hamas violated an existing ceasefire in order to kill, torture, rape, and kidnap thousands of innocent people. In 2014 alone, Israel agreed to nine truces were implemented during a 51-day conflict. Even a poll from the Washington Institute of Near East Policy on October 10th showed that a majority of Gazans themselves did not support breaking the latest ceasefire agreement, something Hamas leadership did without regard to the agreement or the lives of citizens on both sides.

A ceasefire requires not one but two partners, yet the international community continues to turn its head away from the fact that a ceasefire is not a goal for Hamas. Hamas' objective is to kill Jews, an objective its pattern of breaking past ceasefires has made clear. As unpleasant as the reality is, calls for a ceasefire are calls to perpetuate and promote antisemitic violence against innocents.

One can criticize Israel without being antisemitic, the pro-Palestinian faction says. I agree with that statement. But calling for a ceasefire at this juncture is not criticism; it's a dogwhistle, a demand that Jews to lay down and accept the attacks against them.

Calls for ceasefire also conveniently ignore the connection between Israel and Jews. Zionism is a movement for the re-establishment of the Jewish nation of Israel following centuries of Jewish diaspora. Formally established in 1948, Israel became a beacon of hope for Jews worldwide experiencing persecution.

My own family exemplifies this reality. Concurrent with the Holocaust in Europe, Jews in the Middle East faced violent dispossession just for being Jewish. My Iraqi grandmother was just a child in 1941 when she experienced the Farhud, a two-day pogrom against the Jewish population of Baghdad. During these days of antisemitic violence, my grandmother witnessed her best friend being raped and murdered in the streets of Iraq, just for being Jewish. Meanwhile, Tunisian Jews like my paternal grandfather were conscripted to detention camps and forced labor in a gulag, where conditions were barbaric.

Even though we and the world have seen all this before, Israel nevertheless committed to a ceasefire on November 21, an agreement that included an exchange of all hostages taken on October 7 as well as Hamas putting a stop to all missiles launched into Israel. Predictably, Hamas began firing rockets into Israel fifteen minutes into that ceasefire. They also slaughtered four Israelis on Nov. 30 in Jerusalem, and continued attacking Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

To those with genuine hearts who just want the suffering and carnage to stop, know that I am with you. I understand the hurt you are feeling and pray every day for an end to this war so we can begin the difficult process of healing and peace.

As hopeful as I am, I am also realistic: Hamas started this war on Oct. 7, and the only thing that guarantees an end to all the pain and suffering for Israelis and Gazans is for Hamas to lay down its weapons and release the 135 hostages.

Pressuring Israel, which is on a rescue mission to release its citizens from captivity and bring a group of barbaric death agents to justice, will do nothing to bring peace of mind to humanity or peace to the region.

I am certain that this is clear to many of those calling for a ceasefire. But much like the chant "from the river to the sea," the calls for "a ceasefire" have turned into another thinly veiled euphemism for the destruction of the Jewish state that is meant to fool the American public.

Hen Mazzig is a Senior Fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute and the author of The Wrong Kind of Jew: A Mizrahi Manifesto.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

#nunyas news #maybe call on hamass to ceasefire #every once in a while

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40ouncesandamule · 7 months

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https://web.archive.org/web/20150722184851/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123275572295011847

How Israel Helped to Spawn Hamas

By Andrew Higgins Updated Jan. 24, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

Moshav Tekuma, Israel

Surveying the wreckage of a neighbor's bungalow hit by a Palestinian rocket, retired Israeli official Avner Cohen traces the missile's trajectory back to an "enormous, stupid mistake" made 30 years ago.

"Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel's creation," says Mr. Cohen, a Tunisian-born Jew who worked in Gaza for more than two decades. Responsible for religious affairs in the region until 1994, Mr. Cohen watched the Islamist movement take shape, muscle aside secular Palestinian rivals and then morph into what is today Hamas, a militant group that is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Instead of trying to curb Gaza's Islamists from the outset, says Mr. Cohen, Israel for years tolerated and, in some cases, encouraged them as a counterweight to the secular nationalists of the Palestine Liberation Organization and its dominant faction, Yasser Arafat's Fatah. Israel cooperated with a crippled, half-blind cleric named Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, even as he was laying the foundations for what would become Hamas. Sheikh Yassin continues to inspire militants today; during the recent war in Gaza, Hamas fighters confronted Israeli troops with "Yassins," primitive rocket-propelled grenades named in honor of the cleric.

Last Saturday, after 22 days of war, Israel announced a halt to the offensive. The assault was aimed at stopping Hamas rockets from falling on Israel. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hailed a "determined and successful military operation." More than 1,200 Palestinians had died. Thirteen Israelis were also killed.

Hamas responded the next day by lobbing five rockets towards the Israeli town of Sderot, a few miles down the road from Moshav Tekuma, the farming village where Mr. Cohen lives. Hamas then announced its own cease-fire.

Since then, Hamas leaders have emerged from hiding and reasserted their control over Gaza. Egyptian-mediated talks aimed at a more durable truce are expected to start this weekend. President Barack Obama said this week that lasting calm "requires more than a long cease-fire" and depends on Israel and a future Palestinian state "living side by side in peace and security."

A look at Israel's decades-long dealings with Palestinian radicals -- including some little-known attempts to cooperate with the Islamists -- reveals a catalog of unintended and often perilous consequences. Time and again, Israel's efforts to find a pliant Palestinian partner that is both credible with Palestinians and willing to eschew violence, have backfired. Would-be partners have turned into foes or lost the support of their people.

Israel's experience echoes that of the U.S., which, during the Cold War, looked to Islamists as a useful ally against communism. Anti-Soviet forces backed by America after Moscow's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan later mutated into al Qaeda.

At stake is the future of what used to be the British Mandate of Palestine, the biblical lands now comprising Israel and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Since 1948, when the state of Israel was established, Israelis and Palestinians have each asserted claims over the same territory.

The Palestinian cause was for decades led by the PLO, which Israel regarded as a terrorist outfit and sought to crush until the 1990s, when the PLO dropped its vow to destroy the Jewish state. The PLO's Palestinian rival, Hamas, led by Islamist militants, refused to recognize Israel and vowed to continue "resistance." Hamas now controls Gaza, a crowded, impoverished sliver of land on the Mediterranean from which Israel pulled out troops and settlers in 2005.

When Israel first encountered Islamists in Gaza in the 1970s and '80s, they seemed focused on studying the Quran, not on confrontation with Israel. The Israeli government officially recognized a precursor to Hamas called Mujama Al-Islamiya, registering the group as a charity. It allowed Mujama members to set up an Islamic university and build mosques, clubs and schools. Crucially, Israel often stood aside when the Islamists and their secular left-wing Palestinian rivals battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank.

"When I look back at the chain of events I think we made a mistake," says David Hacham, who worked in Gaza in the late 1980s and early '90s as an Arab-affairs expert in the Israeli military. "But at the time nobody thought about the possible results."

Israeli officials who served in Gaza disagree on how much their own actions may have contributed to the rise of Hamas. They blame the group's recent ascent on outsiders, primarily Iran. This view is shared by the Israeli government. "Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons," Mr. Olmert said last Saturday. Hamas has denied receiving military assistance from Iran.

Arieh Spitzen, the former head of the Israeli military's Department of Palestinian Affairs, says that even if Israel had tried to stop the Islamists sooner, he doubts it could have done much to curb political Islam, a movement that was spreading across the Muslim world. He says attempts to stop it are akin to trying to change the internal rhythms of nature: "It is like saying: 'I will kill all the mosquitoes.' But then you get even worse insects that will kill you...You break the balance. You kill Hamas you might get al Qaeda."

When it became clear in the early 1990s that Gaza's Islamists had mutated from a religious group into a fighting force aimed at Israel -- particularly after they turned to suicide bombings in 1994 -- Israel cracked down with ferocious force. But each military assault only increased Hamas's appeal to ordinary Palestinians. The group ultimately trounced secular rivals, notably Fatah, in a 2006 election supported by Israel's main ally, the U.S.

Now, one big fear in Israel and elsewhere is that while Hamas has been hammered hard, the war might have boosted the group's popular appeal. Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in Gaza, came out of hiding last Sunday to declare that "God has granted us a great victory."

Most damaged from the war, say many Palestinians, is Fatah, now Israel's principal negotiating partner. "Everyone is praising the resistance and thinks that Fatah is not part of it," says Baker Abu-Baker, a longtime Fatah supporter and author of a book on Hamas.

A Lack of Devotion

Hamas traces its roots back to the Muslim Brotherhood, a group set up in Egypt in 1928. The Brotherhood believed that the woes of the Arab world spring from a lack of Islamic devotion. Its slogan: "Islam is the solution. The Quran is our constitution." Its philosophy today underpins modern, and often militantly intolerant, political Islam from Algeria to Indonesia.

After the 1948 establishment of Israel, the Brotherhood recruited a few followers in Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza and elsewhere, but secular activists came to dominate the Palestinian nationalist movement.

At the time, Gaza was ruled by Egypt. The country's then-president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was a secular nationalist who brutally repressed the Brotherhood. In 1967, Nasser suffered a crushing defeat when Israel triumphed in the six-day war. Israel took control of Gaza and also the West Bank.

"We were all stunned," says Palestinian writer and Hamas supporter Azzam Tamimi. He was at school at the time in Kuwait and says he became close to a classmate named Khaled Mashaal, now Hamas's Damascus-based political chief. "The Arab defeat provided the Brotherhood with a big opportunity," says Mr. Tamimi.

In Gaza, Israel hunted down members of Fatah and other secular PLO factions, but it dropped harsh restrictions imposed on Islamic activists by the territory's previous Egyptian rulers. Fatah, set up in 1964, was the backbone of the PLO, which was responsible for hijackings, bombings and other violence against Israel. Arab states in 1974 declared the PLO the "sole legitimate representative" of the Palestinian people world-wide.

The Muslim Brotherhood, led in Gaza by Sheikh Yassin, was free to spread its message openly. In addition to launching various charity projects, Sheikh Yassin collected money to reprint the writings of Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian member of the Brotherhood who, before his execution by President Nasser, advocated global jihad. He is now seen as one of the founding ideologues of militant political Islam.

Mr. Cohen, who worked at the time for the Israeli government's religious affairs department in Gaza, says he began to hear disturbing reports in the mid-1970s about Sheikh Yassin from traditional Islamic clerics. He says they warned that the sheikh had no formal Islamic training and was ultimately more interested in politics than faith. "They said, 'Keep away from Yassin. He is a big danger,'" recalls Mr. Cohen.

Instead, Israel's military-led administration in Gaza looked favorably on the paraplegic cleric, who set up a wide network of schools, clinics, a library and kindergartens. Sheikh Yassin formed the Islamist group Mujama al-Islamiya, which was officially recognized by Israel as a charity and then, in 1979, as an association. Israel also endorsed the establishment of the Islamic University of Gaza, which it now regards as a hotbed of militancy. The university was one of the first targets hit by Israeli warplanes in the recent war.

Brig. General Yosef Kastel, Gaza's Israeli governor at the time, is too ill to comment, says his wife. But Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, who took over as governor in Gaza in late 1979, says he had no illusions about Sheikh Yassin's long-term intentions or the perils of political Islam. As Israel's former military attache in Iran, he'd watched Islamic fervor topple the Shah. However, in Gaza, says Mr. Segev, "our main enemy was Fatah," and the cleric "was still 100% peaceful" towards Israel. Former officials say Israel was also at the time wary of being viewed as an enemy of Islam.

Mr. Segev says he had regular contact with Sheikh Yassin, in part to keep an eye on him. He visited his mosque and met the cleric around a dozen times. It was illegal at the time for Israelis to meet anyone from the PLO. Mr. Segev later arranged for the cleric to be taken to Israel for hospital treatment. "We had no problems with him," he says.

In fact, the cleric and Israel had a shared enemy: secular Palestinian activists. After a failed attempt in Gaza to oust secularists from leadership of the Palestinian Red Crescent, the Muslim version of the Red Cross, Mujama staged a violent demonstration, storming the Red Crescent building. Islamists also attacked shops selling liquor and cinemas. The Israeli military mostly stood on the sidelines.

Mr. Segev says the army didn't want to get involved in Palestinian quarrels but did send soldiers to prevent Islamists from burning down the house of the Red Crescent's secular chief, a socialist who supported the PLO.

'An Alternative to the PLO'

Clashes between Islamists and secular nationalists spread to the West Bank and escalated during the early 1980s, convulsing college campuses, particularly Birzeit University, a center of political activism.

As the fighting between rival student factions at Birzeit grew more violent, Brig. Gen. Shalom Harari, then a military intelligence officer in Gaza, says he received a call from Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint on the road out of Gaza. They had stopped a bus carrying Islamic activists who wanted to join the battle against Fatah at Birzeit. "I said: 'If they want to burn each other let them go,'" recalls Mr. Harari.

A leader of Birzeit's Islamist faction at the time was Mahmoud Musleh, now a pro-Hamas member of a Palestinian legislature elected in 2006. He recalls how usually aggressive Israeli security forces stood back and let conflagration develop. He denies any collusion between his own camp and the Israelis, but says "they hoped we would become an alternative to the PLO."

A year later, in 1984, the Israeli military received a tip-off from Fatah supporters that Sheikh Yassin's Gaza Islamists were collecting arms, according to Israeli officials in Gaza at the time. Israeli troops raided a mosque and found a cache of weapons. Sheikh Yassin was jailed. He told Israeli interrogators the weapons were for use against rival Palestinians, not Israel, according to Mr. Hacham, the military affairs expert who says he spoke frequently with jailed Islamists. The cleric was released after a year and continued to expand Mujama's reach across Gaza.

Around the time of Sheikh Yassin's arrest, Mr. Cohen, the religious affairs official, sent a report to senior Israeli military and civilian officials in Gaza. Describing the cleric as a "diabolical" figure, he warned that Israel's policy towards the Islamists was allowing Mujama to develop into a dangerous force.

"I believe that by continuing to turn away our eyes, our lenient approach to Mujama will in the future harm us. I therefore suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face," Mr. Cohen wrote.

Mr. Harari, the military intelligence officer, says this and other warnings were ignored. But, he says, the reason for this was neglect, not a desire to fortify the Islamists: "Israel never financed Hamas. Israel never armed Hamas."

Roni Shaked, a former officer of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, and author of a book on Hamas, says Sheikh Yassin and his followers had a long-term perspective whose dangers were not understood at the time. "They worked slowly, slowly, step by step according to the Muslim Brotherhood plan."

Declaring Jihad

In 1987, several Palestinians were killed in a traffic accident involving an Israeli driver, triggering a wave of protests that became known as the first Intifada, Mr. Yassin and six other Mujama Islamists launched Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas's charter, released a year later, is studded with anti-Semitism and declares "jihad its path and death for the cause of Allah its most sublime belief."

Israeli officials, still focused on Fatah and initially unaware of the Hamas charter, continued to maintain contacts with the Gaza Islamists. Mr. Hacham, the military Arab affairs expert, remembers taking one of Hamas's founders, Mahmoud Zahar, to meet Israel's then defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin, as part of regular consultations between Israeli officials and Palestinians not linked to the PLO. Mr. Zahar, the only Hamas founder known to be alive today, is now the group's senior political leader in Gaza.

In 1989, Hamas carried out its first attack on Israel, abducting and killing two soldiers. Israel arrested Sheikh Yassin and sentenced him to life. It later rounded up more than 400 suspected Hamas activists, including Mr. Zahar, and deported them to southern Lebanon. There, they hooked up with Hezbollah, the Iran-backed A-Team of anti-Israeli militancy.

Many of the deportees later returned to Gaza. Hamas built up its arsenal and escalated its attacks, while all along maintaining the social network that underpinned its support in Gaza.

Meanwhile, its enemy, the PLO, dropped its commitment to Israel's destruction and started negotiating a two-state settlement. Hamas accused it of treachery. This accusation found increasing resonance as Israel kept developing settlements on occupied Palestinian land, particularly the West Bank. Though the West Bank had passed to the nominal control of a new Palestinian Authority, it was still dotted with Israeli military checkpoints and a growing number of Israeli settlers.

Unable to uproot a now entrenched Islamist network that had suddenly replaced the PLO as its main foe, Israel tried to decapitate it. It started targeting Hamas leaders. This, too, made no dent in Hamas's support, and sometimes even helped the group. In 1997, for example, Israel's Mossad spy agency tried to poison Hamas's exiled political leader Mr. Mashaal, who was then living in Jordan.

The agents got caught and, to get them out of a Jordanian jail, Israel agreed to release Sheikh Yassin. The cleric set off on a tour of the Islamic world to raise support and money. He returned to Gaza to a hero's welcome.

Efraim Halevy, a veteran Mossad officer who negotiated the deal that released Sheikh Yassin, says the cleric's freedom was hard to swallow, but Israel had no choice. After the fiasco in Jordan, Mr. Halevy was named director of Mossad, a position he held until 2002. Two years later, Sheikh Yassin was killed by an Israeli air strike.

Mr. Halevy has in recent years urged Israel to negotiate with Hamas. He says that "Hamas can be crushed," but he believes that "the price of crushing Hamas is a price that Israel would prefer not to pay." When Israel's authoritarian secular neighbor, Syria, launched a campaign to wipe out Muslim Brotherhood militants in the early 1980s it killed more than 20,000 people, many of them civilians.

In its recent war in Gaza, Israel didn't set the destruction of Hamas as its goal. It limited its stated objectives to halting the Islamists' rocket fire and battering their overall military capacity. At the start of the Israeli operation in December, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told parliament that the goal was "to deal Hamas a severe blow, a blow that will cause it to stop its hostile actions from Gaza at Israeli citizens and soldiers."

Walking back to his house from the rubble of his neighbor's home, Mr. Cohen, the former religious affairs official in Gaza, curses Hamas and also what he sees as missteps that allowed Islamists to put down deep roots in Gaza.

He recalls a 1970s meeting with a traditional Islamic cleric who wanted Israel to stop cooperating with the Muslim Brotherhood followers of Sheikh Yassin: "He told me: 'You are going to have big regrets in 20 or 30 years.' He was right."

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tomorrowusa · 7 months

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Times of Israel correspondent Tal Schneider blames Prime Minister Netanyahu and his rightwing clique for the Hamas attack and massacres conducted by terrorists out of Gaza.

Netanyahu has tried to divide Palestinians and block the establishment of a Palestinian state by showing favoritism to the Hamas entity in Gaza while disparaging the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank. Yep, you read that right, Bibi was playing footsie with Hamas.

For years, the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu took an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank — bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to his knees while making moves that propped up the Hamas terror group. The idea was to prevent Abbas — or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank government — from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. Thus, amid this bid to impair Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to an organization with which Israel held indirect negotiations via Egypt, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad. Hamas was also included in discussions about increasing the number of work permits Israel granted to Gazan laborers, which kept money flowing into Gaza, meaning food for families and the ability to purchase basic products. Israeli officials said these permits, which allow Gazan laborers to earn higher salaries than they would in the enclave, were a powerful tool to help preserve calm. [ ... ] Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset. Far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, now the finance minister in the hardline government and leader of the Religious Zionism party, said so himself in 2015. According to various reports, Netanyahu made a similar point at a Likud faction meeting in early 2018, when he was quoted as saying that those who oppose a Palestinian state should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because maintaining the separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. [ ... ] The same messaging was repeated by right-wing commentators, who may have received briefings on the matter or talked to Likud higher-ups and understood the message. Bolstered by this policy, Hamas grew stronger and stronger until Saturday, Israel’s “Pearl Harbor,” the bloodiest day in its history — when terrorists crossed the border, slaughtered hundreds of Israelis and kidnapped an unknown number under the cover of thousands of rockets fired at towns throughout the country’s south and center.

In short, Netanyahu, his Likud Party, and rightwing allies were being too clever by half – and their ploy blew up in their faces.

The extreme right in Israel have been trying to find a way to hold on to Gaza and the West Bank which were occupied by Israel during the 1967 war. They have been more interested in stonewalling a possible negotiated agreement with the Palestinians than seeking one. And thanks to a frequently divided and ineffectual opposition, the country has had prime ministers from the rightwing Likud Party for 33 of the past 46 years (if I counted accurately).

Netanyahu is sort of an Israeli version of the mythological "Smart Trump" who some US Republicans pine for. Like Trump, Netanyahu's overriding goal is the retention of power at all costs. But for a permanent peace, Israel is going to need somebody of similar caliber to Mandela, De Gaulle, Atatürk, or Masaryk. Netanyahu is not even close to being in the same league as such leaders.

#israel #tal schneider #gaza #terrorists #hamas #palestinian authority #the west bank #the occupied territories #binyamin netanyahu #likud #ישראל #הליכוד #בנימין נתניהו #غزة

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saiyanprincefiregod · 3 months

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How I would reboot MegaMan (Classic), MegaMan Zero, and MegaMan X pt. 4.5. Mega Man X

The Series in development

MegaMan X: Code Genesis [keep in mind this still in development]:

MegaMan X: Code Genesis, the story takes place after the events of MegaMan X9. The world is at peace, with humans and Reploids coexisting harmoniously. However, a new threat emerges in the form of a mysterious terrorist organization known as "Neo Arcadia." Led by a powerful and enigmatic figure, Tyranus, a human cyborg, seeks to eliminate all Reploids, claiming they are a danger to humanity. MegaMan X, along with his trusted partner Zero, must once again step up to protect both humans and Reploids from this new threat. As they delve deeper into the conflict, they uncover dark secrets about the origins of Reploids and the true intentions of Neo Arcadia. Throughout the game, players will navigate through various levels, each filled with challenging platforming sections and enemies. X and Zero will have access to a wide range of weapons and upgrades, allowing them to adapt to different situations and defeat powerful bosses. As the story progresses, X and Zero will encounter new allies and enemies, each with their own motivations and agendas. The game will explore themes of identity, free will, and the ethical implications of advanced technology. Players will have to make difficult choices that will shape the outcome of the game's narrative. Ultimately, MegaMan X: Code Genesis aims to provide an engaging and immersive experience for players, combining the beloved elements of the MegaMan X series with fresh and innovative gameplay mechanics. With its captivating story, stunning visuals, and challenging gameplay, MegaMan X: Code Genesis promises to be a must-play for fans of the series and newcomers alike.

MegaMan X: Code Genesis is expected to be rated T for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). This rating is given to games that are suitable for players aged in the adolescence and older. The game may contain violence, blood, language, and suggestive themes. Parents are advised to review the game's content before allowing their children to play.

MegaMan X: Corrupted [My version, keep in mind this is still in development]: Set After the events of MegaMan X: Code Genesis, In the year 21XX, the world is still recovering from the aftermath of the Neo Arcadia incident, the Maverick Wars has now become the Neo Maverick Wars. The Maverick Hunters, and legendary veteran soldier MegaMan X, have been tirelessly fighting against the rogue Reploids known as Mavericks. However, a new threat emerges that could potentially destroy everything they have fought for. MegaMan X: Corrupted begins with the discovery of a mysterious energy source deep within an abandoned research facility. X, along with his trusted partner Zero, investigates the source and uncovers a powerful artifact called the "Corruption Core." This core has the ability to corrupt New Generation Reploids without Sigma’s DNA and DNA Data, turning them into mindless Mavericks. As X and Zero try to contain the Corruption Core, a group of powerful Mavericks known as "The Corrupted" emerges. Led by a mysterious figure known as "Omega," these Mavericks are unlike anything X and Zero have ever faced before. They possess enhanced abilities and are immune to traditional Maverick Hunter weapons. Realizing that they cannot defeat The Corrupted with their current arsenal, X and Zero must embark on a dangerous quest to acquire new upgrades and abilities. They must travel through various stages, each guarded by a powerful Maverick boss, to obtain the necessary tools to combat the Corruption Core and its influence. MegaMan X: Corrupted introduces a nonlinear gameplay structure, allowing players to choose which stages to tackle first. Each stage is designed with challenging platforming sections, intense boss battles, and hidden secrets. The game also features a deep upgrade system, allowing players to customize X and Zero's abilities to suit their playstyle. Throughout the game, X and Zero will encounter familiar faces from the MegaMan X series, both as allies and enemies. They will also uncover the truth behind the Corruption Core and its origins, leading to a climactic showdown with Omega, The Sigma Children and The Corrupted. MegaMan X: Corrupted aims to capture the spirit of the classic MegaMan X series while introducing new gameplay mechanics and a compelling storyline. With its challenging gameplay, stunning visuals, and a nostalgic soundtrack, this fan-made game is a love letter to all MegaMan X fans.

These MegaMan X Titles are still development it'll take sometime before they are done.

#MegaMan Reboot #MegaMan (Classic)#MegaMan Zero #MegaMan X #MegaMan (Classic) [Reboot and Reimagining]#MegaMan Zero [Reboot and Reimagining]#MegaMan X [Reboot and Reimagining]#Reboot

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bringmemyrocks · 5 months

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On 501c3s, Foundations, Donor-advised funds, and "Zionist money"

This is not tax advice. If you're like me and don't make much money, you likely haven't run into this stuff before unless you've worked for a nonprofit.

In the USA, to get a tax write-off on your donation, your donation has to go to a 501c3 nonprofit that is registered in the USA. In the USA, donating to organizations overseas in any way that requires paperwork (aka not just handing over literal cash) can be dicey. Especially if those orgs are Palestinian.

A 501c(3) nonprofit is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that serves public interest and is not part of government. Churches, mosques, food banks, and civil rights organizations all fall into this category. It can only do limited political advocacy without losing its 501c3 status. It cannot donate large sums directly to other nonprofits without a ton of paperwork, but it can allow donors to earmark donations for specific causes, including other international nonprofits.

A 501c4 gets to do more political work, but in exchange, donations aren't tax-deductible. JVP and American Muslims for Palestine both have partner 501c4 orgs that do lobbying.

A Foundation, unlike a 501c3, does not have a mission statement and functions primarily through giving grants. These grants can be no-strings attached, or they can have particular rules (eg. Foundation A will only give you $2000 to sponsor a summer intern if you promise that money will not be spent on food.) Foundations do not “control” the organizations they provide grant funding to, especially since most foundation-funded orgs get donations from multiple sources.

Foundations can give grants in multiple countries (ex. the Foundation for Middle East Peace functions in both the Middle East and USA and gives funds to JVP (USA) and Al-Haq, a Palestinian org.)

A Donor-Advised Fund is a 501c3-managed fund where you can earmark your donations (usually minimum donations around $1000) for a specific group. That group can be a nonprofit in the US or a partnered NGO/CSO in another country that you cannot donate to either at all, or without getting a tax writeoff as it's not a US based 501c3. (Why you'd use a donor advised fund instead of donating directly to a nonprofit if that nonprofit is already a US-based 501c3 is for tax reasons and not relevant to this post, I promise.) A foundation can also serve as a DAF. I believe FMEP does this where you can donate a $1500 minimum to Al Haq through them because you can’t donate to Al Haq otherwise.

So a lot of foreign orgs, especially Palestinian orgs, partner with US-based nonprofits and/or foundations to raise money. These can be nonprofits specifically created for this purpose (American Friends of Peace Now, etc.) or they can be nondescript DAFs managed by a philanthropic organization.

Nota bene: "NGO" and "Civil Society Organization" are the same things. They are both non-governmental organizations that are supposed to improve society, but "NGO" gets used to refer to Israel and US based orgs while "civil society org" is used for Palestinian orgs like Al Haq.

Examples:

Jewish Voice for Peace is a US-based 501c3 anti-zionist Jewish nonprofit that advocates for Palestinian rights within the Jewish community. Any American can get a tax writeoff on a donation to JVP. For tax reasons, JVP takes donations only to JVP and not JVP Action, which is funded by JVP. JVP also receives donations through the Foundation for Middle East Peace.

The Adalah Justice Project, a Palestinian organization that tracks legal inequalities (apartheid) in Palestine, is based in Palestine, but takes donations through the New Israel Fund. This means that if you want to give money to Adalah, it goes through NIF. NIF is legally obligated to send that money to Adalah and cannot use it for other purposes, even if NIF is not in itself an antizionist org.

Al Haq, a Palestinian CSO, was declared a terrorist org by Israel with no evidence or investigation. This means it cannot receive donations directly, and anyone who donates to it could be prosecuted. However, it can receive grants from the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Thus less-political foundations can be the only way that Palestinian civil society orgs can receive much-needed funding. This would not work if FMEP was aggressively anti-normalization because FMEP has to stay less-than-radical in order to avoid government persecution.

This is the most important thing on this list. Partnering with organizations like FMEP is the only way many essential Palestinian organizations can continue to exist. Read that again.

Al Haq has existed in Palestine since 1979. Its services are essential. Yanking funding whether because Israel calls it a terrorist org or because you’ve decided any interaction with Israel is never acceptable, does huge harm.

https://www.alhaq.org/ for more info

BDS's definition of anti-normalization:

"Normalization is the participation in any project, initiative or activity, local or international, that brings together (on the same “platform”1) Palestinians (and/or Arabs) and Israelis (individuals or institutions) and does not meet the following two conditions:

The Israeli side publicly recognizes the UN-affirmed inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, which are set out in the 2005 BDS Call, and

the joint activity constitutes a form of co-resistance against the Israeli regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid."

Source: https://bdsmovement.net/news/bds-movement-anti-normalization-guidelines

But can't you still donate to Palestinian civil society organizations directly and just not take the tax write off? #upholdthethawabet!

Unfortunately, a lot of the time you cannot because of how Palestinian orgs are labeled by the US and Israel. Look at what happened to the Holy Land Five--five men who wanted to raise funds for Palestinian welfare in Gaza were "convicted" of sending money to Hamas and all spent time in jail. Right now Al-Haq and 5 other Palestinian CSOs are designated as terrorist organizations. Wiring money to Al-Haq without going through an approved partner is a thoroughly bad idea.

More info: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/11/after-israels-designation-human-rights-groups-terrorists-biden-should-release

A Palestinian refugee organization that I won't name (I'll call it Org X, it's well-known and does good work) finds itself in this place right now. The only way they can take donations from Americans is by physically coming over here and accepting cash. No checks, no credit cards, no PayPal, nothing, because they don't have a 501c3 partner in the USA or a foundation to support them.

This is an even bigger problem if you are a business or nonprofit organization. I as an individual can give money to a Palestinian civil society org, but if my business or my nonprofit does so, even as a cash donation, said CSO may not be able to accept the money because of US and/or Israeli regulations, and my org could get investigated. So I can take cash from my bank account and give it directly to an Org X representative, but businesses and nonprofits have to account for where their money goes. If SJP National takes out $100 in cash to give to Org X, SJP will get in trouble.

One exception (for now, anyway) is Al Qaws. This is an LGBT Palestinian organization that is working to oppose the occupation and improve the lives of LGBT Palestinians. They take donations via Paypal. These donations are not tax-deductible because Al-Qaws does not have a US-based nonprofit partner. So far Al Qaws has not been targeted by Israel to prevent foreigners from donating, but this could happen at any time. However, Al Qaws is limited in the services it can provide because having no partnerships means having a much smaller budget. And again, Israel could cut off all donations at any time.

Because this may get brought up: It would be great if Palestinians and marginalized communities did not rely on nonprofit organizations/civil society orgs to supply basic needs. Ideally NGOs would not be necessary, either because the government provides for needs, or because we’d live in a utopia, whatever. There’s a book called The Revolution will not be Funded that talks about this. It’s an issue worth discussing. But yanking funding because of “antinormalization” does not address the root cause–it yanks the proverbial band-aid off the deep wound. Sure, the band-aid isn’t helping as much as a systemic change could, but now you’ve made it that much worse.

@feelingbitch thanks for asking!

#jvp #palestine #activism #antinormalization #anti normalization #fmep #i

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redsamuraiii · 2 years

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Lycoris Recoil (2022) poster by u/Lovro26

Japan is known as a peaceful country with no dangers of violent crimes and domestic terrorism. The existence of such dangers that disrupt the society are eradicated by a secret government organization called, Lycoris.

Lycoris trains a group of orphaned girls as “assassins” that work in the shadows to take down criminals and terrorists, and covering them up to avoid the public from knowing of any real threat that exist to prevent mass hysteria.

The girls wear the school-like uniforms (in the poster) to blend in the crowd to avoid notice because a harmless looking school girl is the last person anyone would expect or suspect to be an “assassin”.

Takina Inoue is an exceptional Lycoris with a strong sense of purpose and a penchant for perfection. Unfortunately, after an incident during a mission involving the act of insubordination which almost jeopardise her team, she got kicked out of the organization and transferred to a new base of operation, LycoReco, a cafe in disguise for ‘sleeper agents’.

Takina's new partner, Chisato Nishikigi, is the polar opposite of her, more easy-going person who appears to be not taking her job seriously when in reality she actually excels in her missions. Like Rurouni Kenshin who uses reverse blade sword to avoid killing, Chisato uses blank rounds to slow down her enemies instead of killing for a personal reason revealed later in the show.

Poster from Official Website

There are several other supporting characters that plays a critical role in Chisato’s and Takina’s lives that I find likeable, even the main villain who is like the Joker from The Dark Knight who is contempt in Japanese society’s complacency living in peace which he thinks is a facade as everyone has a dark side that is waiting to be released during times of uncertainty.

I was looking for an interesting anime to watch after Spy x Family and came across this trailer below which strikes me as a mix of action, seriousness and lighthearted moments. The interesting plot and cool uniforms aroused my curiosity into watching it and I am glad I did! Just wish it is more than 13 episodes! But I won’t be surprise if there’s another season in the future!

youtube

And I just can’t get enough of Chisato and Takina, their personalities and relationship reminds me a lot of Kukuru Misakino and Fuuka Miyazawa from the slice of life anime, The Aquatope on White Sands. One being lively and hot-headed while the other being calm and reserved. And they both learn a lot from each other along the way becoming the closest of friends.

#lycoris recoil #chisato nishikigi #takina inoue #chisato x takina #anime #japan #the aquatope on white sand #kukuru misakino #fuuka miyazawa #my review #spy x family #rurouni kenshin

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queerpunktomatoes · 1 month

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Bull Fucking Shit, Sir

Tumblr won't let me upload it — shocker. But here's the email I just got from the White House.

"Thank you for writing to me about the war between Israel and Hamas. On October 7, more than 1,300 innocent civilians were murdered in Israel—including American citizens—at the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas. We must always condemn terrorism when we see it. There is no justification for it—no excuse. But Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. It does not stand for the dignity of Palestinians. We mourn the many innocent Palestinians who have been killed. Many thousands of families in Gaza are suffering an escalating humanitarian crisis. That is why my Administration is working closely with partners to ensure that life-saving assistance—including food, water, and medicine—can urgently reach innocent Palestinians in Gaza. The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilians during conflict, and we will do everything possible to prevent the conflict from spreading across the region. As I have emphasized both publicly and with Israel’s leadership, all countries must uphold international humanitarian law. I will continue to work steadfastly with partners to pursue peace and a two-state solution so that the Israeli and the Palestinian people can both enjoy equal measures of security and dignity. Here at home, I have directed my team to identify, prevent, and disrupt any domestic threats that could emerge against Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, Jewish, or any other communities. There is no place for hate in America. Not against Muslims. Not against Arabs. Not against Palestinians. Not against Jews. Not against anybody. Under my Administration, the United States will continue to combat Islamophobia, antisemitism, and all forms of hate as we uphold the right of Americans to express themselves. And we will continue to hold in our hearts all the families across our country and around the world who are mourning the loss of a loved one—a piece of their soul—to this tragedy. Sincerely, Joe Biden."

#sociology student #joe biden #biden #president biden #gaza #free gaza #gazaunderattack #gaza genocide #genocide #palestine #palestinian genocide #palestinian lives matter #palestinian liberation #free palastine #palestinian resistance

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solidarishkeyt · 1 month

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As he stood in an Israeli military court, the Jewish revolutionary Ehud Adiv, said: “I am no terrorist; I believe that a democratic State should exist on this land.” Adiv now languishes in a Zionist prison among his co-believers. To him and his colleagues I send my heartfelt good wishes.

And before those same courts there stands today a brave prince of the church, Archbishop Capucci. Lifting his fingers to form the same victory sign used by our freedom-fighters, he said: “What I have done, I have done that all men may live on this land of peace in peace.” This princely priest will doubtless share Adiv’s grim fate. To him we send our salutations and greetings.

Why therefore should I not dream and hope? For is not revolution the making real of dreams and hopes? So let us work together that my dream may be fulfilled, that I may return with my people out of exile, there in Palestine to live with this Jewish freedom-fighter and his partners, with this Arab priest and his brothers, in one democratic State where Christian, Jew and Muslim live in justice, equality and fraternity.

Is this not a noble dream worthy of my struggle alongside all lovers of freedom everywhere? For the most admirable dimension of this dream is that it is Palestinian, a dream from out of the land of peace, the land of martyrdom and heroism, and history.

Let us remember that the Jews of Europe and the United States have been known to lead the struggles for secularism and the separation of Church and State. They have also been known to fight against discrimination on religious grounds. How can they then refuse this humane paradigm for the Holy Land? How then can they continue to support the most fanatic, discriminatory and closed of nations in its policy?

In my capacity as Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and commander of the Palestinian revolution I proclaim before you that when we speak of our common hopes for the Palestine of tomorrow we include in our perspective all Jews now living in Palestine who choose to live with us there in peace and without discrimination.

In my capacity as Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization I call upon Jews to turn away one by one from the illusory promises made to them by Zionist ideology and Israeli leadership. They are offering Jews perpetual bloodshed, endless war and continuous thraldom.

We invite them to emerge into a more open realm of free choice, far from their present leadership’s efforts to implant in them a Masada complex and make it their destiny.

We offer them the most generous solution—that we should live together in a framework of just peace in our democratic Palestine.

Yasser Arafat, “Palestine at the United Nations,” Journal of Palestine Studies 4, no. 2 (Winter 1975): 191.

I realize this citation may be confusing—I am citing the transcript of Yasser Arafat’s 1974 speech to the UN General Assembly as it appeared in the Journal of Palestine Studies.

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ofgentleresolve · 1 year

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verse: a knight is but a gentleman with a sword ( 3/??? )

reposted from my old blog on april 18th, 2022.

cw for human trafficking.

ANACHRON

n. a terrorist organization that under the guise of pushing humanity forward in the name of science and progress kidnaps scientists for a. their research and b. for manpower and brainpower to fuel their own projects.

Operating in the shadows, ANACHRON first set its eyes upon Shin Seonghun after he became a well-known figure within the time-traveling field. Initially posing as a potential benefactor for his research, ANACHRON quickly turned to their usual harsher means when Seonghun refused the offer to work for them.

Out of fear for the safety of their two sons, Myungsuk and Myungdae, Seonghun and his wife, Shin Chaeryeong moved the family to a remote part of Bristol, Great Britain. However, they wouldn’t remain hidden for long, for after a few years of peace, ANACHRON found them and kidnapped Seonghun and Chaeryeong, leaving the children to fend for themselves.

In the grasp of ANACHRON, Seonghun was forced to work on their projects and though he loathed the organization and feared for the safety of his wife ( and when ANACHRON took him, Myungsuk ), he found ANACHRON’s resources and help on time travel to be rather fruitful, much more than any other progress he had done before. However, much like the other scientists, he longed to be freed and had his wife and his child used to keep him in line. However, because he turned out to be one of their most competent scientists and needed him, Chaeyeong realized that ANACHRON couldn’t ever hurt either her or Myungsuk.

Knowing she had at least some kind of immunity, Chaeryeong sowed the seeds of rebellion and discord amongst the other captives. Under Seonghun’s nose, she and the other captives planned an uprising, one that would not only set them free but also bring ANACHRON to the light. However, during the uprising, a gas leak spilled, and in a sacrifice to save the others, Chaeryeong stopped the spill but also succumbed to an illness triggered by the gas leak. Several of the captives managed to escape, including Myungsuk, but ultimately, ANACHRON remained in tact.

Seonghun was devastated by not just Chaeryeong’s death, but also the disappearance of Myungsuk and at his most vulnerable, gave into the grief. He turned to his work to cope and from the kidnappee, he became the kidnapper. Leaning further into his work, he worked his way up the ranks in ANACHRON until he was the leader. With the organization in the palm of his hand, Seonghun repurposed its main goal ANACHRON to time travel.

ANACHRON still operates in the shadows, but thanks to Seonghun’s skillful maneuvering, they’ve also become a benefactor of sorts for many businesses and even non-profits. Many of these businesses are involved with white-collar crime, but many dips into crimes of other kinds as well. In exchange for money and resources, ANACHRON grants its partners legal immunity via connections with the courts, the police, and the government. Known for bribery of all kinds.

As a part of their philanthropist label, ANACHRON pours a lot of money in scientific research of any kind...they support scientists ( and professors too ) in their research via funding.

Still kidnapping whomever they think they’ll need for their work along with the kidnappee's families....ANACHRON has found that kidnapping more is better...specifically for the scientists, threatening to sell their loved ones into organ trafficking really makes them eager to work.

The businesses and non-profits ANACHRON supports also supply these victims. Either that or if the debt is not paid or an order is not followed, ANACHRON can and will start taking employees too....:/

#human trafficking cw #( about: a knight is but a gentleman with a sword. )#annnnd this is where the f* up idea starts :/#....going to give ta*xi driver and de*vil ju*dge credit here though

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beardedmrbean · 1 year

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Suspects arrested following a riot in downtown Atlanta have been charged with multiple misdemeanors and felonies, including domestic terrorism, according to police.

The Atlanta Police Department (APD) released the names of six suspects who were apprehended during the riot in the city on Saturday evening. Only one of the suspects was from Georgia.

Nadja Geier, 24, from Nashville Tennesee, Madeleine Feola, 22, from Spokane, Washington, Ivan Ferguson, 23, from Nevada, Graham Evatt, 20, from Decatur, Georgia, Francis Carrol, 22, from Kennebunkport, Maine and Emily Murphy, 37, from Grosse Isle, Michigan, were all charged in connection with the riot.

Atlanta police told Newsweek all the suspects face charges for domestic terrorism, second-degree criminal damage, first-degree arson, and interference with government property—all felonies.

They also face various misdemeanor charges.

The rioting drew condemnation from Republicans who branded those involved in the violence as left-wing terrorists.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) shared a Saturday Twitter post showing a video of the riot and added: "The Antifa/ BLM (Black Lives Matter) insurrection has been going on for years now."

Police did not tell Newsweek whether the protests were linked to a particular left-wing organization.

Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said that a protest on Saturday began peacefully but turned violent as a group in the crowd started to smash windows and attack police.

Schierbaum said the incident was quickly brought under control and that no police officers or bystanders were injured. Three businesses had their windows damaged.

He added: "It doesn't take a rocket scientist or an attorney to tell you that breaking windows or setting fires is not protesting, that is terrorism."

After police stopped the riot, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) said: "Atlanta is safe and our police officers have resolved disruptions downtown from earlier in the evening.

"The city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Department will continue to protect the right to peaceful protest. We will not tolerate violence or property destruction.

"I want to thank Atlanta's police officers, firefighters, 911 personnel, EMS, our law enforcement partners, and everyone else who keep our city safe."

Demonstrators gathered in Atlanta following the death of Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, 26, a protestor who was killed by Georgia State Troopers, according to Fox 5.

The troopers had been at Intrenchment Creek Park on Wednesday, a planned site for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a location critics have named "Cop City."

On December 14, five people were charged with terrorism charges at the location of the future training center.

Newsweek has contacted the APD for comment.

#nunyas news

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mariacallous · 8 months

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In a private letter delivered to the White House earlier this month, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq warned that Kurdistan—and Iraq’s post-2003 federal system—faces imminent collapse unless the United States intervenes. Masrour Barzani sent his extraordinary warning amid mounting political and economic challenges for the autonomous region and an increasingly belligerent government in Baghdad.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is important to U.S. interests in several ways. Its Peshmerga forces are key partners in the fight against the Islamic State and other extremist groups and crucial to the West’s counterterrorism efforts in both Iraq and Syria. The region has historically constituted a buffer against tumult and turmoil in the rest of Iraq, providing a safe haven for nearly 1 million internally displaced people and refugees, while also containing the ascension of militant Iran-backed militia groups responsible for conducting numerous attacks on Western forces.

However, with Washington now preoccupied by its intensifying rivalry with China and the war in Ukraine, little attention is being paid to Kurdistan. Sensing America’s focus is elsewhere, the KRG’s rivals, including militia groups designated as terrorists by the United States, have started circling. Kurdistan’s collapse would spell upheaval and chaos with implications stretching well beyond Iraq.

The KRG has endured a string of troubles in recent years. Soon after Barzani took office in 2019, his cabinet was confronted with a pandemic, a military escalation between the United States and Iran and its affiliated militias, and an economic crisis after oil revenues took a huge hit when crude prices plummeted in 2020.

Kurdistan has also been undermined by the rivalry between the two largest political parties, Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Their division weakened the Kurds’ bargaining power in Baghdad during negotiations over forming an Iraqi government after the 2021 parliamentary elections. Iran and its allies, including the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF)—the 200,000-strong umbrella militia organization—exploited Kurdish discord by allying with the PUK to expand their influence over the Iraqi state.

Iran-backed groups have also consolidated their control over the Iraqi judiciary, paving the way for a February 2022 ruling that Kurdish oil exports through Turkey were illegal. This influenced an international arbitration decision a year later that came to the same conclusion. Since then, Kurdish oil exports have stopped, crippling the region’s economy and impacting global energy markets—a win for the PMF and its hopes of neutering Kurdistan’s economic independence.

Earlier this month, Iran-aligned groups massacred Kurdish protesters in the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which Kurdish forces had withdrawn from in 2017 after the PMF mobilized its militias with federal government backing. As part of an agreement between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Barzani, the KDP was to return to a base in the city, but the PMF moved to torpedo this by blocking a highway connecting Kirkuk to Erbil and other Kurdish provinces in August. The disruption to the lives of people who rely on the highway daily prompted the protests. Following the massacre, the Federal Supreme Court in Baghdad, which is aligned with the PMF, suspended the order for the KDP’s return.

The divisions between the KDP and PUK have deeply undermined the KRG. Indeed, fraternal rivalry has been the Kurds’ Achilles’ heel for decades. Between 1994 and 1998, the two parties fought a civil war for control of the region, which was finally resolved through U.S. mediation. Their 1998 peace settlement paved the way for a strategic agreement that became the basis for Kurdistan’s golden era after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which gifted the Kurds outsized influence over the Iraqi state, expanded their autonomy, and precipitated an unprecedented economic boom.

While today’s rivalry represents a clash of personalities within a new generation of Kurdish leaders, it also reflects the two parties’ respective trajectories since 2003. The KDP owes much of its power to its long-standing organizational discipline, which has delivered it electoral success and allowed it to control the prime minister’s office since 2012. The PUK, on the other hand, has been factionalized almost since its inception in the 1970s. In 2021, Bafel Talabani launched a coup to oust his cousin Lahur as co-chair of the party and head of its counterterrorism and intelligence forces.

These violent dynamics have degraded the PUK’s ability to present a serious alternative to the KDP. Instead, it has opted for spoiler tactics, working with Iran-aligned groups in Baghdad to undermine its rival politically and economically. The PUK leadership regularly courts Iran-aligned individuals and factions sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, sometimes against the backdrop of missile and drone attacks on Kurdistan by these groups.

This raises serious questions for Washington and its relationship with the party, but also for the PUK itself. Looking to Iran and Baghdad may help the PUK reassert itself locally, but undermining Kurdistan as a whole to weaken the KDP is dangerously myopic since it relies on the good faith of the PMF, and it is potentially existential as it risks gambling the autonomy of Kurdistan in the long term.

Kurdish woes and Iranian encroachment into Kurdistan have far-reaching implications for U.S. interests. The KRG is a vital ally in the campaign to secure the enduring defeat of the Islamic State. Intra-Kurdish divisions, Iran’s attempts to subjugate the Iraqi state, and Kurdistan’s economic turmoil all undermine the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State and empower Iranian-backed militant groups designated by Washington as terrorists. The U.S. base in Erbil province is one of Washington’s most important military bases and listening posts in the Middle East, serving as a special operations hub and a staging site for operations in both Iraq and Syria.

The very presence of this base requires a political order that is conducive to maintaining the U.S.-KRG partnership, something Iran is hoping to weaken and, eventually, demolish by instrumentalizing the PUK. Iran has proved willing to play the long game to supplant the United States in Kurdistan, as it has done in Baghdad over the past two decades.

Washington must, therefore, step in to pressure the PUK into ending its collusion with Tehran. The PUK and its leadership risk breaching U.S. sanctions that are designed to inhibit the capabilities of the designated Iran-aligned groups and officials the PUK partners with.

These sanctions could underscore an effort by Washington to establish red lines for the PUK, both to contain Iran’s encroachment and to protect the credibility of its sanctions infrastructure. Washington must also discourage the PUK from threatening to return Kurdistan to the dual administrative structure of the 1990s, which would effectively dissolve the autonomy of Kurdistan and its hard-won rights under the 2005 Iraqi constitution. This system saw the two ruling parties govern their stronghold provinces as two separate administrations and empowered Iraq’s neighbors, while undermining U.S. strategic interests in Iraq and the region.

Regional actors such as Turkey can also be brought into play. Ankara has escalated its drone attacks on the fighters and affiliates of the Turkish-Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who have found refuge in Sulaymaniyah, the PUK’s stronghold province. That has destabilized the province and added to the party’s woes, despite the PUK’s efforts to discourage further strikes.

The PUK cannot force the PKK to withdraw, since this would trigger a violent conflict, but it can ill afford further Turkish attacks. However, it could strike a bargain with Ankara premised on a commitment to end its collusion with the PMF, which has PKK affiliates within its ranks. This would ensure that the PUK no longer directly or indirectly enables the PKK. It diminishes Iran’s influence, alleviates Turkish apprehensions, and reduces the geopolitical tensions that result from Turkish incursions.

Moreover, Washington has failed to resist or condemn Baghdad’s punitive measures against the KRG’s economy, which have been engineered by Iran-aligned groups through the subjugation of the judiciary in Baghdad. The suspension of Kurdistan’s oil exports has also stopped 500,000 barrels per day of Kurdish oil from reaching global markets: some 10 percent of Iraq’s total exports, or 0.5 percent of global production. This has reverberations well beyond the region; Europe has relied increasingly on Kurdish oil since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The U.S. has so far been a bystander to both the intra-Kurdish escalation and Iran’s encroachment. Washington may believe that these problems are internal Kurdish matters, but this is a mistake. The ascension of the PMF and, therefore, its ability to exploit Kurdish discord can be directly tied to the legacy of U.S. engagement in Iraq over the past two decades, including Washington’s acquiescence to the group’s takeover of Kirkuk in 2017.

The KRG has proved resilient, but this has its limits. A full collapse of the region’s economy would ultimately force it to capitulate to Iran. In practice, this means giving Iran a greater say over the contours of the KRG’s institutions, its armed forces, borders, and, most importantly, the future of the U.S. base in Erbil.

Preventing this would require the United States to mediate intra-Kurdish tensions to unify Kurdish ranks in Baghdad to protect the KRG’s autonomy and restore its budgetary entitlements and its right to electorally contest disputed territories such as Kirkuk without being subjected to the coercive tactics of the PMF—while maintaining a healthy democratic rivalry at home.

If Washington is serious about safeguarding its interests, it could start by convincing the PUK that its best hope of reversing its decline is by addressing its internal crisis, and not by turning to Iran—a self-defeating exercise. The PUK will struggle to match the KDP’s political supremacy: At best, it can hope to slow its rival’s ascension. At worst, its collusion with Iran gambles the fates of both the party and Sulaymaniyah.

Secondly, the U.S. could focus its mediation on Kurdistan’s gas reserves, potentially addressing global shortages in the long term while propping up the KRG’s economy. The KDP has the political and constitutional legitimacy to move the sector forward and attract investors—but gas reserves are located primarily in PUK-controlled areas.

The U.S. could encourage dialogue over developing these gas fields and securing Kurdistan’s position in what the International Energy Agency has described as a “golden age” of natural gas. It is precisely here—at home, and not in Baghdad or Tehran—where the PUK, with U.S. support, can push for its economic stake through a comprehensive arrangement with the KDP that includes a revenue-sharing agreement.

Such a transactional engagement could be a stepping stone toward a wider settlement. The PUK blames the KDP for hoarding revenues and the fact that Sulaymaniyah has lagged behind other provinces, but that argument is weakened when Sulaymaniyah’s degradation is a reflection of the degradation of the PUK.

The correlation is not coincidental. By continuing with its current path, the PUK risks detaching Sulaymaniyah’s 700,000 inhabitants from the economic transformation being led by Barzani, which will only add to the frustration of its supporters. That reform agenda could rescue Kurdistan from dependence on oil by diversifying the economy, improving efficiency, and promoting good governance.

The alternative for the United States—standing by and watching the collapse of the KRG—would be a disaster for Iraq’s Kurds and for U.S. interests in the region. The KRG’s fate will play an important role in determining the contours of the wider Middle East.

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ahaan10723014 · 8 months

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Russia is finally turning into an unreliable partner

The "new Karabakh war" lasted just over a day.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been dragging on for several decades and has claimed thousands of lives during this time. This enmity is too deeply ingrained. During the last conflict in 2020, in order to stopthe bloodshed in Nagorno-Karabakh, the heads of Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the mediation of Russia, signed a joint statement. The final internationalagreement was never signed, because the parties could not agree on the fate of more than 100 thousand residents of Karabakh, who are ethnic Armenians. Under the terms of the agreement concluded at that time, the Armenian side lost significant territories of Nagorno-Karabakh and all the occupied areas around it, and Russian peacekeepers entered Karabakh to monitor how the ceasefire was observed.

On September 19, 2023, another aggravation began in Nagorno-Karabakh. Baku announced the start of "local anti-terrorist measures" and demanded the withdrawal of the military, including the Armenian armed forces, from the region. The presence of Russian peacekeepers did not prevent Baku. Azerbaijan said it was a reaction to "a series of large-scale military provocations and terrorist attacks" by Armenian forces. The Armenian Foreign Ministry, in turn, called Baku's actions a large-scale aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh "in order to complete the policy of ethnic cleansing."

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan confirmed that hostilities will be suspended if the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic surrenders all weapons, heavy equipment and all military personnel withdraw from combat positions.

On September 20, the unrecognized republic agreed to lay down arms and disband armed units in order to begin negotiations with Baku. The delegation of the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh went to the Azerbaijani Yevlakh for the meeting announced the day before on the "issue of reintegration, ensuring the rights and security of Armenians."

The most interesting comment on the next escalation of the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh was given by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova. According to her, Russia proceeds from the fact that its "main task will be to ensure the safety of its own peacekeepers and is assigned to the conflicting parties."

What are the specific functions of Russian peacekeepers? Oneof the main goals of the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh is the security of civil society. The functioning of the Lachin corridor should have been guaranteedby Russian peacekeepers. However, this did not happen, in fact, Azerbaijan controls this corridor, it is still closed for the import of goods, which creates a very difficult situation for the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The level of Russia's hypocrisy is difficult to assess, Russia itself started the largest war in Europe, but along the way calls on everyone for peace. Another armed escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region shows that the Russian peacekeeping mission in the region is incapable and unnecessary. The statements of the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, that the Russian peacekeepers did not know about the operation until recently, clearly demonstrate the real authority of the Russian Federation in the region.

Hopes for Russia's guarantees melted away with the beginning of Russian aggression in Ukraine. If immediately after the "second Karabakh war" in 2020, the command of the peacekeepers made efforts to establish a dialogue between the parties, then later they came to naught. Weakened, bogged down in the war in Ukraine, Russia cannot fulfill its direct obligations to its allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). This organization has long lost its raison d'être. Why should countries enter into this fictitious alliance if in the event of a conflict they will be left alone with themselves? Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan has already stated that the country's presence in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, in fact, led by Russia, creates "certain problems" for it, so it is important for Yerevan to cooperate with Western partners on security issues. "Since 2020, there have been three large-scale attacks on Armenia by Azerbaijan, in which the CSTO has not provided any assistance to Armenia," he said.

The Kremlin is finally turning into an unreliable partner, Putin can no longer be a guarantor of anything. The CSTO, the "Russian analogue of NATO", is in fact disintegrating. It is obvious that Russia will not protect anyone, but will abandon it at a crucial moment. And this is at best, because all that neighbors can expect from Russia is aggression.

#russian aggression #escalation #nagornokarabakh #mission impossible

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eddieydewr · 10 months

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standwithus is not “non-partisan” they’re literally classified as right wing even amongst zionist sociologists. the creator of the organization believes that any criticism of the israeli government should be condemned and that to be pro israel you must dogmatically support the actions of the government. they teach people that palestinian refugees exist not because of forceful displacement, but because of a war arab people started themselves (this is also what noah’s new bff moti believes). and when does standwithus ever mention palestinians on their page unless to call to put “palestinian terrorists” in bold red font or tell people to boycott BDS? john hagee is a key partner of SWU, and he’s a homophobic, racist, islamophobic antisemite who said hitler was a gift from god. (here’s an article from the jewish anti zionist org jewish for peace https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2018/10/ccpfisraelilobby/).

you are absolutely right that there are thousands of years of jewish culture. which makes reducing judaism down to the state of israel a stupid conflation. there’s no denying that jewish people have a connection to the land. there is absolutely zero issue with jewish people having historically lived in, visited, or worshipped in the region for much of history before the occupation. the issue comes with an establishment of a european led settler ethnostate and the displacement and incremental genocide/ethnic cleansing of the population that was living there. israel is a white supremacist apartheid state and this is both reflected in the genocide of palestinians and the national oppression that non-ashkenazi jewish people face in israel (https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/zionism/). not only does tourism fund this project, it propagandizes it.

birthright is an indoctrination trip and fundamentally problematic. noah wasn’t on birthright based on what i know, but he was on another free sponsored trip where many of the same issues with birthright remain true (https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2017/10/returnthebirthright-faq/ ).

palestinians aren’t the only people who are being murdered everyday, but why are we minimizing or normalizing the fact that they’re living under actual apartheid because of the israeli state? would it be okay or normal for somebody to have gone to apartheid south africa and called johannesburg their “happy place”? get real. celebrities regularly get all expense paid trips to israel and sell an image of israel that’s a whitewashed paradise. in a world where israel already gets billions of dollars in international support to fund their army that brutalizes palestinian existence and suppresses palestinian resistance, this isn’t an innocuous thing.

i’m just confused bc there are conflicting views about SWU. the zionist organization of america, for example, thinks SWU is too liberal and pro-palestine, more or less lol. i can provide a link if you want a source. also, there’s the whole thing with whether anti-zionism is antisemitism, and i’m not qualified nor an expert to answer that. i’ve been reading up on some stuff but it seems like there’s no clear answer.

this moti guy does seem firm in his convictions. but we don’t know if noah is actually close friends with him or agrees with his views. i doubt it but if he does, then that is something he’ll have to contend with. he is young, he’ll learn. anyway, i honestly think moti and the woman (rachel kay?) were the group leaders, more or less, and the boys noah were with seem to attend UPenn too.

i agree it is insensitve and ignorant to refer to israel as one’s happy place. we don’t know noah, so we don’t know what he means by it. he could be happy that he’s finally out of the closet and getting to hang out with people like him while connecting with his heritage and culture. i don’t think he meant any malice. btw, i did not mean to normalise or minimise what is happening in palestine, nor would i want to, so i apologise for that. i understand what you’re saying but there were people who enjoyed themselves in south africa during the apartheid. musicians for example, they performed gigs there. i can provide a source for that too.

again, we don’t know noah. and we can disagree on this but i don’t think he’s malicious. he likes travelling and exploring - which he often documents on insta and tiktok. and he has the opportunity rn since ST production is on hiatus due to the strike. he must be bored stiff and i don’t think he’s due back at college yet.

anon, thank you for your insights and nuance. i really do appreciate it. and thanks for the links too, i’ll have a look.

#noah schnapp #also that hagee guy is a proper weirdo lmao idk if noah knew about him. but then again - something he’ll have to contend with

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