i feel like this goes without saying but just for the record my annual eurovision posting is obviously not happening tomorrow. i was originally going to pirate it and just not post about it at all, but after all the bullshit svt and the ebu have been pulling i don't even want to watch it illegally. fuck all of that bullshit. i will be following the news cause i am very curious to see what's gonna happen, especially because i think israel is very likely to win, which makes sense since unfortunately you can't vote against anyone and MOST anti-israel people are boycotting and so it stands to reason that all the pro-israel assholes will vote as much as they can to make a point about how pro genocide they are.

if you are watching still (illegally i hope! don't give them streams! and don't vote!) you can still send me asks about it but i probably won't post them unless it's specifically anti israel/pro palestine

i delusionally do hope one day we'll be able to watch eurovision again, but as long as israel (and a couple of other countries if we're being real) are in it it's not fucking worth it. and even if they do ban israel, if they don't replace the entire board currently at the ebu, or at least whoever is pushing this bullshit if somehow it's not all of them, i'm out lol. and that sucks so fucking bad because eurovision has been one of my main sources of joy since i was like six years old. but it's not fucking worth it.

sorry if this isn't a good place to ask but you're one of the few blogs on here that has actually done any research at all on the subject and. yknow how the pro-palestine donation posts repeatedly give you the option to buy esims specifically. why is that? I've never seen any other movement where the donation posts had you buy esims for them. what fucking use *are* they? you can't eat them, drink them- you might be able to order food with them if it wasn't for the fucking war.

maybe this is cynicism on my part but i genuinely suspect they're being used by hamas to spread propaganda. why else would they need that many esims? but you definitely know more about this than i do.

Hi lovely, sorry it took me a moment to reply!

I can tell you that even before I got this ask, the eSims campaign struck me as odd and suspicious, based on a few basic things I know, but if I was going to reply to you on this, I needed to do some research about it.

To make this ask reply clear, by "connectivity" I mean the ability to either make phone calls, log onto the internet, or both.

Okay, so why did this campaign make me wonder in the first place? Because while there have been some connectivity problems for Gazans, from what I know, there was only one time when connectivity was down to a degree that would justify a campaign, even then it wasn't completely gone for good, because Israel has worked to restore connectivity to Gazans. But I also wondered whether, if the connectivity is down, an eSim would be the solution? And if it would be, why would there be a need for that many eSims? We're over 5.5 months into this war, that's almost half a year of constantly hearing how Gaza is about to starve, so are eSims really Gazans' biggest problem if they have no food and basic needs? But even if it was enough of a problem to merit a campaign, wouldn't there have been more than enough donations by now to have solved it to a considerable degree? Since connectivity was never fully gone for long, surely there's a limit to how many more eSims they actually need, at least at certain points in time? From my experience with donating to Israelis displaced or affected by Palestinian terrorists (in this war, as well as during previous crises), there does come a time when you hear, "Okay, thank you to everyone donating X, we have enough of that, what we need now is more of Y, we would really appreciate you donating that!" But there has been no moment when we saw the eSims campaign saying, "We've had enough donations of this type, thank you, now please look more into donating X or Y, which Gazans currently need more."

And that led me to another question - if there is a certain scam involved here, what kind? Is it a financial one? Is this just meant to get money from the rest of the world feeling bad for Palestinians, and beyond the financial theft, it's harmless? Or is the money going to Hamas and people affiliated with it, which means it might be financing terrorism and the continuation of killing? Or maybe the scam is in allowing Hamas terrorists connectivity that can't be tracked as easily by Israeli security forces, which are trying to avert terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians?

I am not the biggest expert, so I don't have all the answers, but here's what I have managed to figure out.

So, first of all, connectivity requires physical infrastructure. Israel has been providing that for Gaza for years, in the form of underground cables and cellular antennas positioned on both sides of Israel's border with Gaza (source in Hebrew). The Oct 7 massacre initiated by Hamas and the following war have at times physically damaged this infrastructure, which is why Gaza has had less connectivity than usual (though it's not gone). The one time which was the worst, in terms of connectivity, the internet (but not all connectivity) was down from Friday, until Israel managed to fix things on Sunday (link above is the source for all this, it's an article from Oct 31, 2023. That said, Oct is when the most connectivity issues were reported). That means that Gaza was never fully offline except for that short period of Friday to Sunday. It also means the connectivity issues are not some plot to keep Gazans from telling the world about their plight (the way I've seen the eSims campaign presented on social media), or the connectivity would be totally down, and Israel would not do anything to restore it at any point.

And I'm pointing this out to explain one of two reasons why eSims being bought for Gazans might be useless as a solution to Gaza's connectivity if Israel was actually purposely harming it. (this following part is based on me reading way too many articles about eSim technology, those can be easily found everywhere online)

If the physical infrastructure providing the signal (which mobile networks use to provide connectivity) is physically damaged, eSim technology can't bypass that. Because eSim technology doesn't provide the signal, it just allows the owner of an eSim to easily switch between mobile networks without having to switch physical SIMs provided by these networks. That means, that for the eSim to work, there has to be some connectivity anyway. There also has to be connectivity in the first place in order to activate the eSim program paid for by someone outside Gaza (not to mention, they'd need connectivity to get the code, and learn that they're getting an eSim, and how to activate it). If Israel really was intentionally cutting off Gaza's connectivity by shutting down the physical infrastructure, as it's being presented online, eSims would be completely useless. You wouldn't be able to activate them, and you wouldn't have a signal that allowed you to use them. A campaign that misrepresents the basic facts (as if Israel is intentionally denying Gazans connectivity, or as if eSims can provide connectivity all on their own) is suspect to me.

The other reason why eSims wouldn't be a solution for many (if not most) Gazans, even if you do have connectivity, is that it also requires you to have an eSim compatible smartphone. The 'e' in eSim stands for 'embedded.' That means the technology that allows the use of eSims has to be embedded into the phone you're using, and then you can buy and activate an eSim. If you buy an eSim and wanna use it with a smartphone that doesn't have the required technology embedded, that's a bit like buying a wireless charger to use with an older phone that can only be charged through a cable (it just doesn't have the technology embedded that allows it to connect to and be charged by a wireless charger). The technology allowing the use of eSims has only been embedded in more recent phone models, which Gazans are less likely to have.

Regarding that last point, I wanna explain that, as mentioned in the above Hebrew link, before the war Gaza's mobile networks were all operating on 3G technology, even though most phones now operate on 4G or even 5G technology, which means it wouldn't be worth it for the average Gazan to invest in buying a newer phone, which is presumably more expensive than an older model. Especially if it's one that can't even connect to the older 3G network.

That's not to say there wouldn't be any Gazans with newer phones. The myth spread before the war for years called Gaza a 'concentration camp' or 'open air prison' as if people there have nothing (which makes vids comparing Gaza before and after the war particularly ironic. Either there was nothing before the war, and then the war didn't change much, or Gaza was a beautiful, thriving place before the war, and then calling it a 'concentration camp' was a Holocaust distorting lie). Here's the truth, there were indeed many Gazans who were poor and didn't have that much. But there were also Gazans who were extremely rich, the gap there was one of the biggest in the world. A lot of Israelis are familiar with the Twitter hashtag that documented wealth and luxury in Gaza before the war, TheGazaYouDontSee. It was based on an Arabic speaking Israeli Jewish woman following the social media accounts of actual Gazans, and sharing in English what they would upload, showing stuff like resorts, hotels, luxury cars that most Israelis I know can't afford. You know, typical concentration camp stuff. You'd have to scroll back in the hashtag a bit to find those older tweets from before the war, some have been captured and shared on Tumblr as well.

Where does the gap come from? Not all of it, but a big part is about who is in Hamas (and who isn't), who's affiliated with Hamas (and who's not), who gets some of the donated billions of dollars being poured into Gaza over the years and mostly stolen by Hamas, who gets some of the money coming from Qatar, who gets some of the money coming from Iran, and so on. In other words, the poverty that existed in Gaza before, existed despite how much money was being invested in it for years, and because of Hamas and Hamas-related thieves, making a profit out of it, while keeping sections of the Gazan population poor and without aid.

BTW, if there would have been a permanent ceasefire now, this would just be replicated. The world would donate more money than ever, and Hamas would steal almost all of it, with a big chunk going to the financing of terrorism (building terror tunnels we now know are more extensive than the NYC subway or the London tube, stocking up on rockets, drones, explosives, assault rifles, RPGs and more, which allow Hamas to continue to fight the strongest army in the Middle East and target innocent Israeli civilians for over 5.5 months) and the rest lining up their own pockets, enabling them to lead a VERY nice, comfortable, even luxurious life.

So which Gazans are the most likely to have eSim compatible smartphones? The rich ones, who are in or associated with Hamas.

And that brings me to the question of what's the real purpose of the eSims campaign.

One aspect could be the propaganda value of such a campaign. They're not just repeatedly asking people to donate money for eSims, many posts are asking for it, while insisting on the vilifying lie that Israel is keeping Gaza disconnected on purpose. It's a bit like the boycott campaign. Starbucks is not actually affiliated with Israel or Israeli policy, it doesn't even have any branches in Israel, it tried in the past, but had to close here. So why in the world would it finance anything Israeli? When an Israeli Prime Minister has to decide whether to finish off Hamas, so that hundreds of thousands of Israelis can safely return to their homes in southern Israel, he's not calling a chain of cafes that doesn't even sell anything in this country. The only current sort-of-link to Israel, is that the CEO is Jewish. So if Starbucks is boycotted and takes a financial hit, that has zero influence on Israel or its policies. Why then has Starbucks been targeted? Maybe partly because of the CEO, which is antisemitic. But most likely, it's because Starbucks is an easy to spot brand when pics of celebs are being taken, which allows people to talk about the boycott. And that's the value, it's a PR move, to get it into everyone's head that anyone associated with Israel should be canceled. To repeat it constantly regarding different celebs, until the message gets through, that the biggest monster in this world, and the one state that everyone should be united against, is the Jewish one.

The financial aspect. Again, I'm not a big expert, but I can't really see how, if people are being asked to pay eSim providers directly, this would be done for financial gain. I could be wrong, maybe there is some way to funnel the money to the people in the campaign instead of regular Gazans, but on the surface at least, I'm not sure how (since they're not asking for the receipts, just the activation code). It could still be about financial gain in the sense that the eSims aren't providing connectivity when the physical infrastructure is down, but they mean some Gazans haven't had to pay for their internet for a while. Which ones? Most likely, the ones in or affiliated with Hamas. I personally do not like the idea of terrorists launching a massacre that is the opening shot of a war, relying on all the donations they can steal after the end of the war to make it worth while, and then as a perk getting their internet paid for by strangers.

Then there's the direct value to Hamas, meaning the option that the campaign is meant to directly help Hamas' terrorist activity, or terrorist goals. Meaning, not only are the eSims going to people who are in or have connections to Hamas, the codes are sent to them specifically to aid them with harming Israel.

Why am I considering this option? For one thing, because we know that since the start of the war, Hamas terrorists inside Gaza have been directing terrorist activity outside of it. One example is a Palestinian terrorist squad, which was directed from Gaza, and was thankfully stopped before they managed to carry out the attack they were planning, and here's another similar example, of a terrorist squad made up of 13 Israeli Arabs, and directed from Gaza on how to carry out mass terrorist attacks, stopped thanks to documents the IDF found while operating inside Gaza. An attack that was successfully carried out and was confirmed as directed from Gaza, is the one where terrorists shot to death several people in Jerusalem, during what was supposed to be a truce between Israel and Hamas, during which Israeli hostages would be released (I heard this recently on TV, online I sadly only managed to find a source that these terrorists had a track record of being directed from Gaza). These terrorist directives from Gaza require connectivity, preferably of the type that Israeli security can't track.

And we do know that our forces do track Hamas cellular activity. For example, we've learned that on Oct 6, Israel discovered weird cellular activity in Gaza, where a lot of Hamas terrorists were activating (physical) Israeli SIMs, allowing them to connect to local networks once inside Israel. This led to a discussion of Israeli army seniors in the middle of the night, on whether this is a sign that something's up, but eventually it was concluded that Hamas terrorists have done this before, so the alarm was (unfortunately) not raised, and the massacre wasn't prevented. In other words, it's possible that eSims can help Gazan Hamas terrorists to direct terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians outside Gaza, and it's also possible that, when Hamas is continuously trying to breach the Israeli border, an eSim could help them if they make it into Israel, by not needing to activate an Israeli SIM, detectable by Israeli security. IDK that this is the intent, but for me personally, I would prefer to err on the side of caution, and be sure that I haven't unknowingly donated an eSim, that might have assissted in the murder of an innocent civilian.

I also mentioned directly aiding Hamas' terrorist goals, not just their activity. This terrorist organization dared launch its massacre, despite knowing the Israeli reaction would be fierce (as any country's would be if its citizens would have been so extremely brutalized), because it relied on using regular Gazans as human shields, then showing the world horror pictures, which would get everyone distressed enough, that they would overlook the massacre, and Hamas' vow to repeat it, and focus on demanding an immediate ceasefire, saving Hamas from being destroyed. We know Hamas uses "journalists," and some of these "journalists" are actual terrorists (generally, there's no free press in Gaza thanks to Hamas) and others to broadcast this narrative of horrors (that if successful, would lead to greater horrors). The eSims campaign has mentioned specifically providing connectivity to journalists, which means serving the ability of Hamas to go on inundating the world with images that fit the narrative it needs the world to believe, in order to save itself, and continue carrying out terrorist attacks (or God forbid, massacres).

Here's the relevant citation from the campaign site, which highlights providing Gaza "journalists" with eSims:

I'm not gonna tell anyone what to do with their money, but I'll repeat my personal POV. I do think we're all responsible for the money we donate, and we can't just give it away to causes that will make us feel good about ourselves, without making sure that the money won't end up in the hands of terrorists, and do real harm. The latter is our responsibility, even if we didn't know it will go to terrorists, because we should check and make sure that we know who the money goes to. The first responsibility we all have is, "Do no evil," right? Even the least awful scenario of what might be the driving force behind the campaign, is still one that financially compensates people affiliated with Hamas, and contributes to a false demonization of the Jewish State. But at the end of the day, this is an individual choice, that each person has to make for themselves.

I hope my reply helps! Sorry for the length, and hoping that you are doing well, and taking care of yourself! xoxox

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

hello lindi! i've been following you since you were starting out pulse, and it's been an honour to see you grow both as an artist and as a person⏤the way you approach sociopolitical issues with strength and optimism is simply incredible, and it teaches me a lot about my relationship with activism as well.

in that vein, i wanted to ask a question. on twitter, i've seen people asking others to completely cut down on posting personal art or about special interests and focus 100% on talking about palestine for the whole week. while i am doing it the best i can, i have some reservations and doubts about this approach of striking, especially since it's not a sentiment i'm seeing on any other social media platform or even on different twitter communities.

i just wanted to get your opinion on this⏤do you think it's effective or necessary? i fear i may be being too pessimistic about it, which is the last thing i want to do.

thank you always, i hope these asks aren't wearing on you.

hello anon :) It inspires a lot of awe in me that you're still here after four (five?) years - i'm extremely honoured and humbled to have earned your patronage for so long.

for the twitter/social media strike, I have the stance where I don't think the message for palestine is dampened by people still posting about their special interests, mainly for a few reasons.

While it would have been incredibly powerful to have a general posting blackout besides pro-palestine messages, it was never going to realistically happen. There are people who aren't online who won't learn about the strike until it's too late, people who maintain a main and an alt and only post fandom stuff on the alt (which is private or has 12 followers so who cares, they'll post their genshin husbands), people who just prioritise their escapism over anything else. I can't hold it against them too, because trying to impose a "you can ONLY post about palestine" decree (even for just a week) will breed resentment in droves, which i think would make the movement lose steam incredibly fast. For most people, social media is escapism. It's a privilege afforded to those who can turn off their phone, or close a tab and leave all the horrors behind. But at the end of the day, we all do it, and to some extent I think that balance is necessary so that you stay sane. Activism is a lifestyle, not a brief stint, where balance has to be maintained to make sure you can do as much as you can for as long as you can.

You kind of have to realise that nobody can reach through a screen and police someone's social media use or thoughts. I've been observing the general rules of the strike, but to be fair I'm in the boat where that's not very different to how I've been posting for the past few months anyway, so it's no big sacrifice on my part. There are people out there on social media right now who deserve shame for their "escapism". The type to proudly boast about muting words like "palestine", "israel", "genocide" - they're callous, and cruel, and lonely souls searching for a brief high in attention and outrage. But I am seeing people on my feed observe the strike, I am seeing more resources about Palestine, I am seeing dipshits get shamed. The strike's goal to push Palestine resources to the forefront of the feed, to get it trending, has (so far) been working.

So...this was longwinded but - tldr; we were always gonna have people who prioritised their fandom over a genocide so you can't really be too disappointed by it (well, you can, but I'm not since it's just a "*shrug* that's how most people are"-type situation) but there are people who are observing the strike halfway and people who are doing it all the way and they're lifting us all up, so the strike's call to action did work and is currently doing what it's supposed to.

Do you live in Israel or are you just from there? If you do live there, is it scary to be pro-Palestine? I am kind of unclear on what the long-term plan would be when we free Palestine and that seems like the sort of thing you would know, can you help me out? Would settlers continue to live there?

I live in Israel, yeah.

It can be... Isolating. Sad. Horrifying. I lost friends, I can't speak to family members. Scary is... I don't know if that's the word?

Living in a reality of violence is scary, and I do have trauma from the things I experienced. Thunder sounds too much like explosions, if I don't expect it I can get panic attacks just from that. But being pro-Palestine isn't really a factor there.

Yesterday I spoke to an Israeli Palestinian and we spoke about Gaza. We spoke about how I'm worried for several people I personally talked to, how I'm worried for their families and friends and all the fear and grief they're dealing with, how he's been crying every day. We talked about how unnecessary this all is. About how "getting rid of Hamas" is such a useless goal when the destruction will just create the next generation of fighters, and we're killing so many people and ruining so many lives for nothing. We both have children and talked about how we can't imagine having to starve just to make sure the bits of food we have go to them, because children succumb to death from starvation and dehydration first.

He told me, "If a police officer heard us now, we'd both be arrested." He told me he wants to keep his head down, make money to take care of his children, go back home, live his life. And he told me "You know how strong the racism is, because they're racist to you for caring about us." And I wouldn't really put it in these terms, they're not racist to me. But I'm in the splash zone, in a way, by positioning myself close to Palestinians through sympathy and through trying to align myself with their liberation as best I can. And I do feel it. I'm worried about how I might get treated sometimes. It can impact so many things in my life.

But the person I talked to, being in his position is scary.

Me, I'm heartbroken. I'm furious. Seriously, I'm so fucking angry. Not really scared. That's privilege, I guess.

I'm not sure I can answer that too well. Palestinians write about what liberation looks like for them, and my reading process is very slow. So I can't give you any clarity.

If I'm speculating, I'd imagine Palestinians will want their lands back. I don't think we should get to just keep what we stole. This doesn't mean there will be no place for us at all. But I'd imagine a lot of things will have to change and move.

I mean, I spoke to a person from Gaza and I told him what city I live in. He didn't say "Get out of there, how dare you." He said something along the lines of, "I wish I could visit. My close friend is from there. He should have been your neighbor."

The desire to visit came up in conversations with multiple people, it genuinely breaks my heart.

Obviously I can't control what the solution will look like, and the long term will depend on so many factors. But conversations like this one are where I get my picture of what I should be aiming for, if that makes sense. Until I read what I need to and I'm better informed about what Palestinians want this to look like.

Hey, sorry if this is a weird question but. I was wondering if you knew of any blogs specifically for responding to/arguing against leftist antisemitism? I want to be a good ally to Jewish people, but also I Am Not Immune To Propaganda and sometimes I just don't quite notice the implications, you know?

There's been a few posts going around recently, where there's screenshots with the water filter, and someone responding to them like "yeah this is actually pretty fucked up for x and y reasons". Those have been really helpful because, while some of them are much more obviously antisemitic, some of them I'm not sure I would've noticed, and now I'm a bit better educated. That's the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Again, sorry if this is a weird question, and I hope you have a good day!

none that i'd recommend tbh? i feel like laser focusing on something can get to the point of seeing it everywhere, and there's also a risk of becoming reactionary abt it if that makes sense. the blogs i do rec are mainly other jews' blogs, especially the ones you've prob seen me rb from.

my main rec for recognizing leftist antisemitism is familiarizing yourself with antisemitic tropes. some of the most common ones you'll see:

Blood libel: Originated in medieval Christian Europe, spread throughout Afroeurasia and persists today. The accusation that Jews kidnap gentile (Orig. Christian) children to do nefarious things (Orig. and still relatively commonly "blood rituals" or "taking their blood to use in making Matzah") with. You'll see this often alongside "Jews rule the world" antisemitism.

Jews rule the world/Zionist-occupied government/Evil Cabals: What it says on the tin. If you see some shit about how "Oh isn't it SUSPICIOUS how many billionaires/millionaires/rich people are Jewish?" or "The ZIONIST-CONTROLLED MEDIA is suppressing this!", that's a variant on this canard.

Khazar theory: Antisemitic pseudoscientific theory that Ashkenazi Jews aren't ackshually descended from the Judeans who were forcibly exiled from our homeland, but instead descended from Turkic Khazars who converted to Judaism. Easily disproven by actual genetic studies that show that uh yeah all ethnically Jewish folks, Ashkies included, are descended from common ancestors that originated in the Levant. Also Yiddish is derived from, y'know, not Turkic languages. There are definitely Khazar Jews, but they make up a small number of an already small population. Variants you'll probably see of this are basically anything saying that Ashkies are somehow less Jewish than other Jews, that we're all White People (Jewish connection to Whiteness is Complicated) who have no connection to the Levant, How Could Ashkenazim Be From There When Some Of Them Are BLONDE?, etc. Shit like that.

stalin shit: a lot of modern leftist antisemitism has its roots in soviet antisemitism, which used "zionist" as another word for "jew" in order to pretend to not be antisemitic. people still do that today. if you see a post where "zionist" can be replaced with "jew" and it reads word-for-word like a classic antisemitic trope, well, you know. don't trust anyone who stans stalin (or modern russia to be honest. tankies (derogatory)).

this is non-exhaustive ofc. here are also blogs i recommend blocking asap (with / in their names to inhibit name-searching); they're all in the same far-left antisemitic atrocity apologist circle (i.e. assad stans, putin stans, holodomor deniers, uyghur oppression deniers, CCP stans, houthi stans, etc):

her/ita/gep/osts (north korea stan, which is fucking insane. beloved tumblr funnyman who implicitly blames jews for the actions of the israeli govt in multiple gross posts and has targeted multiple jewish bloggers, prompting mass harassment)

ko/ms/om/ol/ka (nasty character all around. claimed she was banned for being pro-palestine, it's actually prob because she's been reported before for being a fucking racist antisemitic freak lmao)

tx/tt/le/ta/le (ew)

bre/nda/nic/us (happily antisemitic. homophobic too, as a treat i guess)

blo/g/lik/ea/ne/gyp/tian (egyptian nationalist. don't ask her what happened to cairo's jews. makes nasty posts that outright state that jews should feel guilty for current events ON JEWISH HOLIDAYS.)

whe/nma/gic/fil/led/the/air (infamously antisemitic. block.)

a-si/ent-/ecli/pse ("Happy Holocaust Memorial Day")

ara/bia/n-k/nig/ht (extremely and openly antisemitic kid. just, like, don't engage)

nat/ive/ne/ws (tweet screenshots aren't news. loooooves spreading disinfo and misinfo)

ap/as-/95 (part of the tankie committee)

les/bia/nch/emi/cal/pla/nt (i think she's a jew but she's, like, the tankie tumblr pet jew istg. she's also an asshole. girl they will gladly turn you over once you outlive your usefulness 😬)

other advice: anyone who claims to be "anti-zionist NOT antisemitic" who only ever fixates on jews and jewish orgs instead of the christian zionists who vastly outnumber the entire jewish population is lying, they're antisemitic (whether they realize it or not). houthi stans generally are stupid jew-haters who would rather support the ethnic cleansing, racism, misogyny, antisemitism, and chattel slavery party than possibly say that Someone Who Rejects The Enemy(tm) is, yknow, not morally pure. people who are abnormal about ashkenazim are generally abnormal about non-ashkies, too, but in a different and still nasty way. if someone claims that "everything was fine before the Zionists(tm) attacked", they are wrong. do some research on the history of jewish life in the region and it's very clearly wrong. if someone says that they're tired of jews and jewish feelings and jewish safety being a focus, they probably don't feel particularly kind things about us in general. fact-check claims. screenshots aren't news. people who are okay with widespread civilian death/suffering in one direction probably only desire vengeance more than anything else, which does nothing for anyone and is a net loss. anyone baying for blood is suspect, anyone without a concrete solution/plan beyond "burn it down" is not going to do much constructive work in terms of delivering justice.

So I'm thinking about this whole phenomenon I'm seeing where people are going "What Hamas did is fine because resisting occupation is always messy and we've tried being polite," as if "slaughtering kids and taking civilians hostage" is "being impolite" or something. (The Geneva Convention: A White Thing For Dumb White People, Apparently.)

And maybe I'm wildly overgeneralizing from my own weird experiences, but I suspect part of the reason people are easily swayed to think of "obvious war crimes" as "a little messy" even if they don't see themselves as at all antisemitic might be

When I was a wee Fiercelet in the 1980's, the messaging people like me who are neither personally connected to Israel or Palestine in any way was that Israel Is Obviously Good. The reason given for this is that there were "no other democracies" in the Middle East. Israel was described as this one bright spot of civilization amid some weird Zone of Barbarism, and the Zone of Barbarism wanted to kill them. This wasn't explained in any detail at all, just presented kind of in the way We're Democracy and They're Communism was about the USSR at the time.

The other thing I recall people talking about was Judeo-Christian Values. I know now from constant gripes from Jumblr that this is Not Actually A Thing, but at the time I was too young to really question it. And it fit with the narrative that there were People Relevantly Like Us, The Enlightened United States, in some benighted Nondemocracy Zone.

The Nondemocracy was in some vague way tied to these evil people bedeviling our enlightened ally due to their Being Religious Badly, and only once they somehow saw the light of Democracy could they find a way to Be Religious Nicely, at which point we could call it Judeochristoislamic Values and have a big party ig.

All of which is a long winded way to say it utterly shocked me when I got to college and pro-intifada groups started saying sound bites to me like "Israel has tanks; Gaza has rocks. They're killing people with tanks just for throwing rocks. If your family had been killed by tanks, wouldn't you throw rocks too?" (I am not saying I'm sure this is accurate; I now suspect at least some spin. But this is what other students your age set up a table at a fair and tell you.)

Hearing that throws the whole narrative about how we're supposed to love Israel because they're uniquely lacking in barbarism into the trash very quickly.

And that I think is why it's very easy to convince left-leaning white USians that Israel is settler colonialist and deserves whatever it gets. Because white college students are already beginning to see that while democracy is good, the jingoism we're sold about how we're better than anyone else is wild exaggeration built on an unavoidably racist base.

So when someone says "the only reason you think Hamas are terrorists is because they're brown and you've been told they're antidemocratic," it's very easy to go "huh. Maybe so," even if you don't buy into obvious antisemitic conspiracy theories or anything else like that.

Which is why it's so important to have all the facts about what everyone is actually doing, and consider them against the backdrop of what you think just war is.

This seems like a frivolous, wasteful question, but. Do you know of any Palestinian or pro-Palestine caffeinated beverages? I've stopped drinking energy drinks since I found out that Monster was bought by Pepsi and Bang is next on their list. Now I'm trying to find a pro-Palestine drink, but looking up 'Palestine energy drink' just brings up discussions of Monster supporting Israel. But if there are any that actively support Palestine, I would like to give them some money. If not, I'll just continue not drinking energy drinks.

I can't give a huge amount of help without knowing where you're located, but here's what I've found so far. Avoid Ghost and Reign, their parent companies are no good.

I always would recommend small businesses because at the very least they're almost certainly not giving millions of dollars to support the genocide. Plus, you can reach out to them to see what they say (or I can do it for you, if you like. Just send me the name and I'll try and get in touch with them).

If there's any particular brand you know is available in your area, that's a good starting point. You can send that info to me either in a private message or another anon and I'd be happy to help you research.

Chaibibi

- UK only as far as I can tell

- Might not be an energy drink?

- Openly supports Palestine on their instagram

Redbull

- Not owned by any companies on boycott list as far as I can tell

- In 2017 they made a blog post about Palestinian Parkour but it's kind of vague as far as talking about the occupation and they've posted about Israeli surfing on the same blog.

- Used to be a big huge thing in Israel but in 2011 they kinda stopped advertising so much there? I don't really understand any of the articles I found about it and they do still sell there.

Small Businesses

Melting Forest

- Kinda expensive

- Might be shrooms??? Not sure on that.

Odyssey Elixir

- also might be shrooms

Guayaki Yerba Mate

- Fair trade, organic, pretty sustainable as far as I can tell.

Oca Energy Drink

- Owned by Beliv parent corporation and I can't figure out if Beliv supports Israel.

Lost and Found

- Owned by Primeval Labs parent corporation and I can't figure out if Primeval Labs supports Israel.

Hi, sorry if this message isn't welcome, but I just had to share this post that's just hurting me so much to read. /ammaterasu/732213172256260096/how-will-people-live-with-themselves-5-10-20

The way they're in essence directly painting Jewish people as NAZIS breaks my heart. I have to ask if there's a way I'm misreading this, because surely we aren't so far gone as to have this be what they mean. The hypocrisy and joyful hatred just makes me feel rotten inside.

First of all, thank you so much for sharing. You're always welcome. Really. I usually get death threats in anon, so it's a great change.

Sadly, I dont think you misread this. This isnt the first post I've seen comparing Jews to nazis. Lately, people - in general, but in social media especially - feel free to be cruel to us now more than ever. Most of the pro-palestine posts I've seen only in the last few days are so blatantly antisemitic its heartbreaking.

They're the worst kind of hypocrites and Hamas-apologists, and I'm sure most of them dont even know the actual meaning of all the buzzwords they're throwing around every chance they get.

I suggest you ignore them, for the sake of your mental health. Dont interact with antisemitic posts. If you see something that sounds antisemitic to you, block the person and report it. You dont have to read it. Dont let their antisemitism affect you.

I've seen a lot of posts regarding what you can do to help Palestine right now and while all of them are very informative I feel like they're more geared towards people who are unwilling or unable to attend protests, or live in towns where there are no protests happening.

however, if you would like to get involved in the protests for a Free Palestine where you live, here are a few things that are very helpful. keep in mind that you still need to contact the local orgs that are planning the protests. this is only my personal experience/opinion and it can't be tailored to your local situation. ask them what they need and how you can help.

help advertise the protests where you live with flyers. a lot of groups design flyers every week, so try to get in contact with the people doing that. if you have access to a printer at work, use it to print flyers and go hand them out at metro stations (make sure to go with a friend, some people get aggressive). if you can tell people are interested, have a conversation with them, try to share information! note: this is illegal without a permit in some places. keep an eye out for security.

same goes for posters. research pro-palestine printing shops around your city that could accept to print them. if you don't have money, a lot of organizations print out hundreds and then leave them at a drop-off point where you can pick them up. you can then make glue by buying glue powder, or making wheatpaste at home. same as for flyers - do it in groups of two or threes as it's illegal in some places.

if you are good with graphic design or video editing, it is likely they have needs related to that (creating social media posts or editing protest video for publication).

if you have some kind of legal background, or in general are white/have citizenship of where you live/are comfortable interacting with police, they usually require some kind of liaison with the cops. you can offer to help. please bear in mind this is more responsibility and more training that the rest of those tasks, but it is crucial.

most protests also need an awareness team to help anyone in the protests that might need assistance, document police brutality and arrests, tell people not to talk to the cops, stay with people who have been detained until they are released, etc. buy water, snacks and common OTC meds and keep offering them to people.

can you drive? do you have a car or a van? a lot of protests need cars for speeches and to play music and slogans. all you need to be able to do is to drive veeeery slowly for a few hours. especially in a bigger city, this is very needed.

protests are expensive. if you have material you don't use (megaphone, speakers, vests, rope, tape, etc.) reach out to orgs to ask them if they need it. you can also organize fundraisers to donate to these orgs, where the money will usually go towards 1. protest material, printing costs, etc. 2. legal costs towards people who have received fines or need lawyers and 3. any groups on the ground in Palestine that those orgs recommend.

research! get out on the streets! organize!

I don't understand people's anger with his statement. he's been vocally pro-palestine for years and now I'm seeing people saying he's expressing neutrality?? it wasn't even neutral. it was condemning the actions of western countries feeding the pro-israel stance. it's an extremely nuanced issue and I feel like he was choosing his words very carefully for that reason.

also I hate trying to assume too much but his statement to me felt unfinished. i feel like hes probably being pressured to not be too outspoken right now because, like you pointed out, its dangerous. people have got to stop relying on celebrities to say perfect things and have all the right answers. it's obvious that he's pro-palestine! people are acting like his statement exists in a vacuum when it doesn't.

I know I said I will post these without commentary but I have a couple of things to add here:

I am not sure what people mean when they say he's been vocally pro-Palestine for years because I haven't seen that anywhere and I've been following him for years. If I'm missing something, please let me know. I know people have pointed out the "empire upon Jerusalem" and "occupier upon ancient land" lines in Swan Upon Leda, and those can definitely be interpreted as pro-Palestine, but they're not necessarily overt. There's wiggle room.

I also don't agree that it's a very nuanced issue at heart. At the core of it all it's settler colonialism. It's not a war, it's not a conflict, it's settler colonialism. Politically, that is complex to resolve, but at the heart of it it's very clear what we're dealing with here.

I will kind of agree with the second paragraph, though, about not taking the statement in the vacuum but I think that's a part of the issue.

saw several pro-palestine protesters at the rose parade today <3

[i wrote this post on jan 1 but never posted it because i never got the spoons to put in the pictures but if someone wants them i'll upload them]

okay. i feel like i should write this down because i know it's probably not going to be in the news

so, the rose parade is this event on the first day of every year in pasadena, california, where there are lots of floats representing different organizations decorated with roses. it's very famous nation-wide apparently even though i only found out about it recently.

anyway, i was watching the rose parade today with my dad because i just got to california a few days ago. we were standing near the end of the route. the cops came on first and did some kind of circling around move on motorcycles that made some people start cheering for them. eh. then when the first float arrived - around 10 people came up to stand in the middle of the road to block it, and lifted up a free palestine banner

here is a pic i got of this (i know you're supposed to censor people's faces but since this was a public parade and i assume the point was visibility i'm not sure if that's necessary? let me know if it is)

[pic]

now you might say, well jules, california is a left-leaning place, isn't it? apparently not! a bunch of the people around me started booing them, because they're assholes! i explained to my dad what was going on

anyway, more cops (i assume they were cops - the people wearing cream colored shirts) came up to them and started trying to get them to leave. i couldn't hear anything, but the float was stopped for about 15 minutes total. there were people on either side waving the flag of palestine and holding up more banners - ceasefire now, free palestine, and so on

i heard a man next to me trying to puzzle out one of the signs, which was being blocked by police. "never… a…?"

"never again for anyone," i told him. he hadn't been one of the people booing, i don't think.

"never again for anyone? okay." he nodded at me and the conversation was over.

i looked back over to the protesters and after a few more minutes, i saw the cops leading some of them away. one guy yelled "lock them up!" i would have told him to fuck himself but my dad was there, unfortunately. the rest of the protesters were led away after that. i didn't see any violence happening but i was too far away to be sure. the parade proceeded.

after that i think police presence was increased, because i noticed halfway through that while originally there were only cops on one side of the four-way intersection there were now also cops stationed on the other end, like, a lot of them? in some kind of lifted structure?

[pic]

also and more importantly, people on either side of the intersection were still waving palestine flags after the protesters blocking the road were forced out. i noticed that there was a group of people holding banners a little further down the intersection, and a bunch of cops were standing in front of the banners, blocking them. didn't block my phone though suckers

[pic]

anyway all of this is just to say. the american police is trying to suppress pro-palestine protests. it happened today and it happened at the macy's thanksgiving parade. but there are more people out there fighting for palestine than you think. apathy is a tool of the enemy and palestine will be free. okay thanks bye