Holy shit. The Israeli whistleblower story CNN just broke is insane. I cannot believe what I’m reading

Rare firsthand accounts by Israeli whistleblowers cast light on the horrific conditions in the Sde Teiman torture camp in Naqab Desert. Palestinians are stripped down, blindfolded, forced in diapers, and forbidden from speaking. They are subjected to beatings and mental degradation regularly. So much depravity that has gone unseen. Doctors performing procedures outside of their expertise, amputations due to zip-typing of abductees’ wrists, having large dogs unleashed on them at night. Being fed food through straws. I can’t believe it. I am truly in shock. And this is just one whistleblower accounting of this. Who knows what else is happening beyond our knowledge

My heart is breaking into a million pieces

Worth mentioning that multiple Palestinians have recounted these stories before, as direct victims detailing their experiences. What's unique about these accounts from CNN Israeli whistle-blower is that they're from an Israeli, therefore people are more likely to take this seriously.

The real tabletop RPG party dynamic:

Something which I've seen as a trend with pro Palestine activism, is things which are not Palestine specific are being treated as if they are.

For example, this Instagram post below was made

The thing is, the Palestinian flag specifically is not banned. The rule in its entirety is that non participating countries cannot have their flag present at the event. The rule is also an old rule which still is in place.

Yes, the Palestinian flag cannot be present, but also the Aotearoa/New Zealand flags, the US flag, Tunisia flag, etc, can also not be present.

This is not a rule which is specifically in place for Palestine.

And it's all part of a wider trend of rules/things which apply to multiple countries are being seen as targeting Palestine specifically.

It is also disinformation, fear mongering and even at times antisemitism when people act like (((zionists))) are controlling the world.

This is why it's important, as with anything you see on social media, to do your own research. Find the facts and ignore things which are intentionally maliciously misworded.

you can reinvent yourself as often and as much as you want. you don’t have to stay stagnant to make other people comfortable.

I sat next to the protest today.

I wrote fan-fiction about two gay jewish dads raising children to the play list of the chant- "No peace on stolen land!" on an American college campus. It isn't a name brand one either, nor does it have any legitimate ties to Israel. The anger is just there- it has rotten these future doctors, nurses, teachers, and members of society.

I don't even know what to call their demonstration- it was a tizzy of a Jew hatred affair. At points, there were empathetic statements about Gazans and their suffering. Then outright support of Hamas and violent resistance against all colonizers. Then this bizarre fixation on antisemitism while explaining the globalists are behind everything.

"Antisemitism doesn't exist. Not in the modern day," A professor gloated over a microphone in front of the library. "It's a weaponized concept, that's prevents us from getting actual places- ignore anyone who tells you otherwise."

"How can we be antisemitic?" A pasty white girl wearing a red Jordanian keffiyeh gloats five minutes later. "Palestinians are the actual semites."

"there is only one solution!" The crowd of over 50 students and faculty cried, over and over.

"Been there, done that," I thought, then added a reference to a mezuza in the fourth paragraph.

Two other Jewish students passed where I was parked out, hunching and trying to be as innocuous as possible. We laughed together at my predicament, where I am willingly hearing this bullshit and feeling so amused by this.

"Am I crazy? For sitting here?" I asked them. My friends shook their heads.

"We did the same last week- it's an amazing experience, isn't it?”

We all cackled hysterically again. They left to study for finals. Two minutes later, I learned from the current speaker that “Zionism” is behind everything bad in this world.

Forty-five minutes in, a boy I recognized joined me on my lonely bench. He came from a very secular Jewish family and had joined Hillel recently to learn more about his culture. His first Seder was two nights ago.

He sat next to me, heavy like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. There was just this despondent look on his face. I couldn’t describe it anyone else, but just sheer hopelessness personified.

“They hate us. I can’t believe how much they hate us.” He said in greeting.

And for the first time all day, I had no snarky response or glib. All I could do was stare out into the crowd, and sigh.

I would like it on the record that not all (and certainly not all, as far as who I know) supporters of a free Palestine are antisemitic.

I would also like it on the record that supporting a free Palestine does not make you antisemitic. The two do not negate each other. They can coexist, and for most of us, they do.

Whether or not a certain type of people are using this revolution to preach anti semitiam, I do not know for sure. I would hope not but I am sure they do, because bad people will use any excuse to preach their hate.

What I will not tolerate, however, is to see someone turn the absolute revolution that is currently happening on college campuses around the world into an antisemitic or even hateful thing. The protests currently happening are about obtaining peace. That is their purpose.

If your view is too subjective or narrowminded to realize that what is happening currently goes way beyond what happened on october 7th i will urge you to visit the UN official website, which will suppply you with all the information you need.

I am sick and tired. Sick and tired of being told I am against jews because I am against zionismn. I am sick of tired of being told I am anti semitic because I am against the war crimes Israel is currently committing against the citizens of Palestine.

Zionismn is extremist religious beliefs. I do not believe in or support any type of extremist religious beliefs because why on earth would I? If you have the audacity to tell me that your god is the only one that exists in the year of 2024 where we are suffering around the globe then first of all, you should be fucking ashamed of your god, and second of all, you should be ashamed of yourself for claiming him.

I believe in the right to religious freedom. I believe in the right to political freedom. I don't believe in religion but I will fight for other people to retain the right to believe in theirs.

Please stop making the active fight against genocide into something it isn't. I cannot speak for everyone in the world, but I can speak for the movement i support, and what we want is a free Palestine. We want freedom and equality for all people, Palestinians and israelis alike. We want state parties to take accountability. We want to end genocide.

We want a world where Palestinians and israelis can coexist peacefully. We want there to be space and freedom for every nation and religion.

I try really hard to educate people patiently when I can, so please take this in that spirit - because this response of yours is kind of the Platonic ideal of a specific genre of post that keeps getting lobbed at Jews from people who seem to think it's totally reasonable without ever stopping to consider how it sounds to us. I somehow doubt you'd say these same things to another persecuted minority, and if you did, I'd expect you'd get called out for it. Unfortunately, the left has decided that antisemitism is praxis, so the only way I think I can get through that particular haze is to rewrite this as if it were talking about another minority whose oppression you choose to see.

Hopefully you will take this as a moment to reflect on your privilege and work on yourself. However even if you don't, you've at least provided me with the perfect example to help those who will listen.

I am going to address this line by line:

Do you like how that sounds? Forget about the specifics and just imagine yourself telling a woman talking about the sexism she experienced from a particular political group that Not All Men are sexist. Would you say that? Really? Even if you thought that, would you actually type those words out, or would you expect blowback? Be honest.

How does that sound to your ear? Raise some red flags? Would you feel comfortable writing this statement in response to someone talking about the racism they experienced from that political group? Or would it sound patronizing and/or like apologia?

Would you feel comfortable making this statement to a trans person talking about the transphobia they experienced from this "revolution"?

Do you see how your framing here inherently delegitimizes the oppression being discussed, as if it itself is not actually a real type of hatred? Do you see how you're framing anyone raising the idea that there are legitimate issues with this "absolute revolution" that need to be checked as being inherently opposed to peace and progress? Do you understand why that's fucked up, when it's aimed at someone besides Jews?

Would you seriously direct this at anyone else? Would you snidely tell this to any other marginalized group - hell, even just any single small ethnic group, marginalized or not - that their concern for their family, friends, and/or community members makes their views "subjective" or "narrowminded"? Even if the issues are bigger than the issues of one side (which is true in any conflict ever) you understand how that's enormously pompous, condescending, callous, and unproductive, right? Right??

This one speaks for itself, I think.

This one does too, actually.

Would you seriously feel comfortable directing this ignorant screed against, say, members of the Baha'i faith? Zoroastrians? Sikhs? Kurds? Literally any other indigenous ethnoreligion? Or just Jews? Why do you assume you know what we believe and what our religion is about? In any event, it's painfully obvious from this post that you don't know the first thing about Judaism.

Okay, and?? That allows you to say fucked up things about a marginalized group and their beliefs? Did you even read your previous paragraph after typing it?

I stripped this down as much as I did, because there are a lot of specifics here that are factual disputes and right now I'm not arguing the questions of fact but rather focusing on the question of how you are treating us in this discourse. There are real discussions that can be had (and are happening with trustworthy people, actually) but you have to actually approach us as human beings and back up the fact that you give a shit about us with more than just "I'm not [__]ist, but," - a thing leftists seem to know about other marginalized groups but not Jews. And the reason is because the Western left has made antisemitism literally part of its praxis.

I'd include your last paragraph, but honestly it's just more of the same platitudes. Your intent matters, but it's not a magic cure-all. It doesn't automatically fix the harm you caused, nor does it absolve you of the need to be accountable to the people you hurt and learn to do better next time. This is something I'm sure you know about other marginalized groups, when you or your comrades misstep, intentionally or not.

What makes Jews different from all other marginalized groups in your mind? Why are we a stumbling block for you? These are the questions you should be asking yourself and working to correct if you do, in all sincerity, care about not spreading anti-Jewish bigotry. If you choose not to do this work though, your true intent is clear as day.

i know it’s all just jokes but i think we should fr stop acting like the people around us don’t have inner lives. “npc” becoming an acceptable term to call people is very disturbing to me like genuinely idc if it’s not that deep…. plus the new phenomena of calling things you find no substance in “coworker music/movies/etc” like i get the conceit of the joke but i think when you refer to other people in that way consistently, you start to genuinely become convinced that people are just there to fill the background of your life, that they don’t have hobbies or families or lives beyond what you perceive, and that’s so bad. that’s sooooo bad to think of people

It's never antizionism not antisemitism.

These are comments in Taika Waititi's comment sections. All he did was sign a letter for the hostages to be released. He has not said anything in support of Israel's actions.

Taika Waititi is a Jewish man.

As you can see from the first picture, he is being told that he can no longer make movies sharing Māori experiences because he signed a letter for hostages to he released. A Māori man is being told not to share Māori experiences because he signed a letter for hostages to be released and because he's Jewish.

This is sickening. It's disgusting. It's trying to erase his indigenous experiences as a Māori all because he's Jewish.

All the other comments are also equally gross.

i finally went & tracked down the text of this letter, because i kept seeing people referencing it & hadn’t seen the text.

a) if this is the same letter, it was written october 23, 2023. that’s two weeks after the simchas torah attacks. it’s honestly baffling to me how the internet has taken clear & precise expressions of concern and mourning in the wake of deaths & kidnappings (ones that express no concurrent desire for vengeance or outright mention the subsequent loss of gazan life as a negative) and have spun them into some kind of secret genocide apologia.

b) gonna post screenshots here. i’m. this is the thing they’re all slamming taika waititi for & trying to take his indigenous card over? can they read?

source: hollywood reporter, dated october 23, 2023

It is extremely telling that people think "Freedom for Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace" and "Freedom from the brutal violence spread by Hamas," which has tortured Palestinians for 17 years, are Bad Things you should be Canceled For Wanting.

As best as I can figure, people oppose any mention of the hostages because they think the Israeli government is using the hostages as an excuse to commit genocide, AND that therefore any mention of the fact that Hamas is holding hostages captive is somehow supporting genocide?

I read an article about people constantly tearing the posters down in NYC. The reasons people gave for doing that were basically:

(1) "the posters are making the conflict worse,"

(2) "If they actually care about missing people they can make some that also include missing Palestinians"?!??? And

(3) "It's war propaganda." With a bonus mention of

(4) people making their own versions that include small children who are being held hostage, but label them as "OCCUPIER" instead of "KIDNAPPED."

I think a lot of people also regard the hostages as a distraction from calling for a ceasefire. Like calling for the hostages to be returned is somehow also saying you should not call for a ceasefire. Which is wild because Israel specifically requires hostage return when negotiating ceasefires.

One of the big red flags that this is an astroturfed movement driven by Hamas propaganda, and not an organic grassroots movement, is that its actions are completely uninformed by what's happening.

Nobody's like "hey, we should demand that Hamas return the hostages and surrender so there can be peace!" Or even, "Hamas should return the hostages and there should be a ceasefire!" People have consistently gone, "How dare you ask for the hostages to be returned? Free Palestine!"

They're chugging Hamas propaganda. They're doing kegstands for it.

Hamas not only bombs Israel constantly, invaded, killed people, burned them to death, burned entire towns to the ground, gang-raped and mutilated a ton of people, explicitly because they wanted to kill Jews and did not care about anyone else who got in their way, took so many hostages that I am STILL seeing higher numbers all the time, even after six months....

But they've violently oppressed Palestinians, demanded that they serve as cannon fodder, killed many Palestinian civilians in rocket misfires, put out videos instructing them on how to put themselves in harm's way to defend Hamas, abducted and tortured people who protest them, consistently stolen money and humanitarian aid from them, bogarted the fuel that hospitals and water desalination facilities need, literally demanded "the blood of the young, women, and elderly," like fascist vampires....

And then just said they were "the Resistance" and framed things in faux-progressive terms. And people ATE IT UP.

Worcestershire, England by Nicola Stocken

The alphabetized files at my ranger station lead to some interesting mental pictures

Thunderstorm yesterday

i can be trusted on a nature walk i promise. i promise i will stay on the trail and will not run off into the forest never to be seen again i promise

vegans making honey a bee labour issue is the funniest thing imaginable because like, you picked the one animal that has already unionised

You literally could not exploit bees if you TRIED

"Oh well if you stop the queen leaving the bees are trapped" wrong, bees can and will swarm without a queen. They will also make new queens if they don't think theirs is good enough

"Bees don't consent to their honey being taken" wrong, bees are actually more than intelligent enough to know we take the honey. They LET us take the honey if they think what we provide in return (shelter, food, protection) is a fair deal.

"Taking honey starves the bees" WRONG AGAIN! Domestic bees overproduce honey. A beekeeper NEVER takes honey the bees would need because then you piss off the bees, and if you piss off the bees you don't have any bees. They stockpile honey for the winter, but because domestic colonies do way better than wild ones they stockpile too much. That's why beekeepers can take out whole frames and then have them filled in no time. Domestic bees actively overproduce because they know humans are going to skim some off the top.

And if they didn't want humans to take it, beekeeping WOULD NOT work.

To keep bees you have to let them fly free. If they can fly free they can leave. Meaning if they don't like what you're doing, they WILL leave.

The whole idea they're basically slaves to the queen is also not true, they can just make a new queen literally whenever, and if they don't like her, they kill her.

There is no way for a beekeeper to exploit their bees. The bees are EMPLOYEES.

Employbees, if you will.

floating duck 🍑⁣