I’ll admit that when I read Dua Abudiab’s op-ed in the online version of the King County Bar Association (KCBA) Bar Bulletin titled “From the River to the Sea,” which denounced the widespread censorship and discrimination of pro-Palestine voices on and off social media, my initial reaction was shock; not in response to the content, but in response to the outlet that published it.
As a former employee of the KCBA, I am very familiar with their recent politics, so, while I was pleasantly surprised to see the op-ed, in my head I knew it was too good to last. I was right. KCBA Executive Director Christina Entrekin Coad, “leadership,” and the Board of Trustees swiftly deleted the piece after less than 24 hours.
They left the link intact, so if you go to it now, then all you will see is a prime example of the censorship that pro-Palestine activists have been experiencing since October 2023. Leadership and the Board replaced the op-ed with an apology for the harm they caused by allowing such a thing to be released. Nowhere in the lackluster statement did they acknowledge the tens of thousands of Palestinians that Israel has killed in Gaza during the last four months, or the Palestinian-Americans that have been attacked or killed on US soil. They claim the “conflict in Israel and Palestine” is outside of the scope of their mission and insist that the KCBA is a professional service organization, an argument akin to “not our business, not our fight.” But that stance is ironic, given the organization’s conception.
KCBA was founded in 1886 in response to the government’s racist attempts to deport Chinese citizens. In 2007, the organization adopted a resolution in support of marijuana legalization. In 2011, it received a Goldmark Award from the Legal Foundation of WA for its 125-year commitment to civil legal aid and social justice. That same year, KCBA adopted a resolution against racial profiling of immigrants by Arizona state. In 2013, it approved a resolution calling for an end to the death penalty. I’m sure KCBA’s “diverse and collegial membership” did not unanimously support these measures, but the organization proudly represents these actions in its history.
KCBA has a Pro Bono Services Department that provides low-income folks access to family law, debt and bankruptcy services, criminal record vacations, and eviction defense through The Housing Justice Project (HJP). HJP staff make up over half of the KCBA staff and greatly outperforms the rest of the departments in the amount of funding received. I point this out because less than a month before KCBA leadership pulled Abudiab’s op-ed, almost half of HJP staff released an independent statement in support of Palestine. HJP’s stated mission has been to “end homelessness” through legal representation for tenants facing eviction. I know for a fact that KCBA’s “diverse and collegial membership” do not unanimously support this goal, as there are members who appear as opposing counsel on a regular basis.
So why the cop-out when it comes to Palestine? We should look to KCBA’s “Diversity” page for insight:
KCBA defines racism as attitudes, practices, policies, and law which negatively and disproportionately target or result in inequitable outcomes for Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC) individuals, populations, and communities.
While we denounce racism, we cannot stop there; active engagement through anti-racism efforts is necessary. KCBA’s anti-racism approach requires consistent and widespread efforts to combat white supremacy, educate all members of our community regarding the harmful effects of racism, the dismantling of intolerance, the inclusion of BIPOC perspectives and lived experience, and promotion of racial equity.
The King County Bar Association commits to the following anti-racism policies and practices:
-
Creating awareness and recognizing the role racism has played and continues to play in all areas of the law;
-
Incorporating the perspectives of BIPOC individuals at all levels of KCBA’s work, including the board, committees, and internal staff;
-
Investing resources that will support initiatives focused on racial equity;
-
Promoting and creating a sustainable environment that enriches the lives of BIPOC legal professionals;
-
Developing and supporting programs to increase and to retain the number of BIPOC individuals in the legal profession and the judiciary, which reflects the diversity of the King County community, through early, secondary, college, law school, and continuing education;
-
Actively educating stakeholders both within the King County Bar Association and outside of the bar on the topics of racism and anti-racism; and
-
Denouncing racism explicitly in any setting.
Perhaps they met one of those goals when KCBA Executive Director Christina Coad sent an email response following staff’s disapproval of the censorship, reminding them that she herself is an Indigenous woman of the Oneida tribe with lots of experience working with disadvantaged populations, so they should be nice to her and show some compassion. In the email, she insisted the problem wasn’t the content of Abudiab’s article but rather its editing and placement. Moreover, they really did care about Abudiab’s experience, but the article hurt people, and they know removing it hurt people, so it’s all too difficult, so please be nice. OF COURSE Christina Coad couldn’t be upholding white supremacy, y’all! No person of color in the history of the world has ever condoned, enabled, or been a paid mouthpiece for colonialism and white supremacy.
Or perhaps they were simply following KCBA’s anti-racist policies and practices when Coad and Board President Karen Orehoski reached out to Daniel Swedlow, a local attorney, to discuss the pain and agony the op-ed caused him.
After admonishing the KCBA and Abudiab in a LinkedIn post, Swedlow wrote an update to the same post: “I just had a good conversation with the Executive Director and the President of the KCBA who reached out to me to ask for a meeting and informed me that they were just as shocked as the rest of us when they saw this headline. This was a complete breakdown of the editorial process and the bar association neither endorsed nor authorized this article at all and agreed that it was offensive and completely inappropriate for a local bar association publication. I believe they will be issuing a statement of apology and they will work to ensure this does not happen again.”
Let’s talk about Dan Swedlow. As it turns out, he isn’t just any regular ol’ attorney. Swedlow is a proud supporter of Israel, and why wouldn’t he be? Two of his adult children are members of the Israeli Defense Forces, you know, the military that has been bombing, poisoning, starving, imprisoning, torturing, and raping Palestinians for the last several decades.
Swedlow does not support a ceasefire until Hamas unilaterally releases the hostages from October 7, 2023. KUOW featured him in a mid-November article, wherein he cried white tears about how worried and scared he was for his adult children, who are part of an army whose leaders are eager to wipe out an Indigenous population in the guise of self-defense. Swedlow has been so fearful that, according to recent Facebook posts, he apparently traveled to Israel in December to go wine tasting and to eat brunch! I guess I can’t blame him because I sometimes rely on brunch and wine to relieve stress as well.
Snarky humor aside, KCBA’s censorship of its former executive director for standing in support of Palestine while catering to complaints from supporters of Israel’s genocidal campaign puts the organization firmly in a non-neutral stance. They chose a side, and it was the wrong side.
They failed to be inclusive of BIPOC perspectives and lived experiences when they censored their former executive director–a Palestinian woman–for speaking out against the genocide of her people. They failed to educate all members of their community regarding the harmful effects of racism when they succumbed to the vitriolic backlash. Nowhere in their statement did they explicitly denounce or even acknowledge the racism and the Islamophobia Abudiab was subjected to.
Palestine is a racial justice issue. Palestine is a legal issue. The KCBA missed an opportunity to educate and actively engage their “diverse and collegial” membership in discussion and stand true to their stated anti-racism values. Instead, they furthered white supremacy and gave racists a platform. Christina Coad weaponizing her identities to further shame and silence her staff is inappropriate and abusive. The KCBA should remove all mentions of its commitment to anti-racism on its website, and Coad should step down as executive director.
Tram Tran-Larson is a former King County Bar Association/Housing Justice Project employee.
“…widespread censorship and discrimination of pro-Palestine voices…”
That this appears in the Stranger, after months of the Stranger abusing the word “genocide” exactly as the author does here, just adds to the unintended hilarity of this rant.
So it’s not censorship for these private companies to shut down voices you don’t like, but when the shoe is on the other foot, then it is censorship?
Tram and Dua both seem to lack a basic understanding of the first amendment – stating this recent article takedown “is a prime example of the censorship that pro-Palestine activists have been experiencing since October 2023”.
Neither the federal or state governments are stopping either Tram or Dua from publishing their revisionist views of Israel, Palestine, the history of Transjordan, etc. And just like Nazi’s, the KKK, or Quakers, anyone can stand on a street corner and shout whatever vile or beautiful things they want without fear of government prosecution (see this very paper for numerous examples of offensive or unpopular opinions printed without interference).
However, the first amendment does not shield one from consequences of their speech (I’m assuming TS would fire any editor or writer who published racist or homophobic statements – that’s their right given they would be facing a huge backlash from readers and advertisers). Most companies, organizations, unions, whatnot have the right to determine which speech they wish to support. It’s really not complicated (and it certainly is not a violation of the first amendment when we don’t agree).
AIPAC
OWNS
the Lawyers
they Own
Congress
BiBi Owns
Joe Biden
nuff said.
but Good Luck
in ’24 Dems!
remember:
it up to
US to
vote for
the Least
Offensive.
CEASEFIRE
NOW & End
the Massacre
100,000* oughtta be
Retribution Enough
for October 7th.
Dead
Wounded
or Missing
*vaporized by
Israel or Entombed
in their Homes businesses
or Apts for All Eternity and Beyond
@5 sure likes perpetuating some good old fashioned racist tropes like Jews control the world (and FYI BiBi and Biden campaigned against one another – they truly dislike one another).
It is possible to call for a ceasefire without parroting themes from either Hamas, the protocols of the elders of Zion, or Fox News – you should try it.
At the end of the day you are calling for the elimination of the state of Israel, and re-branding Hamas’ genocidal sloganeering as some kind of righteous decolonizing crusade doesn’t render that goal any less monstrous.
Congrats to TS and the author for publishing one of the most racist and discriminatory op-eds I have read in a long time. The irony of quoting anti-racist language to print something so virulently racist is amazing to behold. “White tears”? Could you imagine if someone had written an article about another race and mocked them in that way. The only thing this article proves is how corrosive the anti-racist mantra is within organizations.
@4 the first amendment isn’t mentioned anywhere in the article what are you talking about? That was either the most earnest strawman in history or you’re just very confused.
@1 what would you call it when a nation’s military occupies a region and drives its inhabitants into one town, cuts off escape routes, then announces the intent to bomb and otherwise attack that town, if not genocide? Not to mention there’s 29,000 killed and counting but you’re here arguing semantics. Pathetic
@9: I’d call it urban warfare and a humanitarian disaster, but I’d somehow also mention the terrorists who were literally hiding behind and under those inhabitants as mostly responsible for the death toll.
Arab Israelis and Palestinians share exactly the same ethnic and religious background; they differ only by the political choice of peace or war. By definition of “genocide,” Israel cannot be engaging in genocide against one and not the other.
This hatefully bigoted rant the Stranger posted here does nothing to solve any of the problems that led to the current situation. Furthermore, as we saw @5, it also encourages loudly hysterical mongering of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories. Anyone who actually opposes genocide should well remember what can happen in countries where such hate speech gains wide acceptance.
@10 the UN definition of “genocide” encompasses not only ethnic, racial or religious groups but also national groups, so unless you’re using some other definition your assertion is false. And 5 said AIPAC owns Congress etc not “Jews.” It’s disingenuous at best to conflate AIPAC or Israel with Jews, many of whom do not agree with the positions or actions of either.
The bottom line, whatever semantic or other excuses you want to make for them, Israel is committing atrocities against the Palestinians in Gaza and need to be held accountable by the international community.
Meta censors everyone and everything except white men threatening anyone they hate. I got banned from Facebook for commenting about Jeremy Christian, white supremacist, who threatened two young non-white (one wearing a hijab) young women and then murdering two of the three men who intervened to get him to leave them alone and almost murdering the third.
I have been accused by Meta on Instagram (which they bought and turned into Facebook 2.0) of using AI to get more likes. Interesting since my account is private, I have less than 40 followers (just friends and a number of them are multiple accounts of the same friend), and I don’t get, want, need, or have a lot of likes on anything I have ever posted.
Meanwhile, on both Facebook and Instagram I have witnessed the relentless harassment of women and non-white people.
Men telling women they need to be raped (reported and always “does not violate our community standards”).
Men telling women they are going to kill them (reported and always “does not violate our community standards”).
You get the point.
Meta’s censorship applies to anyone who has anything to say that is not white supremacist in its terrorism or deeply misogynistic in its violence.
Meta continues to censor all Palestinian content, but there has been enough video footage of tens of thousands of dead children, maimed children, orphaned children, and now starving children streamed worldwide on not just Meta, but other social media platforms that no one can say they didn’t know. The world is watching a live streamed genocide and not doing one fucking thing to stop it.
I don’t give a shit what happens to anyone in this country or any country supporting Israel.
No matter what anyone claims is the most horrible thing that could happen here who cares?
It’s already happening.
America as chosen fascism. And it chose fascism long before today. And it won’t be anyone who knows what is happening and has witnessed it happening for years, decades, centuries…who will be surprised when the fascists come for them. It will be the poor white neo nazi MAGAT assholes and the wealthy white liberals who think they are on the right side of history (and even if they don’t think that, they believe that being white and wealthy will protect them).
White women have already lost their basic human rights. Why would any fascist regime protect anyone? The people with the power want to keep their power and want more and more and more and more and more money and power and whatever else they want. There is no satisfying them. They will rape the entire world and slaughter every single living thing to get what they want. That’s it. That’s humanity. Enjoy your life if you can. Good luck.
@12: Palestinian Arabs are not, and never have been, a “national group.” As I clearly wrote, the difference between the Palestinian Arabs who reside in the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Arabs who reside in Israel (“Arab Israelis”), are the purely political decisions each sub-group made. (Hint: the words “nation” and “state” are not synonymous.)
‘And 5 said AIPAC owns Congress etc not “Jews.”‘
Oh, for the love of Mike, pot-TAY-to, po-TAH-to. He’s been extensively quoting a writer who proclaims, in the face of every last bit of demographic evidence, that Israel is an “ethnostate,” artificially maintained by force. You’ve never heard of blatantly dishonest euphemisms in politics? Esp. about minorities?
“The bottom line, whatever semantic or other excuses you want to make for them, Israel is committing atrocities against the Palestinians in Gaza and need to be held accountable by the international community.”
For the sake of argument, we’ll pretend you didn’t just (yet again) flat-out ignore Hamas, and their long-documented history of intentionally inflating civilian casualties in Gaza, via use of civilians there as human shields. There’s still a huge difference between “committing atrocities” (something done by every side in pretty much every war ever) and “genocide,” as should be obvious to anyone who claims to know the actual definition of that word.
Furthermore, this abuse of “genocide” also, intentionally or not, obfuscates another reality: Hamas’ actions in Israel on 10/7 do meet the definition of “genocide” in the Genocide Convention. Thus, by destroying Hamas on the ground in Gaza, Israel is protecting its citizens from another genocide by Hamas — a fact which, if recognized, would put the onus on the international community to hold Hamas accountable for this war.
@14 why is it so important to you to try so hard to convince everyone, possibly including yourself, that one side in that conflict is good and the other is evil? Note that absolutely nobody is defending Hamas or claiming that criticizing their abhorrent acts is “Islamophobic.”
‘Furthermore, as we saw @5, it also encourages loudly hysterical mongering of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.’ –@wormtongue
anti-Jewish?
fuck off wormmy
I’ve no bone to pick with Jews.
it’s the ones currently murdering
Gazans en Masse herding them like
Cattle & then bombing them to Smithereens:
Nutnyahoo and his
far far FAR ‘right’
Land Grabbers
Domiciders
genocidally
killing wounding
and disappearing
more than 100,000
Gazans — Two THIRDS
of ’em Women & Children
it may not be Genocide
technically! but it’s
Devastation by
Choice & WAR
CRIMES by any
Sane Definition*
*more from the woman
you love to Hate
Wormmy:
from Notes From the Edge
of the Narrative Matrix
so Dangerous wormmy’s
gotta build a thirty foot
wall around her
anyways:
Assange,
Gaza, And The
Ugly Reality Of War Crimes
If Gaza taught me anything, it’s taught me
what war crimes really look like.
War crimes are cruel power abuses where soldiers with bombs and guns prey on babies and moms and grandpas and shop owners.
War crimes are not abstract to me anymore.
War crimes are brutal. War crimes
are flesh-from-bones.
War crimes
are kids crying
in the freezing rain
because they can’t find any family.
War crimes
are snipers picking off
patients through hospital windows.
War crimes
are moms starving to
death very slowly under a grave
of rubble because no one can rescue them.
War crimes
are little girls with
blown-out eyes from
being run over by a tank
while she slept in her bed.
And who showed us all this?
Journalists. Journalists
documenting war
crimes.
If the US succeeds in extraditing Assange today, they will set a precedent that any journalist anywhere in the world can be snatched up and taken to the US and locked away for the rest of their lives just for embarrassing the US with evidence of their war crimes.
So I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been pacing around like a nervous Pervis through this latest extradition hearing. So I thought I’d do another painting of Assange, but this time in the blue press helmet made famous by those other courageous journalists from Palestine.
Free Palestine.
Free Assange.
Free the world.
–by Caitlin Johnstone; Feb 20, 2024
painting and More here:
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/assange-gaza-and-the-ugly-reality?
Free Palestine.
Free Assange.
Free Israel!
Free the
World.
oh
and
Not Memoralizing
the Horrors inflicted
by Hamas on O/7th preceding
every. single. comment. is NOT support
of Hamas dumfuk. You’ve got thatt plenty well-Covered.
omg my gawd
More hysterical &
unhinged Ravings:
‘And who showed us all this?
Journalists. Journalists
documenting war
crimes.’
well ~ so far
Israel’s assassinated
around one Hundred
Journalists their Snipers
well-able to see thru the
so-called “fog of War” uncannily
accurately in fact Creating a smokescreen
of dead Journalists so Adios! Prying Eyes, folks.
nothing*
to see
here
now
Move
along.
*it’s just
“Genocide
Lite!” like the beer?
Hamas poked the bear and is crying about being eaten.
Want the attacks to stop?
Surrender.
@16: You’re free to continue citing the actual definition of “genocide,” and comparing it to the acts committed by Hamas and Israel since the start of October. That’s all I’ve done here. You’re the one who won’t even mention Hamas until publicly called out for not doing so.
(And I must say, your extremely generous reading of @5, complete with his flagrant claim of “retribution,” and pulled-from-his-ass casualty figure, contrasts beautifully with your querulous disputing of actual facts and real definitions used by other commenters.)
@20 because Hamas “poked the bear” Gazan civilians deserve to die? You know “all’s fair in love and war” is just a saying right, there are established limits of acceptable conduct in wartime? Your comment is borderline sociopathic
once again:
AIPAC
Ain’t ALL Jews
Anymore than
Nutnyahoo is all
Israelis or Hamas
is all Palestinians.
your conflating them
is Weak but So
consistent
End the
Genocide:
Dump BiBi
&
Free Israel.
Hey @9, the first amendment is literally the basis of the Dua Abudiab’s op-ed “From the River to the Sea,” – slide 2 (in the linked TS article). I know it’s hard to read the basis behind Tram’s TS article but I suggest you actually give it a try before accusing others of inventing straw men.
@23
If Hamas surrendered, the attacks would stop.
They could also stop hiding behind the civilians.
It’s a cowards defense.
You know what you have to do.
Release all the hostages.
And have Hamas surrender.
@25 you wrote in 4: “Tram and Dua both seem to lack a basic understanding of the first amendment
… Neither the federal or state governments are stopping either Tram or Dua from publishing their revisionist views”
And like I wrote in 9, nowhere in Tram’s article is the first amendment mentioned, and certainly it’s not alleged that KCBA taking down Dua’s article violated the amendment. So thanks for confirming my suspicion that you are just very confused.
@26 so again you think civilians need to die for Hamas’s transgressions? Do you think it was good and just that the US nuked Hiroshima because Japan wouldn’t surrender? Should there be any limit at all to what an army can do to civilians to get their opponent to surrender?
“You can’t criticize me for racism because I’m a minority” is the same thing George Zimmerman said.
Honestly? The minority sectarianism that modern liberalism for some reason encourages keeps leading to this sort of infighting. Because we’ve driven an attention-based model to fighting prejudice, we’ve lost sight of a unity of oppression in which groups are encouraged not to find differences amongst each other (in a sort of “we have it worse” oneupmanship game), but find their similarities and empathy with each other’s struggles.
So instead we have groups fighting groups fighting groups because every group is jockeying for importance. We should rethink that as a long term strategy, maybe.
It won’t be long now before The Stranger and/or Tram Tran-Larson are lambasted as anti-Nativitc, compared unfavorably to Andrew Jackson, and derided with ad hominems like “I guess we’ve forgotten about the Trail of Tears.”
We should take bets on when.
That’s what the mad drive of sectarian infighting has led to.
@28: Civilians in Gaza are dying because Hamas fled into Gaza and hides behind civilians there, after Hamas’ genocidal festival of rape, mutilation, kidnapping, and slaughter in Israel on 10/7. No one wants civilians in Gaza to die, but Hamas neither releases Israeli hostages nor voluntarily stops attacking Israel from Gaza, so the IDF continues destroying Hamas. As Hamas continues hiding behind civilians in Gaza, civilians continue getting caught in the cross-fire and killed.
That you persistently refuse to acknowledge all of the above is truly amazing, and not in a good way.
Now that the news has come out that Israel killed the Israeli hostages, will the pro-Zionists admit that murdering tens of thousands of civilians, almost half of them children, was never about any hostages? I hope the Israeli families of those hostages see what Israel did. Israel will cease to exist and it will cease to exist because it chose to commit genocide. And to everyone who knows Hebrew, every Zionist knows they will have to face themselves and they will pay for everything they have done: Middah k’eneged Middah.
As for Biden, word is he hates being called Genocide Joe. Welp, don’t aid, abet, arm, and fund genocide and veto all calls for ceasefire and maybe you won’t be called Genocide Joe.
I can’t wait to vote him out office.
@31 “Civilians in Gaza are dying because Hamas fled into Gaza and hides behind civilians there”
Well, that and because Israel cares more about killing Hamas than protecting civilians. What’s 30,000 dead civilians if you can kill a couple dozen Hamas right? In case you haven’t caught on I think both Hamas and the Israeli government are abhorrent war criminals. You on the other hand think one of them can do no wrong. I’m comfortable my position is morally defensible, are you?
@33: “What’s 30,000 dead civilians if you can kill a couple dozen Hamas right?”
Can’t wait to see your source for that latter figure. Little wonder you had no objection of any kind whatsoever to @5 pulling his casualty figure straight out of his ass.
“In case you haven’t caught on I think both Hamas and the Israeli government are abhorrent war criminals.”
So, since you have such great knowledge of casualty figures in Gaza, tell us: how many women in Gaza have been raped, then had their genitals mutilated, by IDF soldiers? Take your false moral equivalence and put it exactly where you got your casualty figure for Hamas.
“I’m comfortable my position is morally defensible, are you?”
Of course you are. Hamas’ willingness to hide behind every last child in Gaza means you criticize Israel for the deaths of those children. Great moral logic you have there.
Have you yet figured out that Hamas definitely committed genocide in Israel on 10/7, but that the case against Israel doesn’t look so good? Or does your knowledge of genocide go no further than kristo’s?
three comments from Nicholas
Kristof’s nyt opinion piece
‘What Can We Possibly
Say to the Children
of Gaza?’
the first, echoing some comments here:
“Hamas could surrender and return all the hostages. The fighting would end instantly. Our the people of Gaza, who we are constantly [told] don’t all support Hamas and the atrocities of 10/7, could rise up against Hamas. And the once again the fighting would stop.
But since neither of those things are happening Israel needs to destroy Hamas to the last man to prevent the next 10/7 which Hamas leaders have ensured us will happen.”
–Todd Stuart; Key West
“@Todd Stuart Thanks for your comment on my column, Todd, but let me push back. Yes, it’s true that Hamas could surrender and the war would end; I wish that would happen.
But it’s always true in any war that it would end if the other side surrendered, and the other side’s failure to oblige is not an excuse to level entire neighborhoods, kill many thousands of children and impose starvation on civilians.
And rather than destroying Hamas, Netanyahu has been empowering it in the West Bank and creating a seething resentment that may fuel terrorism for decades to come.
Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, for example, helped create Hezbollah, perhaps its greatest present threat.
So I don’t see Bibi’s Gaza war, the way he has prosecuted it against Gazans rather than against Hamas, as either moral or in Israel’s security interest.”
–Nicholas Kristof; nyt Columnist
[and, in reply to]
“@Independent Observer Yes, it’s certainly true that the Hamas government failed the people of Gaza (and I’d also argue that that the Netanyahu government has completely failed the people of Israel, and polls agree).
The point is that bad political choices by the public are not a justification for what President Biden himself has called “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians.
Children in particular should be protected — and instead the United States is backing a war that has involved the mass killing of children.”
–Nicholas Kristof;
more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/03/opinion/gaza-israel-war-children.html
“So I don’t see Bibi’s Gaza war, the way he has prosecuted it against Gazans rather than against Hamas, as either moral or in Israel’s security interest.”
nor do any thinking
Human Beings
Nick.
END the fucking
Massacre
Now.
[Ed.: can tS’s contributers respond
to readers’ comments as well?
thanks!]
has Nutnyhoo’s Genocide’s
Casualty Numbers
got YOU down?
you’re
NOT alone.
from Democracy Now:
“Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza over the past four-and-a-half months, with thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble.
Nearly 70,000 people have been wounded.”
30,000 Dead
+ 70,000 Wounded
+ How Many Buried Alive and/or
Vaporized by OUR 2,000lb Bunker Buster bombs
Easily equals 100,000+ Dead Gazans
shocking and appalling
and yes it IS too much
to Fucking Fathom
wormmy no small
wonder you’re
in Denial too:
you’ve got
the ptsds.
more
horrifyingly Too Much more:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/21/michigan_primary
correction:
30,000 Dead
+ 70,000 Wounded
+ How Many Buried Alive and/or
Vaporized by OUR 2,000lb Bunker Buster bombs
Easily equals 100,000+ Dead, MISSING
AND WOUNDED Gazans
apologies
but Not to
Nutnyahoo
Nutnyahoo’s
Casualty Numbers’re
likely to EXCEED 100,000
DEAD on or before 11/5/24* with
Untold Numbers of Gazans Buried Alive
and so many Wounded not even Palestine’s
Hospitals might give them Hope for Healing
even if Bibi
hadn’t Already
Bombed them All
to Smithereens & Beyond
Thank God
it Ain’t Genocide,
eh?
*when El trumpfster
seizes power for
HIS 10,000-year
trumpf dynasty
really putting the Nasty
in Authoritarian Rule
@34 the death toll comes from the Palestinian Health Ministry, like the reports of rape and genital mutilation come from the Israeli government. Your choice to unquestioningly believe one while dismissing out of hand the other says much more about you than it does the credibility of either report.
Also if Israel definitionally is not committing genocide why didn’t the ICJ say so when South Africa accused Israel of exactly that?
https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-israel-court-rafah-gaza-0c5d0d34002cea87cb53d7ec3280271a
@14:
“’And 5 said AIPAC owns Congress etc not “Jews.”‘
Oh, for the love of Mike, pot-TAY-to, po-TAH-to. He’s been extensively quoting a writer who proclaims.. “
note how wormmy Changes
the subject Oh-so-
Cunningly
speaking of OWNING
“our” Congress:
In 2018, shortly after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ousted incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th Congressional District, her office got an unexpected phone call.
It was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC], the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, offering an unsolicited donation of $100,000.
AOC declined the money and has emerged as one of the few voices in Congress willing to oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Now, AIPAC is spending tens of millions of dollars to target progressives aligned with AOC in Democratic primaries.
This AOC story, first reported by The Intercept’s Ryan Grim in his book “The Squad,” illustrates how AIPAC leverages its financial might into U.S. policy.
With the death toll in Gaza now approaching 30,000 and Israel preparing a catastrophic ground attack on the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians huddled in Rafah, The Intercept is doubling down on our efforts to expose the power of the pro-Israel lobby in Congress.
You simply cannot understand U.S. policy toward Israel without understanding the power of AIPAC in Washington.
For years, AIPAC has used its deep pockets to reward its friends and punish those who don’t get behind its demand for unquestioning blank-check support for Israel.
Often those punishments come in the form of attack ads that don’t say a word about Israel or Palestine, instead hammering Democrats with dubious attacks on issues like immigration or “defund the police.”
In 2022, AIPAC spent $30 million targeting progressive Democrats. This year, it’s the #1 funder behind a major primary challenge to Squad member Jamaal Bowman, while Reps. Summer Lee, Cori Bush, and Ilhan Omar are all facing pro-Israel primary challenges.
The Intercept has been closely tracking AIPAC lobbying activity for years. Now, with 30,000 Palestinians dead and hopes for peaceful settlement more remote than ever, it is vital that the public understands the influence of AIPAC.
more:
https://theintercept.com/
“You
simply
cannot
understand
U.S. policy toward
Israel without understanding
the power of AIPAC in Washington.”
you could
Pretend.
@39: “… the reports of rape and genital mutilation come from the Israeli government.”
Months ago, I posted a comment which included the following:
“A two-month investigation by The Times uncovered painful new details, establishing that the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.
“Relying on video footage, photographs, GPS data from mobile phones and interviews with more than 150 people, including witnesses, medical personnel, soldiers and rape counselors, The Times identified at least seven locations where Israeli women and girls appear to have been sexually assaulted or mutilated.
“Four witnesses described in graphic detail seeing women raped and killed at two different places along Route 232, the same highway where Ms. Abdush’s half-naked body was found sprawled on the road at a third location.
“And The Times interviewed several soldiers and volunteer medics who together described finding more than 30 bodies of women and girls in and around the rave site and in two kibbutzim in a similar state as Ms. Abdush’s — legs spread, clothes torn off, signs of abuse in their genital areas.”
(“‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7”
Gettleman, Jeffrey; Schwartz, Anat; Sella, Adam; Shaar-Yashuv, Avishag; a memoir.&; et al. New York Times Company. Dec 28, 2023.)
(https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2023/12/27/79321391/slog-am-israel-warns-the-war-will-last-for-months-the-new-york-times-is-suing-openai-and-microsoft-blotto-is-closing/comments/46)
Do try to keep up.
@40: “You simply cannot understand U.S. policy toward Israel without understanding the power of AIPAC in Washington.”
Let’s see: Israel is an ethnically and religiously diverse democracy, where Arabs and Jews have lived together peaceably for 75 years. Every Arab government which supports Palestinians and/or Hamas is a brutal dictatorship. Hamas itself is an ultra-reactionary, hard-right, sadistically-violent organization of religious extremists, which hates LGBTQ+ persons, wants women permanently subservient to men, and makes the 9/11 terrorists look moderate by comparison.
Yes, US policy towards the region depends entirely on AIPAC. Because secretive cabals of moneyed Jews have undue influence, a concept which is totally sane and defensible.
wormmy
you keep bringing
up the Horrors of O/7
as if it’s a Continuing Thing
but it’s only ONE Side
CONTINUING The
Genocide.
Which is just Fine
with you because
O/7! & if Hamas
don’t give a Fuck
Israel can commit
War Crimes with Im-
punity too. which is why
we have War Crimes Tribunals
perhaps BiBi’ll
Escape Justice like
Cheney & bush but your
type makes War Crimes Inevitable
There is No
Justification
for Terrorism.
Fucking Ever.
and feel Free
to Hide behind
your Definitions
like BiBi hides his
Land Grab behind
Hamas & the Horrors of
October 7, 2023. groovy tunes baby.
when the
Self-immolations
begin the World sits
up & always takes Notice.
nyt:
A man
set himself
on fire outside
the Israeli Embassy
in Washington, the police said.
The man,
who filmed and
livestreamed the protest,
was taken to a hospital with
life-threatening injuries. The U.S. Air
Force confirmed he was an active-duty airman.
more, tragically
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/middleeast/israel-embassy-man-on-fire.html
BiBi
your Days
are surely numbered
Free Israel:
expunge the
Nutnyahoo Coalition
@39: “…the death toll comes from the Palestinian Health Ministry.”
Which does not distinguish between the deaths of Gazan civilians and Hamas’ terrorists. So, which method(s) did you use to tease your figure @33, “a couple dozen Hamas,” from the overall total? (Don’t worry, I have a background in statistical analysis, so big fancy math terms won’t frighten me.)
@43: Hamas has said they will return to attack Israel again and again and again if they can. So Hamas’ genocide* there on 10/7 will become a “Continuing Thing” for as long as Hamas exists. As no one in the crowd yelling “ceasefire” has demanded meaningful international actions to stop Hamas, the IDF must continue destroying Hamas in Gaza. That is the choice the “ceasefire” crowd has made.
“but it’s only ONE Side
CONTINUING The
Genocide.”**
*https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-prevention-and-punishment-crime-genocide
** What’s your definition, and how does it differ from the one the ICJ and I use (see above)?
@Wormtongue
til the Very Last
HAMAS!
so
sorry!
it’s so Very
HARD to Separate
them Two. my bad.
till the very Last
Gazan then,
Wormtongue.
as you Wish.
hmmm.
those two
46s seem to be
in Reverse Order.
apologies!
Nutnhyahoo’s
Coalition seems to
be Rescuing ONE hostage
for evrery TEN THOUSAND Gazan
Citizen murdered. at This rate Bibi’ll
run outta Gazans long before Palestine
runs outta Hamas. but how very Convenient
for a Nutnyahoo
LAND GRAB.
No One
couldda
seen That
One coming!
no one.
@48: Hamas (yes, they still exist!) kidnapped civilians and abducted them into Gaza to ensure the IDF would follow. If you don’t like it, I suggest you start advocating for ways we in the international community can prevent Hamas from kidnapping more civilians and abducting them from their homeland. (As you noted, effective remedial post-facto actions seem rather lacking.)
“for a Nutnyahoo
LAND GRAB.”
So, perhaps Gaza’s voters should not have responded to Israel’s removal of all settlers by then choosing Hamas? Discuss.
from Democracy Now:
NYT
Investigating
Israeli Freelancer’s Anti-
Palestinian Social Media History
The New York Times has reportedly launched an internal investigation of a freelance Israeli reporter after she liked multiple posts on social media advocating for violence against Palestinians, including one that called for turning Gaza into a slaughterhouse.
In December, the reporter, Anat Schwartz, co-authored a widely criticized article for The New York Times alleging that members of Hamas committed widespread sexual violence on October 7.
The Intercept recently reported that doubts over the accuracy of the article led the Times to shelving an episode about the issue on its podcast, “The Daily.”
MORE:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/2/26/headlines/nyt_investigating_israeli_freelancers_anti_palestinian_social_media_history
omg
wormy:
whattabout
your Narrative?
maybe it’s just
Genocide Lite™?
@50: Has the New York Times retracted the story?
Will you stop quoting the New York Times, even from those stories where (you believe) it supports your beliefs?
Hahahahaha…
Don’t
Avert Your
Eyes: Gaza Has
Suffered the Equivalent
of 1,200 September 11th Attacks
US Media Refuses
to Report the True Scale
of the Devastating Destruction
The unprecedented scale of destruction Israel has caused in Gaza – an estimated 30,000 civilians are now dead – is the equivalent of more than 1,200 September 11th attacks in the US adjusted for population.
The calculation compares the percentage of the population killed by the Israeli military in Gaza since October 7 with the percentage of the US population killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. (See the graphic below for more detail on how I got to this number.)
The comparison between the death rate in Gaza and the death caused by the 9-11 attacks is startling and revealing.
We cannot let the shocking level of destruction in Gaza become normalized just because much of the media ignores the historic magnitude of what we can see with our own eyes. The fact one of my interns figured this out by scratching some numbers on the back of a napkin, while the major media ignores it, is another sign of how much of the information we consume obscures obvious war crimes.
It’s not that the mainstream media outlets do not report civilian casualties in Gaza; it’s that they don’t contextualize it nor do they connect it to overwhelming evidence that Israel’s true strategy is to use Hamas as a pretext to completely destroy civilian life in the territory.
–Steven Donzinger
more, disturbingly
(for the more
Humane a-
mongst
us):
https://stevendonziger.substack.com/p/dont-avert-your-eyes-gaza-has-suffered-2c0?publication_id=834799&post_id=142142766&isFreemail=true&r=k7ee3&open=false
BUT HAMAS.
From the River To the Sea is not a call for peace, it’s a call for the destruction of the only Jewish state. Intifada does not mean shaking – it means a campaign of suicide bombers blowing themselves up in coffee shops, restaurants, and public buses. Incitement to violence, calls for ethnic cleansing of Jews from their homeland, and providing material support for terrorist organizations are not protected free speech, and have consequences.
While still pervailent, gone are the days that Antisemitism was acceptable – something that 8 of 10 Americans understand. The other 2 (many of which are guest here in our country and hate the USA just as much as they hate Israel and the Jews) will have to find it out the hard way.
The Stranger should take down this article for the same reasons.
I can agree with one thing… PALESTINE SHOULD BE FREE!
-Free of “martyrs”
-Free of honor killings
-Free of murders of gays
-Free of anti-blasphemy laws
-Free of legalized wife-beating
-Free of arranged child marriages
-Free of Jizya and Islamic supremacy
-Free of corrupt dictators who ban elections
-Free of rulers who plunder billions and live in palaces or luxury hotels abroad
-Free of schools who brainwash hate, lies, and falsehoods, and which punish critical thought
-Free of answers that cannot be questioned and questions that cannot be answered