President, Foundation for Middle East Peace (
@FMEP
). Tweet/RT/follow≠endorse. Same name at tusked-beast site & site rhyming w/ roast…I mute trolls & report bots
The battle over the IHRA definition of antisemitism, in a nutshell:
"you have to define it to fight it" = "you have to define all meaningful criticism of Israel/its policies/ Zionism as 'antisemitism' in order to suppress it, because we can't win the arguments otherwise."
Law professors call the widely respected IHRA definition deleted by the ABA “an invaluable educational tool for understanding how Jews experience antisemitism today”
“A house on the beach is not a dream”: An Israeli real estate company specialising in Jewish settlements in the West Bank is planning for the day after. This is beyond aspirational, their staff is already working on plans.
For anyone who doesn’t believe there is shadow-banning of Palestine-related accounts on this platform, try to follow
@Pal_ActionUS
and see what happens (X will show you as “following” and then if you click back on the account, you’ll find that you are once again NOT following).
We are watching Israel commit large scale genocide/ethnic cleansing in real time, with the US govt and much of the organized Jewish community justifying it, defending it, materially supporting it, celebrating it and quite literally cheering it on.
With a respect to the obscene “but they voted for Hamas” argument being used to dehumanize & justify genocide again Palestinians in Gaza — 3 key points: 🧵
Hi all. Nerdy policy wonk who follows Congress closely weighing in with a thread on legislation (getting no media coverage) moving rapidly through Congress that targets US non-profit orgs, with the immediate & explicit target being orgs involved in Palestine protesting.
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Think it's an exaggeration to talk about "McCarthyism" with respect to efforts to shut down criticism of Israel? I give you: HR 6578, intro'd 12/5, a bipartisan bill to create equivalent of the House Un-American Activities Committee - but this time targeting critics of Israel.
Rep Tlaib criticizes Israel —> censured by House
Rep Omar criticizes Israel/AIPAC —> kicked off HFAC
Rep Walberg calls for annihilation of every Palestinians in Gaza —> odds that Congress will do anything (other than celebrate his support for Israel) = zero
Wow. Michigan Republican Representative Tim Walberg, on Gaza:
“We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid. It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick.”
3) —> arguing that civilians are guilty because their government is guilty is literally the logic of terrorists, including those who have attacked the US.
@shadihamid
says it perfectly:
This is the same twisted logic terrorists use, that there were no American civilians on 9/11 because we live in a democracy and are all therefore implicated in what our leaders do. This is Hamas' argument about Israeli civilians. A dangerous and inhuman line of argument.
1) most of “them” — the Palestinians being bombed/killed/injured/displaced in Gaza today —
have never voted for Hamas (or anyone). The election that Hamas won took place in 2006 - 17 YRS AGO ago. Most people in Gaza were either small children or not yet born in 2006.
Israel will get COVID vaccines to West Bank settlers but not to Palestinians living in West Bank under Israeli military law or in Gaza under Israeli blockade.
I don’t think there can be a clearer illustration possible: This. Is. Apartheid.
Anyone denying that Israel has for nearly 2 months been wreaking on Gaza a policy of mass displacement, total destruction, widespread killing, & deliberate ethnic cleansing is either pathologically delusional or engaging in brazen, cruel gaslighting.
Israeli Channel 13 explains today the logic behind destroying everything (including the court and theatre) in North Gaza: to make it uninhabitable, to prevent people from returning!
#GenocideinGaza
It increasingly feels like there is a contingent of pro-Israel journos & activists seeking to cynically stoke fears about Jewish safety in order to make inevitable & normalize eventual police/national guard violence against peaceful campus protesters for Palestinian rights.
2) In 2006, Hamas didn’t run on a “kill the Jews” platform. It ran as “The party of change & reform” on a platform boiling down to: the other guys are corrupt & for 15 yrs have achieved nothing—time to throw them out. For most voters, a vote for Hamas was a vote against Fatah.
The latest round of manufactured outrage & hate being directed at
@FranceskAlbs
is just beyond the pale. Those of us who know & have worked with her cannot be silent.
1/
If a Jewish student at any US school was injured in what appeared to be a hit-and-run hate crime, it would (correctly) be national news.
But this exact thing happened to an Arab student at Stanford yesterday & it appears to have barely cracked local news.
Huntington News: Video footage reveals ‘Kill the Jews’ remark used to explain police intervention at Northeastern made by pro-Israel counterprotester in provocation
This is the new antisemitism — which no, isn’t hiding in criticism of Israel - it’s out in the open in the delegitimization of Jewish-ness of some Jews for their political beliefs.
Jews attack a Palestinian tonite on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street amid chants: "A Jew is a soul, an Arab is a son of a bitch"
Everyone who for decades has reflexively defended Israel/Israeli impunity no matter its crimes against Palestinians — don’t you dare look away. YOU OWN THIS.
But remember, Israel’s war on Gaza is merely about “eradicating” Hamas - not conquest of land etc. Anyone who dares suggest otherwise can only be antisemitic.
בין כל המשימות המבצעיות הספקנו השבוע גם להכניס ספר תורה לבית שלנו בחאן יונס.
תוספת של קדושה וגבורה,
ותזכורת תמידית מה מקור חייו ועוצמתו של העם האהוב שלנו.
עם הנצח- ינצח!
Escalating terrorism by Jewish settlers, enabled & often joined by the IDF, targeting Palestinians - people, their homes, cars, business land, animals - is raging across the West Bank. This thread will pull together recent video/pix. Nobody can saw they didn't know.
Academic researchers in Israel say they are being “affected dramatically” by negative international reactions to Israel’s military actions against Hamas in Gaza, a recent survey finds.
A thread on the
@IlhanMN
controvery:
Over 15+ yrs working the Hill on Israel-related issues from a non-AIPAC point of view, members/staff (both parties) told me over & over that they agreed with me but didn’t dare say so publicly for fear of repercussions from AIPAC et al.
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Yes, allowing civilians access to water is good. But:
- no credit to Israel for a “humanitarian gesture” - turning the water off in the 1st place was a WAR CRIME;
- Israel is leaving water off in the northern half of Gaza - a continuing war crime in support of ethnic cleansing.
4) One additional point: for folks who are fixed on voting, note that Hamas *did not win a majority in the 2006 election* -- across the WB & Gaza it won a plurality w/ 44.45% of the vote. In Gaza, Hamas didn't win a majority of votes in any district.
Documents Confirm Israelis Poisoned Arab Wells in 1948
Why is it important to set record straight after 70+ yrs? Cuz even today, when Palestinians report what Israel is doing defenders still cry "antisemitism" to discredit facts/ensure Israeli impunity.
Weapons Israel spent years developing/using to suppress Palestinians protests & rights (with most Jewish Israelis not caring a whit) — now turned by the Israeli govt against it own Jewish citizens to suppress their protests & rights. Who could possibly have seen this coming?
For nearly 3 mos many “serious” analysts & intl community policymakers have glibly dismissed warnings that Israel is seeking to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip — & have dismissed clear statements of this intent from Israeli govt/IDF officials.
Now, here we are:
And today,
@netanyahu
publicly acknowledges that his government is working to advance the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza. He says the problem is to find where to send them. "We are working on it. It's the direction we are heading"
I’m getting many requests to talk to media about what is happening in Jerusalem. I’ve refused every one. The media MUST center Palestinian voices. And it’s incumbent on non-Palestinians who get these requests to challenge the pervasive media practice that fails to do so.
Israel bombed the main drinking water supply in Jabilya just now and here are people witnessing their only source of water run through their streets. Israel is sending a message to Jabilya that existence there will now be impossible. Where are they to go…?
This will gives a single US official authority to strip US non-profits orgs of their non-profit status in a peremptory manner, w/ virtually no limitations, accountability, or meaningful recourse, based merely on his declaration they are “terrorist supporting organizations”
3/
ICYMI: Israeli Prime Minister declares West Bank is part of state of Israel & Israeli law applies there.
Zero ambiguity: without fanfare Israel has de facto & de jure annexed the West Bank.
Israeli rule over Palestinians ["local population"] in this single state is apartheid.
Jewish students pay for provocative banner flown over Harvard [along with a Palestinian flag, making it appear falsely like an antisemitic stunt organized by supporters of Palestinians]
There is a special place in hell - and it’s gonna be crowded - for people who have the power to do something to stop the killing of civilians but instead just give lip service to “concern” & “grieving” for innocent lives lost while actively enabling/egging on genocide.
Palestinians & observers have for nearly 6 mos been saying the IDF is indiscriminately killing Palestinian men for the sin of being of "fighting age" & counting them as "terrorists" in their stats. Maybe now that Barak Ravid is stating it on CNN, people will believe it.
This breakdown of the deadly drone strike on
@WCKitchen
workers by
@BarakRavid
is the best I’ve seen.
Incidents like these happen every few days. We just don’t hear about them.
When Russia does it: “Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with winter coming - these are acts of pure terror.”
When Israel does it: WE SUPPORT ISRAEL’S RIGHT TO SELF-DEFENSE and anyone who mentions war crimes is in league with terrorists.
Russia’s attacks against civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes.
Cutting off men, women, children of water, electricity and heating with winter coming - these are acts of pure terror.
And we have to call it as such.
Why is Israel attacking Palestinian human rights defenders?
The same reasons it's getting set to implement new restrictions on access to the West Bank for foreigners.
The same reasons it has prioritized branding criticism of Israel/Zionism as "antisemitism" worldwide.
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Israeli Settlers Have Found a New Way to Abuse Palestinian Shepherds: Bankrupting Them
This week police impounded 700 sheep claiming they passed through a “forbidden zone”. To retrieve them the shepherds paid 150k shekels to the settlers' regional council
This is open racism.
This is brazen Islamophobia.
This is the new antisemitism — which no, isn’t hiding in criticism of Israel - it’s out in the open in the delegitimization of Jewish-ness of some Jews for their political beliefs.
Another heads up! As the House gets set to pass legislation that would codify/endorse the IHRA definition of antisemitism on US campuses, 2 members of Congress who back that bill have helpfully given us a hint at the future they they envision
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If you want insight into the thinking of “ordinary Palestinians” living for decades under the boot of Israeli military occupation & subjected to the violent, arrogant whims of Israeli settlers, ASK PALESTINIANS, not an American rabbi living in a West Bank settlement.
The shocking truth behind the Baghdad bombings of 1950 and 1951
Avi Shlaim claims to have uncovered undeniable proof that Zionist agents were responsible for targeting the Jewish community, forcing them to flee Iraq and settle in Israel
'Israel practices apartheid,' says group representING 120 of Israel's most prominent law profs [reminder: per US Congress, AJC, ADL & friends, this statement means thse Israeli law profs are ipso facto ANTISEMITES, per IHRA Definition of antisemitism]
The explicit target of this legislation is orgs involved in/supporting protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, most notably SJP. But of course, if passed into law, it could be used against any tax-exempt org working for an objective disfavored by the Admin in power.
4/
Let history record: on the eve of Israel's comms blockout on Gaza & massive bombing of civilians already starving/thirsty/ displaced/injured/mourning/with no place to shelter...the US Senate was passing resolutions undermining right to protest for these people's safety/existence
Protestors have unlawfully occupied the rotunda of the Capitol today. Our Regional Director
@mermirmanweisel
clearly stated that these far-left radical organizations do not represent the overwhelming majority of the Jewish community. Read our statement:
Joining in on slandering a UN special rapporteur
@FranceskAlbs
- for the sin of doing her job with integrity - is sadly totally on-brand for the Biden Admin.
StateSpox was asked about UN Special Rapporteur
@FranceskAlbs
’s report on Gaza which said there’s reasonable ground that the threshold for genocide has been met.
Miller said they oppose mandate of this rapporteur, accused her of antisemitism and rejected allegations of genocide.
Palestinian girl shot in mother's arms as they attempted to return to home in northern Gaza - CNN
"Graphic footage shot for CNN shows Sally crying out in pain, blood on her body with a wound on her head and arm as she gets treated by two doctors."
As people contemplate the broader implications of the US/Europe giving israel carte blanche to massacre Palestinian civilians in Gaza, note that Israel’s justification - endorsed fully by the US/Europe - is based on a complete overturning of the most basic law of war.
1/
Watch this. DO NOT LOOK AWAY. This is the daily reality for Palestinians in the West Bank. The fact that it doesn’t make the news until houses are burning doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. They have NO PROTECTION. The IDF actively enables/supports this terrorism.
Another Pogrom -📍Burin, today.
Jewish settlers & Israeli army attack homes on east side of Burin.
The settlers are numerous & use vehicles. The soldiers aid & protect the settlers. they shoot tear gas at Palestinians homes, suffocating residents.
Watch 👇
Looking at the Swiss govt’s just-announced decision to “suspend” funding for Israeli & Palestinian human rights NGOs, the phrase that keeps running through my head is: the cruelty IS the point. An enraged 🧵.
1/
As AIPAC engages to undermine the most prominent Jewish contender for US president in history - because they don’t like his views on Israel - can we once and for all dispense with the idea that criticizing AIPAC is code for anti-Semitism?
The goal of the new legislation is to dispense with the due process (incl the need for evidence) afforded under law to targeted groups, empowering a single US official to act as prosecutor, judge, jury, & executioner of US orgs whose viewpoints that official disagrees with.
7/
The Palestinian Authority has all but abandoned Jenin, leaving behind a power vacuum that has been filled by terrorists.
In the past six months, those terrorists made Jenin a launching pad for more than 50 shooting attacks against Israelis.
Israel is responding with a…
Reminder: The folks who are promoting/celebrating this ridiculous hasbara image (which is clearly fake/manufactured) are the same ones who denounce REAL photos/videos showing the reality on the ground as antisemitic propaganda & “pallywood”.
Reminder: US charitable organizations — like ALL US entities — are already barred, by law, from providing material support for terror & already face intense scrutiny.
6/
Next time a defender of Israel tells you it is false & antisemitic to suggest Israel ever has or ever would again deliberately displace Palestinians & take their land/homes, send them this:
“We want Nakba now!” To the tune of “we want Moshiach (the Messiah) now”
Israeli elected official in Sheikh Jarrah on July 4th. The ultimate corruption of Judaism.
New thread ft. Members of Congress who've been silent re Israeli actions related to Sheikh Jarrah & Haram a-Sharif/Temple Mt, but who are now moved to speak on missiles being fired into Israel (which, to be clear, is a war crime - but the selective empathy/outrage is striking):
Firing rockets at civilians in Israel is an act of terrorism, period. The latest rocket fire underscores the need for missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, which protects Israeli civilians—both Arabs and Jews—from the terrorism of Hamas.
In a few generations my people went from surviving genocide to reveling in doing same to Palestinians - in revenge for Hamas’s heinous acts this week, but more fundamentally as revenge for Palestinians daring to exist & not letting us forget what Israel’s done to them for 75 yrs.
Not surprising yet still shocking how few mainstream voices are willing to speak out when crowds of Israelis are dancing in Jerusalem chanting “death to Arabs”
The Biden Admin allows travel to the US by Israeli official who called for ethnic cleansing of Palestinian town (on the heels of an Israeli pogrom in that town)
but…
Refuses entry to the US of Palestinian human rights advocates.
Any questions?
The intent behind the bill — the targeting of groups engaged in protest for Palestinian rights/lives — has been made explicit - e.g., here's the Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee when it was marking up/passing the bill last November:
5/
An Israeli think tank led by a guy close to Bibi is giddily laying out a framework - openly - for the literal ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip.
As always: extremists proudly tell the world what they plan to do. And usually, people don’t listen until it’s too late.
And the next time someone asks, “Why don’t the Palestinian use other non-violent methods to achieve their goals” remind them that according to Israel:
- boycotts are “economic terror”
- seeking recourse in courts is “lawfare”
- going to the UN is “diplomatic terror”
- etc.
I'm talking here about a bipartisan legislation the House passed last week (382-11) & that was intro'd last week in the Senate -- HR 6408 & S. 1436.
2/
Did you hear about the billboards in Tel Aviv? The slogan says “Peace Comes Only From Vanquished Enemies.”
This billboard - with all its dehumanization & brutality - perfectly encapsulates the worldview of those in power in the US & Israel today.
It is once and for all time to stop using the term “settler violence”.
This is Israeli terrorism targeting Palestinians - terrorism that is state-tolerated, state-backed, state-rewarded & by extension, state-incentivized.
As members of Congress - from both parties - gleefully pile on
@RepRashida
for using the word “apartheid” on the House floor to describe Israeli policies, great time to review who else has used the word in this context:
1/
ICYMI, Biden supplemental asks for $$ to support Palestinians kicked out of Gaza, now & in the longer term. Hard to see how this is anything other than the Biden Admin giving a green light to an outcome that will amount to direct ethnic cleansing. See:
The suggestion that defending Palestinian human rights NGOs from Israeli attack is antisemitism really says everything you need to know about the politicization/weaponization of the very concept of antisemitism.
Amnesty Intl published a video explaining how they came concluded that Israel’s treatment of Palestinian is “apartheid."
YouTube has slapped a warning on it.
For opponents of the report, it seems Amnesty’s explanation is unacceptably clear & convincing. Go figure.
While Israel obliterates Palestinian Gaza, the House just passed by voice vote HR 3016 - to impose massive fines/jail time on US citizens for boycotting Israel or settlements.
See my thread (from committee consideration) on what HR 3016 involves:
All you folks who like to talk about supporting human rights but who are now silent as Israel escalates its assault on Palestinian human rights defenders — we see you.
Nothing to see here, just another expression of genocidal intent from a powerful Israeli MK, in advance of Israel launching next stage of its war on every man, woman & child in Gaza…
Those whose prioritize shutting down pro-Palestine protest above all else may view this legislation as excellent news.
Those concerned with Palestinian rights/lives, and those who view with concern the rapid erosion of free speech/protest rights in the US, may disagree.
8/
For those who argue that Bernie should have gone to AIPAC, here’s this racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic garbage, tweeted by AIPAC National Council board member Adam Milstein.
Either way, it is remarkable that this legislation--which has profound implications for protest/free speech in the US-- is so far going pretty much unnoticed.
9/
Reminder: the SOLE PURPOSE of codifying the IHRA definition is to legally enforce the conflation of criticism/protest of Israel/Zionism with antisemitism, so as to delegitimize/punish/quash/chill ideas/criticism/protest that doesn’t align with unconditional support for Israel.
2/
Ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Let nobody say later: we didn't know. This has been going on for years but has accelerated since Oct 7. It is well-known what is happening. Your silence is acquiescence, approval, collaboration.
Today, the Palestinian shepherd community of A-Sukhun in the Jordan Valley is fleeing. From a community of ten families, today marks the departure of the last family.
Just ten days ago, settlers established a new illegal outpost just dozens of meters from the community.
🧵👇🏾
Watch this video. Don't pretend not to know that Jewish Israelis are openly, violently terrorizing Palestinians in the WB, enabled/helped by the IDF.
This is not some random aberration or bad apples. This is what decades of unconditional support/US-backed impunity have wrought.
Israelis view applying US law to them as a sanction because they’ve been conditioned to believe (a) there’s an Israel exception to all laws, & (b) seeking to hold Israel to the SAME STANDARD (laws) as other countries can ONLY be motivated by rank antisemitism & anti-Israel animus
It’s not a sanction. It’s application of the Leahy Law, which prohibits US aid to units of foreign security forces if there is credible info they committed a gross violation of human rights. This is a first
Utterly surreal. At this point it is impossible to read this post as anything other than an explicit rejection & repudiation of the very idea that Palestinian in Gaza are humans and as such enjoy human rights - in other words, an embrace of the Israeli govt approach to Gaza.
Human rights belong to everyone.
They are universal, indivisible, and interrelated. Today, as we recognize 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.S. reaffirms our deep commitment to protect human rights and hold human rights abusers accountable.
You can have compassion for Israelis without dehumanizing Palestinians or ignoring the structural violence and oppression of Israeli occupation and apartheid.
You can support Israelis’ right to not be massacred by Hamas without giving Israel license to commit genocide.
@FranceskAlbs
I’m appalled & disgusted that, yet again,
@FranceskAlbs
is being subjected to wholly unjust attacks from people who pretend to care for the safety of Jewish people but in truth care only about rationalizing & defending the horrors Israel is inflicting on Palestinians.
3/