As a Jewish person, I wish I could spend this week grieving and mourning. But the Israeli government is weaponizing our grief to enact a second Nakba, killing thousands and displacing millions. I can make time to grieve while also working to stop ethnic cleansing.
Israel told Palestinians to flee their homes to another part of the Gaza Strip (they can’t leave Gaza because Israel has closed all its borders). Israel told Palestinians which roads were safe.
Then Israel bombed those roads while civilians were fleeing. An act of genocide.
If you’re a Jewish college student who feels this way, please DM me. You’ve been brainwashed, as I was. Please educate yourself that a person who supports Palestinian rights and protests for their freedom don’t want to kill Jews, they want Palestinians to live.
I want to be as clear as I possibly can:
Nonviolent students calling for their universities and government to stop giving Israel money and weapons while it kills thousands of innocent people in Gaza
is not the same
as when Nazis attempted to exterminate the Jewish people.
This is unprecedented as far as I know. It is, in fact, historic. Biden staffers organized a vigil outside the
#WhiteHouse
calling on their boss to call for a ceasefire.
Wow!
And to the staffers, thank you so much!
There’s literally an award winning movie about it. You should watch it. If more Israelis dared to see Palestinian humanity and experience Palestinian narratives, none of this would be happening.
I am absolutely begging American Jews to take a breath and think before sharing content that makes us out as the exclusive victim in a moment when our people are about to commit genocide to another people with the backing of global superpowers.
Right now our officers are working to keep back approximately 150 people who are illegally and violently protesting in the area of Canal Street and Ivy Street, SE. Officers are making arrests. All Members have been evacuated from the area. Please stay away from the area.
At the end of this clip a pro-Israel protester tries to start a fight, calls someone the N-word, and then spits on them.
Will he be vilified by politicians? Will this clip be shown on every media station as representative of supporters of Israel?
If you had called for a ceasefire and used American leverage to force Israel to end its war months ago, than Israel would not have been emboldened to assassinate the Iranian general two weeks ago, and Iran would not feel pressure to respond.
Instead you kept giving Israel bombs.
I just met with my national security team for an update on Iran’s attacks against Israel. Our commitment to Israel’s security against threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad.
Those calling this a lie reveal how little they know about the realities of the occupation. In Hebron, where
@RepBowman
went, there are streets that you can’t walk on unless you are Jewish. I have seen it with my own eyes. Thousands have seen it. Palestinians experience it daily.
An outrageous lie from
@RepBowman
: "Myself, as a sitting member of Congress, could not walk through certain checkpoints in the West Bank because I wasn't Jewish!" There isn't a single checkpoint like this. He hates the Jews so much. He really does.
I am begging you to watch this six minute
@CNN
clip from a field hospital in southern Gaza — “a window to hell.”
At some point, you hear the sound of an air strike. Later, you see the people who were maimed in that strike brought in.
Simply horrifying.
Jewish Columbia professor: “I don't think that people think that Israel is a unique example of evil in the world….[but] it couldn’t do what it’s doing without the support of the United States. So students in the U.S. think: ‘We have a responsibility.’”
The entire world should be shocked by the level of violence that a Democratic Mayor, Governor, and President are willing to use to stop students from criticizing America’s support for Israel.
“We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”
More and more Jews are making clear that their Jewish values lead them to speak out against Israel.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby calls South Africa’s 84-page suit accusing Israel of genocide “meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
The White House just compared “anti-Israel protesters” — the phrase used by the Fox News reporter in his question — to the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville.
Just to be clear: The Anti-Defamation League is calling a Jewish director who won an Oscar for his film about the Holocaust "morally reprehensible".
There is no depth that pro-Israel organizations will not go to smear Jews who dare to speak out in support of Palestinians.
Israel is not hijacking Judaism or the Holocaust by defending itself against genocidal terrorists. Glazer’s comments at the
#Oscars
are both factually incorrect & morally reprehensible. They minimize the Shoah & excuse terrorism of the most heinous kind.
Thank you President Sian Leah Beilock of
@dartmouth
for protecting all students’ right to learn in a safe environment while upholding the value of freedom of speech. We applaud your leadership at a challenging moment.
Obama: “What Hamas did was horrific, and there is no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation, and what’s happening to Palestinians, is unbearable…
“You have to admit that all of us are complicit to some degree.”
Absolutely sick to watch people twist Jonathan Glazer’s courageous words to make it out as if he is rejecting his Jewish identity. It’s the opposite.
He used his platform to make it clear that his Jewishness compels him to speak out against Israel’s occupation & assault on Gaza.
Lighting a menora in 1931 Germany to assert pride in your Jewish identity in the face of Hiter's terrifying rise is not comparable to lighting a menora in Gaza to assert Jewish dominance over Palestinian land in a military campaign that has killed thousands of civilians.
Historic: A Jewish socialist Senator running for President is defending a hijab-wearing Muslim socialist Congresswoman on America’s most popular white nationalist media outlet.
@bungarsargon
You’re lying about what they said by adding a period in the middle of their sentence. They clearly meant they refute the way their Jewishness has been hijacked.
You’re supposed to be a journalist.
“We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”
More and more Jews are making clear that their Jewish values lead them to speak out against Israel.
The white nationalist who shot up a synagogue today also publicly claimed responsibility for trying burn down a nearby mosque a month ago. He is *literally telling us* that he wants to kill Jews and Muslims.
That’s why we have to fight white nationalist violence together.
If you are more angry about student anti-war protests at Columbia than the fact that last night Israel bombed southern Gaza, killing 22 people, including 18 children, then you are on the wrong side of history.
If you’re an American Jewish young person signed up for a Birthright trip this winter, do not go. You’ll spend ten days being spoon fed propaganda while — just a few miles away — millions of Palestinians are starving and worried about if they will survive Israel’s next bombing.
If Palestinians were shooting live ammunition and throwing grenades at Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall during the High Holidays, it would receive swift international condemnation.
You only see this differently if you value Jewish lives more than Palestinian lives.
Israeli forces are throwing stun grenades and shooting rubber bullets at Palestinians inside Al Aqsa mosque, effectively trapping them inside. Dozens are wounded, but medics are not being allowed through to treat the injured.
“Death to Arabs” is a slogan literally calling for genocide.
“From the river to sea, Palestine will be feee” is a slogan demanding equal rights for Palestinians.
The two are not comparable.
The “Uncommitted” MN campaign launched 8 days ago with $20,000 to spend on reaching voters. Tonight it is winning 20%, will surpass 40,000 total votes, and will be sending delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Earn our votes,
@JoeBiden
. Stop funding Israeli war crimes.
Tonight
@JoeBiden
was interrupted thirteen times by pro-ceasefire Democrats. He ignored most of them, just like he's ignored the movement supported by the majority of Democrats. The political reality is that he can't defeat Trump if he continues to ignore the base of the party.
A hospital. Where people fleeing their homes were promised it was safe. A hospital. Full of those who had already survived deadly air strikes. A hospital. Where courageous doctors and nurses continued to do their job, in spite of the war around them. A hospital.
I cannot believe how few politicians went to this vigil mourning both Israelis and Palestinians. During the two separate vigils mourning Israeli lives, hundreds of politicians showed up.
So deeply sad to see how many clearly value Israeli lives over the lives of Palestinians.
Tonight, I stood with my colleagues to remember the thousands of lives lost in Israel and Gaza.
Too many innocent lives have been lost. We need a permanent ceasefire to prevent more death and violence.
80% of Democratic voters support a ceasefire.
50% of Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 believe that Israel is committing genocide.
Instead of listening to their voters, the Democratic Party establishment are blaming Russia.
Nancy Pelosi: Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza "is Mr. Putin's message... Make no mistake, this is directly connected to what he would like to see...
"I think some of these protesters are spontaneous and organic and sincere. Some I think are connected to Russia."
Going into Shabbat feeling utterly heartbroken. I’ve so many images of Palestinian parents weeping as they bury their children this week, killed by indiscriminate Israeli strikes. I am incredulous — and angry — at anyone who believes the continuation of this war is legitimate.
The breakthrough deal we got today was offered — and rejected by Netanyahu — in the early days of the war. Thousands of Palestinian lives could have been saved in these last few weeks.
5/6
I’m also thankful
@POTUS
did not heed calls for an immediate ceasefire weeks ago, as Israel could not have achieved this breakthrough had one occurred.
A unilateral ceasefire only serves Hamas terrorists, who broke a ceasefire on Oct. 7th - and vow to do so again and again.
When people deface Jewish cemeteries, it is rightly called out as disgusting antisemitism.
Now the Israeli military is defacing Palestinian cemeteries in the name of “security.” These callous acts only serve to dehumanize Palestinians more and bring us further away from peace.
Even the dead in Gaza can't escape Israeli brutality. This is the graveyard in Jabalia Camp where my fad was buried in February. I went to visit him in May. The Israeli tanks have now destroyed it, and my dad's grave has gone. I won't be able to visit or talk to him again
Yesterday, 21 Israeli soldiers were killed by a Hamas militant while setting up mines to blow up residential buildings (a war crime).
Yesterday, 195 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes while going about their lives.
Only one of these stories is getting headlines.
To Jews and others in the West who think that “from the river to the sea” is a call to annihilate Jews, please read this piece from
@YousefMunayyer
in
@JewishCurrents
:
This couple went to a peaceful protest with “JEW” written on her shirt, hoping to get yelled at. Instead she was ignored, with Jewish students holding a “Jews for Free Palestine” banner.
It’s not brave. It’s embarrassing and a shameful representation of our moral tradition.
100 separate weapons deals in 150 days. One every 36 hours.
Weapons to a government starving and displacing millions of civilians. Weapons to an army that has killed 25,000 women and children according to US government’s own internal estimates.
Shocking policy from
@JoeBiden
.
We’re just gonna act like it’s totally fine and not at all weird that a non-Jewish Congressman is determining the meaning of a Jewish holiday and using that to further a political agenda that countless Jews are vocally opposing?
A prominent Jewish member of Knesset shouted genocidal rhetoric to Palestinian politicians today — knowing full well he won’t be held accountable — but you’re still talking about how an author’s decision to not work with Israeli publishers is the reason there is no peace.
Netanyahu ally Bezalel Smotrich to Arab Knesset members: "You're only here by mistake, because Ben-Gurion didn't finish the job, didn't throw you out in '48. I have no dialogue with you at all," the self-described proud homophobe said, calling them enemies and terror supporters.
If you are referencing Ilhan Omar in your response to San Diego — or worse, blaming her for the attack — you are actively enabling the violent white nationalism that is killing American Jews.
Are university presidents really refusing to condemn calls to genocide Jews?
It’s not as simple as that. The “calls for genocide of Jews” is a reference to chants of intifada, which literally means “uprising” in Arabic.
(short 🧵)
How are we supposed to feel as American Jews after watching this? University presidents refusing to say that it’s harassment to call for the genocide of Jewish people. It’s only problematic if it’s put into action. What are we even talking about here?
For those not tracking, the internal dynamics in Israeli society are very tense. Right now, right-wing thugs are physically attacking anyone they identify as being against the war.
Incredible courage to speak out so publicly with such moral clarity.
"I'm not crying for my parents - I am crying for those who will lose their lives in this war. We must stop the war."
Powerful testimony from
@maozinon
on
@BBCNews
- just days after his parents, Bilha and Yakov, were killed by Hamas.
Now: Thousands of Jews in NYC at a Seder in the Streets to stop arming Israel as it bombs Gaza relentlessly. Passover is a holiday of freedom — there is no better way to mark it than being in the streets to end Israel’s unconscionable, daily violence.
There could be 1000 Jews out in NYC right now, making it clear that the Israeli government — and the American politicians giving them a green light — cannot use our grief to justify genocide.
*Inside a room of Democratic Party strategists*
“Ok so the base of our party is very disappointed & angry by a policy choice we made. What should we do?”
Strategist 1: Let’s engage and change course.
Strategist 2: Lets be condescending and mock them.
The Room: MOCK THEM YEA!
Three Jewish members of Congress are now backing a ceasefire, joining thousands and thousands of Jews who have been in the streets.
The tide is turning.
Shabbat shalom from Columbia’s Gaza solidarity encampment. Students decided to do the service by the gate so that suspended Jewish students could join the ritual.
A reminder that so many of the student protesters are proudly Jewish — and the repression does not keep anyone safe.
Many, many people worked harder to get the President of Penn to resign than to get Israel to stop its relentless bombardment of Gaza, where a Palestinian child is killed every ten minutes.
The utter disregard that those people have for Palestinian lives should shock you.
It is breaking my heart — and making me so so angry — that the Jewish state is intentionally starving people. We have survived such difficult times and now that we have power, we’ve forgotten what it was like.
Maybe the White House,
@jaketapper
, and others who are convinced that Columbia is unsafe for Jewish students because of the Gaza solidarity encampment should do what CNN reporters
@CelinaTebor
and
@zoe_sottile
did — talk to Jewish students at Columbia.
The Director of the JEWISH MUSEUM in BERLIN was just forced to resign after the museum tweeted an article about a petition by JEWISH ISRAELI ACADEMICS saying BDS is not inherently antisemitic. The pressure came from the Israeli government & Jewish establishment leaders.
🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
Turn the sound on. Listen to the eruption of joy when he says "The calls for a ceasefire are outrageous."
It is scary. This is a pro-war rally. The people at it are motivated by revenge.
This is one of the highest profiles examples being used to say that Columbia is antisemitic. Three things are true about these statements:
1) They are clearly antisemitic.
2) They were likely not made by Columbia students.
3) They were disavowed by Columbia student protesters.
Among the most shocking things I’ve seen: Dozens of Israelis blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
It goes against Jewish values: Jews are taught that to save a life is to save a whole world. It is a sick society to allow this to go unpunished.
A summary of the IDF’s current rules of engagement:
1) Set up arbitrary and unannounced “kill zones”
2) Shoot anyone who crosses the red line, trapping civilians Israel is starving in their homes
3) Claim that anyone killed is a terrorist to justify the continuation of the war
An associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, Raz Segal is clear: what’s happening in Gaza is “textbook case of genocide.”
The audacity to say “This is our lives on the line” as a student at one of the most elite universities in the world while Israel killed hundreds of Palestinian every day, while thousands of Palestinians are buried alive under the rubble of their homes.
The audacity. Shame.
"This is the same climate of antisemitism that has led to the massacre of Jews throughout the centuries. This is not just harassment. This is our lives on the line."
@MIT
student Talia Khan highlights the rise of antisemitism at MIT.
Rep. Bowman: Have you been to the West Bank?
Rep. Lawler: I've been to Jerusalem.
Bowman: You are speaking with a sense of authority as if you've been there. You have never been to the West Bank! You have never been stopped at a checkpoint.(continued…)
The Government of Israel, the IDF and the security services will continue the war in order to return home all of the hostages, complete the elimination of Hamas and ensure that there will be no new threat to the State of Israel from Gaza.
This is like
@ewarren
’s campaign calling Exxon executives to reassure them that a staffer who used to lead the effort to divest from fossil fuels on their campus is not advising their environmental policy.
I want to believe that the Warren campaign is better than this.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman on Columbia U arrests, congressional hearing:
“Palestinian freedom is not a threat to Jewish safety. And pretending that it is, makes a mockery of our shared humanity and progress toward our collective liberation.“
The United States sold Israel white phosphorous, which Israeli planes dropped onto civilian areas of Gaza. A war crime being funded by our tax dollars, justified by Jewish pain.
Several of these verified photos show M825 and M825A1 artillery shells, which are also labelled D528, the US Department of Defense Identification Code (DODIC) for white phosphorus-based rounds.
After Hamas’s misinformation about the Al Ahli Hospital attack in October, why would anyone — especially the media — believe Hamas about the convoy tragedy yesterday?
Hamas is a terrorist organization that thrives on false propaganda. Let’s wait to get more information.
"Rape is rooted not only in Hamas, it is in every level of the Arab society."
@RepDanGoldman
's wife liked this hateful, islamophobic rhetoric. Wow. Wonder what their dinner conversations are like...
New this morning: 500+ staff of over 140 Jewish organizations signed a letter calling for a ceasefire.
This is the first time so many staff from so many different Jewish institutions have ever come together on a letter in opposition to Israeli policy.
Pro-Israel talking heads are really on here saying, “I’m boycotting the award-winning Holocaust movie because of the comments of the Jewish director and you should too.”
The irony is almost too much to take.
New
@Reuters
poll:
68% of Americans support a ceasefire.
75% of Democrats, 50% of Republicans support a ceasefire.
Only 31% of Americans support sending Israel more weapons.
There is no justification for this horror. There is no excuse for
@JoeBiden
to continue sending billions in weapons to keep Israeli attacks on Gaza going.
Enough. Enough. Enough.
Thread of Israelis whose family were killed by Hamas militants or barely survived the attacks calling on their government to
#StopTheWar
and stop using their grief as an excuse for ethnic cleansing.
I am in awe of their courage and moral leadership.
Noi Katzman whose Brother Chaim was murdered by Hamas
“The most important thing for me and also for my brother, is that his death will not be used as a justification for killing innocent people”
This morning humanitarian aid trucks entered northern Gaza, residents surrounded the trucks and looted the supplies being delivered. As a result of the pushing, trampling and being run over by the trucks, dozens of Gazans were killed and injured.
I’m case you have not cried enough today.
Watch Andrés Cantor, the TV announcer for Telemundo, as he calls it for Argentina. He was born in Buenos Aires and, like Messi, moved away from home when he was very young.
No words for this.
Here’s “liberal” Israeli President Herzog writing a dedication on an Israeli missile that will be fired into Gaza — where 70% of casualties are women and children.
On Oct 13, he suggested civilians are legitimate targets: “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible.”
In this clip you lie, saying protesters pepper sprayed police. We have the proof that the opposite happened — police pepper sprayed a Jewish protest for a ceasefire.
Israel has killed around 7,000 children in less than two months.
If you do not believe this means its government is committing war crimes and should be held accountable, you live in an alternate reality. You are refusing to see facts. You are experiencing cognitive dissonance.
The White House will condemn isolated statements by random students but not the war crimes being committed by Israel with weapons that our government is giving them. What the hell are we doing here?
BREAKING: White House statement on anti-Israel protests at Columbia University:
“While every American has the right to peaceful protect, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly Antisemitic, unconscionable, and…
It is misleading to describe the
@WCKitchen
killing as an airstrike (singular). In actual fact 3 vehicles were targeted, with the first & last being over 2.4km apart. The IDF decided to make 3 targeted strikes, not one. Geolocation from
@m_osint
and
@ChrisOsieck
#Gaza