this article published in August 2023, sums up the repor submitted to the UN committee on Israel’s violations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with respect to Palestinians in Gaza during the march of the return 2018-2020.
White Americans will fight tooth and nail to protect their right to instantly shoot someone with a gun for entering their home illegally but as soon as it’s a marginalised Muslim community fighting back against settlers to decolonise land that was seized illegally, suddenly violence isn’t the answer. Get a grip
The craziest thing about Austen is she fully admits that being officious and shameless works! Mr. Collins got that amazing living from Lady Catherine for free, Lucy got Robert Ferrars and his fortune, it is strongly hinted that Mrs. Clay would have succeeded with Sir Walter if she had stuck with it…
The question that she poses instead is, “Was it worth it and who will you become?”
You cannot pursue wealth and status with your entire soul and come out the other side unscathed.
This is for people of Israel/anyone who supports Israel/anyone who wants to stay “neutral” about this genocide, remember that this is how your fav “defenders/heroes/government servants are supposed to be responsible” are talking about innocent Palestinians civilians:
If you choose not to speak on this matter, if you choose to not speak up for Palestinians, then be well assured, 100% guaranteed that what’s happening in Palestine can (and will if you let Israel get away with MASS MURDER) also just as easily happen to you, and then there will be other people who would stay “neutral” and silent on this matter.
If you think that the reason you’re not taking sides is because you don’t really know the situation that well, then EDUCATE yourself. It is your responsibility, as a fucking human, to do your research to stop and prevent such atrocities from being committed.
(I know, I FUCKING KNOW I have at least a few dozen followers from Israel/support Israel/ZIONISTS who are reading this and I know that your eyes may be blind, but your hearts aren’t. Don’t be a hypocrite, and don’t be ignorant)
I know for some of us, out here where I am in North America, it is tempting to say that we are too distant, too uninformed, not well-read enough on this conflict so far away to hold an opinion of it. To say that it is not our place to comment. Now is the time to become informed.
What Israel is doing, what our European, American, and Canadian governments are supporting, is genocide. It is ethnic cleansing. It is a holocaust.
The wold has agreed on a number of acts that are so cruel and inhumane that even in times of war, where murder is commonplace, they are forbidden. We call them War Crimes.
Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court tells us what war crimes are.
Wilful killing
Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments
Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health
Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly
Taking of hostages
Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities
Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives;
Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance or peacekeeping mission in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, as long as they are entitled to the protection given to civilians or civilian objects under the international law of armed conflict
Intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated;
Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives
Killing or wounding a combatant who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion
Intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives
Killing or wounding treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army
Declaring that no quarter will be given
Destroying or seizing the enemy’s property unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war
Declaring abolished, suspended or inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the nationals of the hostile party
Pillaging a town or place, even when taken by assault
Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;
Intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions
When I first heard that war had been declared, I know that I was reluctant to cast an opinion. There was too much history I was not familiar with. Political mechanisms I felt I could not navigate; uncomfortable topics I didn’t want to navigate.
As this has gone on, it has become impossible to pretend that there is a convenient middle ground to stand on. Israel is committing war crimes. They have violated the Geneva Conventions, and our allied countries are supporting it. This is an embarrassment, an indignity, and a spit in the face to the foundation of civilized human society.
I will say it again: We have a list of rules that we wrote, not solely for the dignity of our enemies, but also to preserve the humanity in ourselves.
By suffering to exist in a society that would allow these conventions to be violated, we are all reduced to animals.
I cannot promise that this is the last that I will speak on the matter, and perhaps it is not my place to speak at all. But regardless, for better or for worse, I have found myself in a position where my voice can be heard by thousands, and rare is there so clearly a time when such a power must be used, for the good of one’s own conscience if nothing else at all.
I have seen less and less posts about Palestine each day, and I want to remind people that there is still very much a genocide going on and Palestine has continued to be attacked.
I was asked why there’s a zionist claim that the Palestininian identity is not legitimate. And I think it’s important to understand why Palestinians as a whole are seen as a threat by Israel. To understand why it’s not about Hamas.
The claim is that the Palestininian identity was made up in order to push us out. Palestinian existence is a threat to the legitimacy of Israel as a country.
I was taught in school that Palestine was empty when we got here. They used a Mark Twain quote. It was a barren land full of swamps and some nomadic people (Beduins) but as soon as we wanted to come here, the awful antisemitic Arabs sent people to settle here before we could to take up the space. I was in school in the settlements though. I was taught the most extreme version of this.
Another version of this is that Palestine was never its own thing, they’re just Arabs the same as all Arabs from the surrounding countries. So they could just… scooch over and give us the space, please and thank you. In Israel no one uses the term Palestinian. If I do, people roll their eyes and dismissively go “Arab.” An Arab is an Arab. It’s a way to strip away their unique identity and blend them in with the rest to say they could always move to Jordan, or Syria, or Lebanon, and it’s all the same to them.
It’s a way to make Palestinian existence by itself into a malicious plot to deny us a homeland.
Because if Palestinians exist as a distinct group of people, we aren’t the only ones with a connection to this land. And you don’t create an ethnostate by sharing.
You still hear echoes of this mentality. Why won’t all these Muslim countries take the people of Gaza as refugees? That’s asking why they won’t let Israel make its ethnic cleansing more neat and convenient. Yes, refugees should be taken in and given shelter. But this question shifts responsibility away from Israel. Palestinians shouldn’t be forced suffer either ethnic cleansing that leaves them as refugees, or a genocide.
hey is it just me or should we be making a huge fucking deal over tumblr staff deleting a video that debunks IOF propaganda
ALT
(and while I’m at it here is the YouTube link to the video also. ive been trying to save/access it in the wayback machine to link that instead for archiving purposes but I’m having difficulties so I’ll try and add it later but if anyone else is able to add it sooner it’s appreciated)
“We know there are voices across the world calling for a ceasefire, but what everyone needs to understand is that the only people who stand to gain from halting the bombing campaign are people who deeply value human life,” President Biden said in an Oval Office address, adding that if Israel was not given time to collectively punish all 2.3 million people who live in Gaza, it would be a great victory for anyone who believes civilians are entitled to basic dignity and security for themselves and their families.
some of you only have a good understanding of the novel Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, as opposed to me, who has a spectacular, scholarly understanding of the novel Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
ALT
ALT
