Thank you Bernie Sanders for speaking some truth to #Netanyahu.
Excerpt: Mr. Netanyahu. Antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But, please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government. Do not use antisemitism to deflect attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli courts. It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions.
One challenge of #Pesach ( #Passover ) is that besides doing a Seder or two, there is not a lot to do during the rest of the 7 (or 8, depending on your minhag) days of Passover besides maybe attending a festival service and of course avoiding chametz (grain products, except for Matzoh).
So I've been thinking about what I can do to make this time more meaningful. The theme of Passover is about #liberation and #peace, but that is, of course, a complicated thing when so many people, especially in #Palestine / #Israel, do not feel free or safe.
This reflects my intention for the upcoming season of #Pesach, to yearn for peace and liberation for all of the peoples who live in #Palestine / #EretzIsrael
Excerpt (Part 1/2): ...Spielberg said: “Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history – to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish.”
He added: “The echoes of history are unmistakable in our current climate. The rise of extremist views has created a dangerous environment, and radical intolerance leads a society to no longer celebrate differences but instead conspire to demonise those who are different to the point of creating ‘the Other’… This is happening alongside anti-Muslim, Arab, and Sikh discrimination. The creation of ‘the Other’ and the dehumanisation of any group based on their differences, is the foundation of fascism.”
Here are the words of Sophia Orr, a brave Israeli conscientious objector who is going to military prison rather than agreeing to serve in the IDF:
"I'm coming here today to refuse to enlist in the IDF, as an act of solidarity and love to the Palestinian people. And to say that war has no winners, that violence only leads to more violence, and that everyone's being held by this war and by the occupation, that the only way that we can ever solve this is by a political solution and to share peace to everyone.
It's also a message to the people of Gaza . . . (that) here are people fighting for them and that we are trying to make peace, some of us, and it's also a message to the people in Israel, to show them that refusing is possible, and to raise that message and to raise that voice as loudly as they can.
I'm seeing a lot of sources mischaracterizing what happened in the #ICJ (International Court of Justice) with regard to the state of #Israel and its actions in #Gaza.
While the court did not, unfortunately, order an immediate #ceasefire, neither did it give the state of Israel a green light to continue its current policies.
Read on in this thread for more discussion on the six specific orders...
Excerpt: Mustafa said that on the night of her son’s arrest, she told an Israeli official that both she and her son were U.S. citizens.
“I looked him in the eye, and I said: ‘What about my child’s rights? He’s a minor, an underage minor that holds an American citizen passport,’” Mustafa said. “He just looked at me and he said, ‘Your son doesn’t have rights in Israel.’”
Depiction of #WarCrimes by committed by #IDF but also bragged on by an IDF affiliated #Psyops unit, reported on by #HaAretz (a left-leaning Israeli newspaper)
Sharing this from one of my friends, a combat veteran who also has extensive background in the work of AI.
Excerpt: However, these are in fact not Kumbayah times and the government of Israel has in my opinion crossed a CLEAR boundary line. They have reportedly deployed truly autonomous weapons systems in Gaza where the AI is deciding who to suggest that they kill.
I'm proud to be one of the signers of this statement. I'm hoping many more of my colleagues and friends in #Jewish organizations will join in this important statement.
That said, this line from the story is inaccurate: "Most signed anonymously for fear of their jobs."
Actually, most of us signed our names. A significant number did sign anonymously, but not a majority.
What a luxury and privilege it is to sit back and sagely proclaim that one is "against all violence." Such talk is truly a luxury of the privileged, to which not everyone can afford access.
In the real world, difficult choices must be made, and sometimes they involve legitimate violence, in self-defense, to protect or rescue innocents, to prevent even greater violence, and even to administer justice.
It is very important to be clear in one's own mind about the cost and the value of different deployments of violence.
Everyone one has the right to be a pacifist and to "turn the other cheek", but no one has the right to demand that others live by their personal pieties.
Justice and ethics are too pressing for such small-scale personal piety.
If only we actually could say truthfully that "violence is not the way." Tragically, sometimes violence is exactly the only way.