it’s not a war on terror, it’s genocide. it’s settler colonialism, forced occupation, and it is now a clear genocide of palestinians in gaza. while it is CRUCIAL that we acknowledge antisemitism and it’s rise, and allow no place for it in our action, we CANNOT dismiss the ethnic cleansing of palestinians and the xenophobic, racist ideals that america has perpetuated against brown people (specifically in the middle east as well) regardless of it’s debated right to exist as a state, the israeli military is committing genocide, committing war crimes, targeting refugees and hospitals, and DENYING humanitarian aid to gaza. this is genocide and we must speak clearly on that — and when we do, we must speak to tigray, congo, rohingya, east turkestan (uyghur autonomous region in china), sudan, and the historical revisionism of armenian genocide in turkey as well — genocide does not happen out of nowhere, it does not exist in a vacuum, it is ALWAYS preventable. that’s what i think :)
your thoughts are a good start, conversation is a good start, it’s deeply important to speak our confusions and fears. but it is deeply dangerous to fall into the belief that the oppressed are in the wrong for facing their oppressors. from the river to the sea 🍉
It’s fascinating how those with limited knowledge and understanding are able to aggregate all grievances under one colonized/colonizer umbrella using the overly simplistic oppressed/oppressor heuristic.
As the granddaughter of Armenian genocide survivors, I kindly ask you to rethink the simplicity with which you’ve engaged with this particular conflict.
I missed your from the river to the sea. Now I understand fully your intentions. It seems it isn’t genocide you have an issue with...just certain genocides.
i beg your pardon? while i admit that i AM still learning historical context in relation to the genocide actively occurring in gaza, i work in antigenocide education. i’m not at all ‘simply’ engaged with this, and have done much to try and bridge the gaps of my views and understandings with people i know who are heavily and abundantly anti-palestine. your family history is your business, and i would never overstep in that way — i am not implying that all genocide is the same and takes the same form, through settler colonialism and forced occupation, my point here is that when discussing active genocides we must be aware of OTHER active genocides as well, and refuse to be silent. hope that clears things up for you
Apologies if I offended you. I was taken by the assertion that some atrocities are perfectly acceptable, regardless of their horrific nature as long as you can label one side the colonized/oppressed and the other side the colonizer/oppressor. Accuracy is irrelevant. Your arguments sound like the exact talking points handed out in every liberal college that fails to urge its students to grapple with contextual complexity and diverse ideas. You apply a heuristic that is simplistic and faulty, admit you don’t know the full history, yet say with certainty this is genocide. Do you see the disconnect?
Have you ever heard of the term pathological altruism? It’s a fascinating concept that may shed light on how and why we define events (and people) the way we do when seeking “social justice.” I appreciate the work that you do. I’m certain you mean well and will likely figure this all out with time and experience.
I may not agree fully with Misha’s statement, but he appears to understand the complexity and addresses it with some reverence. I sense you may learn far more from his approach than he yours.
I agree in large part with your comment. From the beginning in the efforts to colonize Palastine, in the 1890s with Hertzl, the objective was th "take back" Isreal,, seeing the Palastinians from the viewpoint of Europeans as dirty. Lazy, backwards, savages. They wanted, with the Belfour Agreement to completely remove, by any means, including genocide, remove all Palestinians. From the very beginning, the invading Europeans have had the full force and support of first the British and then the US military most up to date and sophisticated weapons and technologies. They use these against countries with mush less sophisticated militaries.
Attached are Ben Gurion's own word about the destruction of Palastine and the surrounding Arab countries and his vision for the expansion of Isreal. His comments and actions began well before WWII or the establishment of the Jewish state. An examination of the actions of Isreal since the passing of Ben Gurion demonstrate that nothing has changed since these statements were made. In fact, despite Isreal's presentation to the world as victims, their strongman intention to annihilate Palastine and Palastinians remains intact. Their continued pattern of ignoring intelligence, despite the best American made intelligence gathering equipment and a world leading intelligence service, demonstrates they create opportunities to retaliate with responses for in excess of initial attack- prolonged bombing and the October response as prprime examples.
Unfortunately, no amount of intervention by our government, or any outside government, to negotiate a cease fire will be successful until the Isreali government has destroyed every Palestinian. They've waited 130 years for this and finally have their chance. It's sad but true. History is a bitter teacher. The people who were forced from their homes and discriminated against have short memories.
Lest you think I myself am anti-sematic, i am Jewish. My grandparents was forced from Russisa in 1890 and 1902 in pograms. They faced anti-Semitic here in the US tried looked to create the same difficulties for others. The taught us history so we understood ppeace and acceptance for others.
No way you're going to read this, but for others who are interested in learning more:
First of all - there is no time to debate! We need ceasefire now!
I am Palestinian and I am devastated every day, both by the escalation of violence that will not stop and the dehumanizing rhetoric I encounter no matter where I turn - especially when it comes from artists who have brought me so much joy, and who I believe have a good heart! This is not a religious conflict (I'm literally Christian lol!), this is Indigenous peoples resisting a colonial entity. We need ceasefire NOW and burying that call to action in this piece is so, so sad. We all need to be doing whatever we can to stop the expulsion of people in Gaza, to stop the killing of children. When the government votes to silence the only Palestinian American in congress, what other responsibilities do we have but to continue to fight for what she, too, fights for?
On Twitter, you said genocide is not the right word - again, devastating thing to see, after you do acknowledge the continued ethnic cleansing of my people. No one gets a monopoly on the language of genocide. I don't think you'll listen to a Palestinian, but there are Israeli genocide and holocaust scholars who call this is a "textbook" case.
I would really, really encourage you to check out the resources at the website decolonizepalestine.com, especially on the origins of Zionism. From the founder of the ideology himself, in a letter to famous colonizer Cecil Rhodes:
“You are being invited to help make history,” he wrote, “It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor ; not Englishmen, but Jews . How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial.”
Criticizing Hamas, whatever. No, they are not the Palestinian people, but that's not really the issue right now. We give billions of dollars to Israel every year, if they really wanted to take out all of Hamas, they could! It's easy to find specific people. The technology exists; they do not. They want the land. Gaza is not a sovereign state, (which you do recognize), it is an occupied territory under siege. There is little other option for people in Palestine besides violent resistance; in 2018, during the Great March of Return, thousands of Palestinians participated in a march at the border fence that keeps in them in the open-air prison that is Gaza. This was a peaceful protest, peaceful action against their occupation; they were met with violence. https://jewishcurrents.org/we-are-always-met-with-violence-gazas-march-of-return-at-one-year
Alternate forms of resistance, such as the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, is criminalized in states all over the US - another non-violent alternative, and yet, limited. Placing economic pressure and sanctions is how apartheid in South Africa ended. If you truly believe in brokering peace, you would commit to the BDS movement and encourage others to.
Israel is not good for anyone; the founding of the state requires a collapsing and erasure of the diversity of Jewish identity. The creation of Israel caused suppression and loss of so many Jewish dialects of Arabic, the suppression of Yiddish, the recreation of a vibrant religion. Israel depends on global antisemitism to construct itself as a safe-haven for Jewish people -- but, it is only specific types of Jewish people who are truly
Re: hostages, Hamas literally tried to negotiate more hostages and Israel said no lol. That government does not care about their citizens. Additionally, there are THOUSANDS of Palestinians held by the Israeli government right now, many of them with no idea why. Are they not hostages?
I don't want anyone to die. Before the creation of Israel, people from all over the world lived in Palestine (Even though we were under the occupation of the British!). Jerusalem was full of different neighborhoods and had its own culinary culture distinct from other parts of Palestine because of this. Jewish Palestinians did not want the state of Israel, they wanted to continue to live with their fellow Palestinians in co-existence. It is not antisemitic to criticize a nation-state, it is necessary, just as we criticize the US (which is also a settler-colonial country, built on the genocide of Indigenous people.) It is not antisemitic to simply call for CEASEFIRE.
"When we say, for example, Israel has a right to defend itself, we’re also saying that Palestinian lives are not equal to any other lives that we deem superior to them. And I think that we have not repeatedly asked the question in American media and culture: Do you believe that Palestinian lives are equal to Israeli lives and to Jewish lives? There are many, Jewish people among them, who believe the answer is yes. But there are many more who haven’t even entertained the question honestly. And I think the importance of the question is to go beyond the moral lip service reflex of saying, “Of course, yes,” because to say “yes” means that you have to believe in the equal humanity of Palestinians as a political condition for freedom. When we hear about all the stuff from Blinken or Biden, it is really a language that says, “We believe that the Palestinians have rights when we decide that they have equal rights. We will put it on the back burner.” Always on the back burner.
And what I say is that we have reached a point where the murder and the destruction of Palestinian lives has reached a point of every time it reaches, it goes up higher, escalates in what is permissible about destroying Palestinian lives. We are not just talking about the numbers of the dead. We are talking about 2 million people who are living a life worse than death, and they have to overcome that and the trauma, that is unspeakable. And I do not expect the U.S. media and mainstream media or politics to even care about this. The ghosting continues."
Thank you for writing this! I adored Misha but I do not agree with his stance. I really hope he sees this and gets a better idea about this issue. Maybe it's not too late for him to show the same energy he showed for the Ukraine issue.
Also, who is dehumanizing who? Who is getting called non-human animals? Who is called "children of darkness" by Official government Twitter accounts? Whose children are writing their names on their arms so someone can identify them? Whose children aren't getting to see their first birthday?
Additionally, many of the Israeli lives in the initial attack were military personnel - when we talk about civilian deaths, the vast, disproportionate majority of those are Palestinian. There is no reason for holding back or obscuring what needs to happen NOW, which is CEASEFIRE.
I tend to think the dead, mutilated, and raped bodies of women being paraded in the streets to cheers of Palestinians were pretty dehumanized. You have to know there’s raw footage being circulated and sadly, Hamas did this conflict no favors by broadcasting the atrocities on Telegram. The speed with which this protests began without even acknowledgement of the 10/7 atrocities...even you are, “yeah, whatever” ...definitely impacted how average folks view this conflict. It’s a shame more voices didn’t denounce the atrocities of Hamas as loudly as the “gas the Jews” voices. We might be in a very different place if they did.
,🤷🏽♂️gave us a proof on what hammas does to babies infact even the captives being released was for medical purposes and (( the children beheading stories were as simple as a lie ))
more over the nowday 5 days ceize fire were on replacement of 50 captives by women and kids 🤷🏽♂️hamas had no womens or kids so was it from ( incaptivating normal population that israel do all time ) let alone hamas 350 captives in compare to 2 million prisoners in israeli prisons
,🤷🏽♂️gave us a proof on what hammas does to babies infact even the captives being released was for medical purposes and (( the children beheading stories were as simple as a lie ))
more over the nowday 5 days ceize fire were on replacement of 50 captives by women and kids 🤷🏽♂️hamas had no womens or kids so was it from ( incaptivating normal population that israel do all time ) let alone hamas 350 captives in compare to 2 million prisoners in israeli prisons
Of all the people Misha should listen to is you! I hope he reads these replies and use your sources. It's not to late to change one's mind and admit they got it wrong!
He’s grown, he should’ve done the research himself, it’s best to just block him, he shows support to Joe Biden and hanged out with mark hamil who is a Zionist not that long ago, he is all for Israel but doesn’t want to say, in fear of losing fans aka money
Garbage. It isn’t always about money. His essay is balanced and boils it down to the basic fact that people are being killed and that’s the biggest atrocity on both sides of the conflict. Everyone else wants to sit this war squarely in the political arena when it involves so much more than that. I agree that the numbers from one side to the other are not comparable in 99 ways. But the 100th way is: people are dying. The ONLY thing to stop the death and destruction of human life is CEASEFIRE NOW. Putting his ideas or mine or Summer’s or anyone else’s on blast does NO ONE inside the war any good.
I understand you want to help, but what's written here in support of Israel is propoganda specifically designed to paint themselves as victims. The issue with this is that it is not a debate nor a discussion; there is overwhelming proof of the global north's personal interest in funding Israel and this should quite frankly be enough to question why these governments continue to push these myths that are reflected here. As a society we tend to bash those who fight back instead of questioning why they were put in this position in the first place. To simply claim that there is fault on both sides is injust and unfair. This is not a war, this is a genocide acted upon Palestinians. They should not be condemned for fighting back, they should not be portrayed as villains for wanting to protect themselves. The world was silent during the Palestinian genocide until they fought back, is that not suspicious? Is it not worth wondering why global north is suddenly so invested? It doesn't take much research to see that Israel is sponsored by global north countries. We need to pressure these countries who sponsor Israel for a ceasefire. We must stop invalidating a genocide by insinuating both sides are equally responsible. A stance that blames both sides is exactly what allows for this violence to continue. Please be wary of where you get your sources and consider who else benefits from this
I live in Israel and a lot of what you write is true but you need to understand that it's not all black and white. What hamas did on 7/10 is not something that this country and people can forgive and forget. It's was an Attempted genocide, they kill and torture so many innocent civilians (both in the festival and their homes) .
(Hamas not even hiding this. I don't recommend this but if you want to see some of the things that happened [from hamas Body cameras] you can go on telegram and search "Hamas" and watch their videos, you can see exactly what happened there, I'll say it again I really don't recommend this but it's your choice...
there is a full movie of 44 minutes that you can watch, "gal gadot" and "Alona tal" Screened it for some people in Hollywood yesterday)..
We can't just put are weapon down when there are still so many civilians who still Kidnapped by Hamas.
Israel cares about The people in Palestine more than Hamas!!!
You don't find that weird that there are so many Arab countries but still no one takes them?
There are 2 million Arabs in Israel but not one Israeli in Gaza...
Hamas uses Palestinians as Human Shield, they hide under hospitals and places that they know the idf not going to bomb
(The hospital that got bomb in Gaza is from The rockets of the Islamic Jihad, I have a lot of videos to show you if you want).
By the way, they don't want a two-state solution, Israel give them a lot of opportunities to do it but they don't want it, you probably heard of ״from the river to the sea Palestine will be free"
That means from Jordan river to the sea (all Israel) will be free (from the Jews),The intent of the trial is genocide...
A lot of people also forget how they Celebrated in Gaza on 9/11, In Israel it was a day of mourning and in Gaza it was a day to celebrate.
Israel is the only country that 4000 of her civilians got killed and 250 got kidnapped and people still don't think we have the right to protect ourselves.
Hamas=isis
(They even found isis flag on one of the Hamas terrorist).
(Also I have dyslexia so I'm sorry if there are spelling mistakes)
Israel cares more about the people in palestine than hamas?
You mean the same israel telling people to evac and then bbkng the evacuation route? the same people bombing hospitals and bakeries and water tanks? That same israel?
At least they told Palestine they were going to retaliate which is a damn sight more than HAMAS did on October 7th. Hamas are a terrorist organisation and while they are involved in this conflict there will be no peaceful conclusion. I don't agree with the oppression Israel have had over Palestine or the taking of their land but what HAMAS did is unforgivable and Israel are naturally going to retaliate even if it is wrong. HAMAS is the cause of a lot of Palestinian deaths
Israel would be insane to think that their oppression of Palestine would not lead to a radicalized group like Hamas, which is comprised of mostly orphans from the previous attacks Israel had done on Palestinians.
Hamas is a direct result of the "oppression Israel have had over Palestine" and the "taking of their land", as you point out.
Without Israel's displacement of Palestinians since the Nakba and their subsequent occupation and apartheid, Hamas would not exist. Therefore, Israel is solely responsible for Palestinian deaths, and the attack on October 7th.
Israel never needed a reason to kill Palestinians before, so Israel's "retaliation" in response to the Hamas attack is really just more of the same. Except now they are bombing with the goal of taking Gaza completely as Israeli territory. And Israeli citizens can't wait to build a amusement park on the mass graves of Gazans.
If Israel cares so much then why haven't they allowed humanitarian aid in? If they are so great then why don't they want their hostages back? I am not going to sit here and argue with Zionists when the Jews of the WORLD are standing with Palestine. I'm grateful that @misha wants to learn and i am confident he will be on the right side of history. But I will warn Misha that once you see it. The propaganda. The "it's complicated" phrase to scare people from feeling stupid and telling them indirectly to stay out of it. Once you see it and open Pandora's box. You can't unsee it. You will see the corruption in the world. It's all about money and power at the expense of Palestinians 💔 and The Zionist get to steal the land 💔
There is a YouTube video with a man named Scott Ritter who's a former Marine intelligence officer. It's very eye opening.
You are not wrong. But I don't believe that both sides have elements that are equally bad. The entire situation is very one-sided. One side has the power and support. Gaza has neither.
I am angry. I have never liked our one sided support for Isreal. And now I am enraged by it.
I'm admittedly not as educated as you are (and also sick, and Autistic), and so I'm somewhat speechless in the face of this well-written argument, but it sTILL feels like a "Peace without justice" kind of vibe and still feels a lot like the people who can't stop both-sidesing the /genocide/ that is going on of the Palestinian people, lest they be accused of some kind of antipathic bigotry.
You left out a LOT of what's going on, like how Israel basically BUILT Hamas and how Bibi insisted people who wanted to "thwart the Palestinian state" SHOULD support them. How they've been using Hamas's reactive violence in the face of apartheid and genocide for a long time, to "justify" what they basically admit is unrepentant, unremitting genocide, and this is just another leg of that particular process. How most Israelis put this "war" (it's not a war, it's not a conflict, it's a genocide; but you're right that it won't stop until all is gone, if Israel's government is left to continue) and all of the actions of Hamas AND of Israel exclusively at his feet. How none of what they're doing even makes SENSE if they want the hostages supposedly brought back safe, but it makes sense if that's a ploy to justify attacking Palestinians until, to paraphrase, "no human being can exist [in Gaza]".
There are a LOT of people, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, atheist, whatever, condemning this /as a genocide/ and demanding that REGARDLESS of what happens with Hamas, the ceasefire must prevail, not once but ALWAYS, and Palestine needs to be freed of Israeli violence and control. Why can't you do that? Why does what you 'think' involve so much lowkey ass-covering for Israel's actions? It's not okay, at this moment, to get into the conversation and dodge that word as it happens before our eyes. Or to agree that Israel has any RIGHT to any of it.
It seems obvious to me, looking at what's happening, that if Hamas were gone, if Palestine remained in any way a viable state after that happened, Israel's government will just build and support another Hamas to continue to justify their unregulated, inhumane endless attacks on Palestine. That's part of why I say, you cannot agree that Israel has any right to any of it: so long as you agree with that, their propaganda is working and Palestine will remain always in danger. That's part of why you lay the entire thing at the feet of Israel's government.
Hi Misha, I want to thank you for what you wrote, it takes a lot of courage to bring such an opinion these days.
And on another note, I have a question for people who are so opposed to the struggle for peace, and take support of one side and encourage the destruction of the other side. What is your strong and very unequivocal opinion based on? Apart from online articles I presume. I see so many people say Israel is an apartheid state which I find far from reality. I'm an Israeli, and before you lose your shit. NO I do not support the deaths of inecent civilians in Gaza. And YES I can differentiate the Hamas from the Palestinians people. But from personal exprience I find the sayin "apartheid" very untrue. I grew up in a small city with many israeli-arabs and we both go to the same school with the same classe. We have the same friends, the same right to vote and the same opportunities for what ever career path we either choose.
And to the occurent of the war I don't see that communionship break but on the contrary. For example in my street lives Yusuf–a Palestinian constraction worker, and his one of the nices people I met. Since the occur of october seventh he hasn't taken one moment to gloat on others pains, but rather mourned their losses. And when Israel's goverment decided to attack Gaza, I can ensure you no one cheered on the danger of his family members there but rather prayed for their safety.
The conflict is difficult but should not be result on sides but rather be fought for peace. And I know there will always be the extremes on each end that would rather rejoice on the others suffering. But we don't define a community on their small extreme percent. Because I know most Israelis and Palestinians would not wish upon each others death.
Hassan is a Palestinian, and the son of the Hamas founder. He has seen firsthand of the brutality Hamas is capable of. And in my opinion knows much more, and cares much more about the situation than any of those "middle east experts" who suddenly popped out around the world.
I replied to your tweet but wanted to expand a bit on my response. I’m quite fond of you and respect your dedication to using your platform to speak on issues such as this, but your language towards Israel is too kind for the type of brutality and inhumane behavior they’ve displayed not only over the past month, but the past few decades. While I don’t disagree that post-holocaust, Jews deserve to have a place they call home, that does not mean that they have the right to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes. It does not give them the right to occupy their land by military oppression. They are an apartheid regime disguising themselves as a legitimate government and taking the US’s tax money to commit unspeakable war crimes against Palestine. Palestinians don’t have an army. They don’t have any branch of military. The power dynamic is CLEAR. My mother is Jewish, my Grandmother...and what happened to their people is horrible, which is why it sickens me to watch Israelis commit the same crimes against Palestinians under the name of a beautiful religion that doesn’t reflect these horrors at all. Amnesty International’s Secretary General said it best: “Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act.”
Conversation is always important and you asking for our opinions is noted and appreciated, but there are no two-sides here, this is genocide. I used to have faith in a two-state solution, but after a lot of time spent educating myself, it’s clear to me that the only just solution is to give Palestinians back control of THEIR homeland.
Hi, although I appreciate and understand your concern for the Palestinians. I find many of your words incorrect and even insulting in this regard. I am an Israeli, so to say that the Israelis collectively as people commit crimes against the Palestinians, that are comparable in some way to the atrocities that happened in the Holocaust, in my opinion, is simply untrue and very inflammatory. There is a big differences between the Israelis and the Israeli government just as there is a big differences between the Palestinians and Hamas. The extreme small percentage who support both should not define these two communities. You can search and see that a few months before the war, more than thousands of Israelis protested against the Israeli government and its conduct. AND EVEN TODAY. Thousands of Israelis are protesting against the government's focus on attacking instead of finding a way to return the hostages:
But what worries me the most in the statement is the saying that Israel is an apartheid state. Apartheid by definition is the African word for separation, which means, apartheid is a system of legal racial segregation that values white people over people of color. So honestly, I don't understand to who Israel is doing apartheid... Is it the Palestinians in Gaza? Because it doesn't make sense, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Is it against the thousands of Palestinian workers in Israel? Since a Palestinian construction worker lived on my streets, I did not recall him being at any disadvantage compared to the Israelis. He did not receive different wages from Jewish workers, he was not segregated and treated differently. On the contrary, he was quite loved at our neighborhood and was pleasant to those around him.
So if apartheid was not committed to those mentioned in these two scenarios, then who is it aimed at? Israeli-Arabs? It sure doesn't seem that way, considering that they are permanent residents with full civil rights and freedom of religion, and that's without mentioning the fact that there is a large percentage of Israeli Arabs who volunteer in the police as well as in the army. There are judges and even eleven parliment members who are muslim.
But speaking from experience I live in a small city with many Israeli-Arabs, and it doesn’t Matter if it’s close friends from school or simply coworkers. we see each other as equals. And so many others:
I won't even speak of the difference between civilian casualties being held hostage by their own government - and a deliberate sadistic massacre that brought our (Israeli) rage upon Gaza. I could be overemotional about the horror Hamas inflicted. Just one fact - Israel does not occupie Gaza. We left it in 2005, and we only dream of one thing - that they leave us alone. Gaza has a big border with Egypt, but no one speaks of Egyptian occupation of Gaza, why is that? Why won't they let the people of Gaza in? Why do we need to be slaughtered, just because we built a life for ourselves?
I've lost all faith in everything good in this world since October 7. I honestly think the world has gone completely insane. And you just proved it. My heart is broken, all our hearts bleed constantly because we know the people who were killed personally, and we fear for our lives and we constantly hide from rockers, BTW ain't it weird that Gaza has no water or food, but plenty of rockets? But , no matter how broken our hearts are, no matter how alone we feel - our spirit is strong, and we won't let anyone slaughter us just so casually. I am an atheist, so I cannot pray, but I hope that you will see the truth before it's too late.
Agreed for the most part. Unsure how useful the “calls for ceasefire” can really be, though, since Hamas have said they will not respect any ceasefire. Is it possible to negotiate with terrorists? Should Israel even try? When one side’s position is “the other side should not exist” how does one negotiate a lasting peace with that? (I have been looking to Egypt and wondering if perhaps they could intervene and try to broker some kind of peace. Or at least open the Rafah border and welcome in the Palestinian civilians who would like to be out of the firing line (a mammoth task that perhaps Egypt doesn’t want responsibility for.) A temporary solution only, of course, but it would no doubt save many lives in the short term. UN agencies would at least be able to get people medical care, food, water and shelter if Egypt opened the border to refugees.)
I'm against violence of any type, it doesn't matter the country, religion, color of skin etc. This situation remembers me somehow to AlQeda or ISIS groups, that's not the point, sorry. Look, my country for example🇲🇽 has been accused that we're all dangerous & this is a bad place to live &even that we're violent for the things that happens all the time with those involved in cartels & those things, but those are the groups, no because they're bad news, me too for example, right? So I believe same goes for these groups like Hamas, once again I'm against of violence, not against the people living in the place where those groups live, makes sense? So that's what I said few days ago "No more war" The fact that people fight against whoever gives an opinion about this, speaks volumes to me of why we keep having these situations, many people are in war with themselves, which is sad & because of that they're against whoever thinks the opposite to them. Like the Hamas group got it?
Also, everytime I've been trying to aboard this topic boom! "No, you need to learn the story of Palestine, or Israel" or "no jewish are not like that for this & that" & I'm like, relax I'm saying I'm against Hamas group only & the terrorism they're causing, but Misha many people are soooo passionate about it, that no matter what, the conversions were ending in discussion, that's one of the problems to talk about this publicly like you said. I'm not afraid & I wish I could have a powerful voice like yours to raise my voice too & be listened, but instead, what I receive? Fanatic people trying to convince me I'm wrong & why & attacking me (I'm referring to social media) So it's complicated to raise the voice with people that believe what they believe & nothing can't change their mind. Violence is wrong & some of them are like, yes they deserve it! I'm like oh no! For those wondering why the world is what it is, I believe that right there is the answer. A lot of people have became cold, indifferent & negative & in that are the roots of so many bad situations like those. Also wrong people in power heartless, that don't care about humans being just power, money & control, that's always their goal & that sucks.
Thank you for always raising your voice! Respect for that!
It’s not genocide. No other ‘genocidal’ force rings up people in the area and gives them advance warning of the fact they are going to bomb an area and tell people they need to leave for their safety. What they are doing, the removal of basic needs, is tantamount to war crime though.
I don’t condone how heavy Israel have gone. Or the fact they have killed 2/3rds women and children. I don’t condone the daily attacks on a people who are ultimately unable to protect themselves. But the reality is Hamas do nothing to protect their people in Gaza. They have the capability to build tunnels but do not use that to build adequate shelters to protect their own civilians. That means Hamas are equally as culpable in the killings as Israel. They use their own people as human shields because the sad reality is every death furthers their cause. They could wipe Gaza off the map and that would be a win for Hamas.
The problem is people believe everything they read in the media. And they tailor their own reading to what one side or the other are saying. Unless you work in this area or you are living these experiences, you don’t know the reality of what is going on.
While I’m glad and truly grateful you’re calling for a cease fire because you have a platform. I do think that a lot of the wording and phrasing is a little too charitable to the Israeli. What’s happening is not just an atrocity it is literal, genocide and ethnic displacement. This did not start on October 7th it’s also frustrating that you don’t seem to mention that Israel did, in fact create Hamas as a strategic move to continue Zionist plans for ethnic genocide. It’s not pretty to hear it’s not fun to say but it’s the literal truth and the is really government has even said so themselves. When you push people taking away all their civil liberties, they’re homes, encourage settlement terrorism by literally bringing your soldiers, and allowing them to defend people taking Palestinian’s homes, taking away their food, taking away everything from them. You give many of them no other choice but to join this organization even if you don’t agree with them morally. Israel has also assassinated, so many peaceful liberation activist leaving only left Hamas. Why would do this? Well, like the fascist government said it’s in order to force people into conflating, Palestinian liberation with terrorism. And I do not say fascist government lightly their have been literal fascist and holocaust revisionist in the Israeli government and that’s fucking crazy. this zionist movement goes way further than you actually may realize. For me personally, I do truly think that the only way to actually be peaceful and librated. Is a one state solution of a non-religious government that’s not led by the current Israeli government or Hamas and it will be called a Palestine because at the end of the day that land was theirs first. You also don’t seem to really understand that Israel is not exactly defending themselves by any means. Carpet bombing the entire area will kill the civilians hostages and they are absolutely okay with that because it’s not defending its people it’s giving them the opportunity to kill as many Palestinians as possible and I think you really need to acknowledge that. If you truly knew what it’s like to live in Gaza, you would know that there is very much a good guy and a bad guy in the situation. The good guys are the Palestinian people that have been living under oppression their entire lives. The bad guys are the Israeli government. I don’t know why you would even try to act like that’s not the case. Also, yeah, of course Israel is going to have constant threat. It’s an illegal occupation. It was given to them by the British someone who did not have any authority into giving the land to them. The Palestinians were absolutely their first it is their land let’s not get that confused. It’s not incredibly complicated that dates back centuries into where the religion began. This has nothing to do with religion. This is about Zionism and we need to call it that. Is there antisemitism and anti-Jewish rhetoric in this conversation absolutely we can acknowledge that too but to not mention that many Jews and holocaust survivors haven’t condemned the Israeli government for committing genocide is just too charitable to the government that’s committing genocide to me.
There was no “two sides”, “it’s extremely complex”, and “ no obvious good guy or bad guy” when it came to South African apartheid. It was very clear who is the bad guy Nelson Mandela himself was considered a a terrorist, and was even put on the United States terrorist watchlist. And when you consider that he himself even said "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians” idk to me it becomes very clear who is objectively in the wrong here
Okay I'm gonna try my best to put all the words going in my head in coherent sentences now so here we go.
Misha I love you and I respect you soo much that's why I'm gonna say all this now .
What you wrote is fine it's your choice not to take a side and it's fine . My issue is not calling what's happening right now in Palestine a genocide..because Misha unfortunately IT IS.
If you look up the definition of genocide you will get this : the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.
And that's exactly what's happening right now there , they don't care who they're killing at this point kids , women , men ..ect they're bombing everything hospitals, schools, churches, mosques..ect they're killing everyone in the most brutal way.
Netanyahu doesn't give a shit, for him everyone in Palestine is Hamas he wants to keep bombing until there's nobody left what and that's full on genocide.
Kids don't deserve this families don't deserve this ..all I'm asking from you is to look deeper look at the truth that's right in front of us ignore the news look at what the Palestinian journalists are documenting, look how what Israel is doing beyond wrong it's against human rights in every term possible.
So yeah please Misha I know you listen to us and you want to help and you can by searching and learning more about this and seeing how again what's happening in Palestine is GENOCIDE and it needs to stop.
This is the best and most concise piece I’ve seen written about this awful conflict. It’s not up to us (our governments) to take sides, we should be striving to bring peace to this region. Misha, you have written this piece from both sides and I cannot see how anyone can assume you are favouring one party over another.
it’s not a war on terror, it’s genocide. it’s settler colonialism, forced occupation, and it is now a clear genocide of palestinians in gaza. while it is CRUCIAL that we acknowledge antisemitism and it’s rise, and allow no place for it in our action, we CANNOT dismiss the ethnic cleansing of palestinians and the xenophobic, racist ideals that america has perpetuated against brown people (specifically in the middle east as well) regardless of it’s debated right to exist as a state, the israeli military is committing genocide, committing war crimes, targeting refugees and hospitals, and DENYING humanitarian aid to gaza. this is genocide and we must speak clearly on that — and when we do, we must speak to tigray, congo, rohingya, east turkestan (uyghur autonomous region in china), sudan, and the historical revisionism of armenian genocide in turkey as well — genocide does not happen out of nowhere, it does not exist in a vacuum, it is ALWAYS preventable. that’s what i think :)
your thoughts are a good start, conversation is a good start, it’s deeply important to speak our confusions and fears. but it is deeply dangerous to fall into the belief that the oppressed are in the wrong for facing their oppressors. from the river to the sea 🍉
It’s fascinating how those with limited knowledge and understanding are able to aggregate all grievances under one colonized/colonizer umbrella using the overly simplistic oppressed/oppressor heuristic.
As the granddaughter of Armenian genocide survivors, I kindly ask you to rethink the simplicity with which you’ve engaged with this particular conflict.
I missed your from the river to the sea. Now I understand fully your intentions. It seems it isn’t genocide you have an issue with...just certain genocides.
i beg your pardon? while i admit that i AM still learning historical context in relation to the genocide actively occurring in gaza, i work in antigenocide education. i’m not at all ‘simply’ engaged with this, and have done much to try and bridge the gaps of my views and understandings with people i know who are heavily and abundantly anti-palestine. your family history is your business, and i would never overstep in that way — i am not implying that all genocide is the same and takes the same form, through settler colonialism and forced occupation, my point here is that when discussing active genocides we must be aware of OTHER active genocides as well, and refuse to be silent. hope that clears things up for you
Apologies if I offended you. I was taken by the assertion that some atrocities are perfectly acceptable, regardless of their horrific nature as long as you can label one side the colonized/oppressed and the other side the colonizer/oppressor. Accuracy is irrelevant. Your arguments sound like the exact talking points handed out in every liberal college that fails to urge its students to grapple with contextual complexity and diverse ideas. You apply a heuristic that is simplistic and faulty, admit you don’t know the full history, yet say with certainty this is genocide. Do you see the disconnect?
Have you ever heard of the term pathological altruism? It’s a fascinating concept that may shed light on how and why we define events (and people) the way we do when seeking “social justice.” I appreciate the work that you do. I’m certain you mean well and will likely figure this all out with time and experience.
I may not agree fully with Misha’s statement, but he appears to understand the complexity and addresses it with some reverence. I sense you may learn far more from his approach than he yours.
I agree in large part with your comment. From the beginning in the efforts to colonize Palastine, in the 1890s with Hertzl, the objective was th "take back" Isreal,, seeing the Palastinians from the viewpoint of Europeans as dirty. Lazy, backwards, savages. They wanted, with the Belfour Agreement to completely remove, by any means, including genocide, remove all Palestinians. From the very beginning, the invading Europeans have had the full force and support of first the British and then the US military most up to date and sophisticated weapons and technologies. They use these against countries with mush less sophisticated militaries.
Attached are Ben Gurion's own word about the destruction of Palastine and the surrounding Arab countries and his vision for the expansion of Isreal. His comments and actions began well before WWII or the establishment of the Jewish state. An examination of the actions of Isreal since the passing of Ben Gurion demonstrate that nothing has changed since these statements were made. In fact, despite Isreal's presentation to the world as victims, their strongman intention to annihilate Palastine and Palastinians remains intact. Their continued pattern of ignoring intelligence, despite the best American made intelligence gathering equipment and a world leading intelligence service, demonstrates they create opportunities to retaliate with responses for in excess of initial attack- prolonged bombing and the October response as prprime examples.
Unfortunately, no amount of intervention by our government, or any outside government, to negotiate a cease fire will be successful until the Isreali government has destroyed every Palestinian. They've waited 130 years for this and finally have their chance. It's sad but true. History is a bitter teacher. The people who were forced from their homes and discriminated against have short memories.
Lest you think I myself am anti-sematic, i am Jewish. My grandparents was forced from Russisa in 1890 and 1902 in pograms. They faced anti-Semitic here in the US tried looked to create the same difficulties for others. The taught us history so we understood ppeace and acceptance for others.
I forgot my attachment for the Ben Gurion article referenced in my comment. So sorry. Here's the link.
https://www.progressiveisrael.org/ben-gurions-notorious-quotes-their-polemical-uses-abuses/
Lier lier pants on fire.
No way you're going to read this, but for others who are interested in learning more:
First of all - there is no time to debate! We need ceasefire now!
I am Palestinian and I am devastated every day, both by the escalation of violence that will not stop and the dehumanizing rhetoric I encounter no matter where I turn - especially when it comes from artists who have brought me so much joy, and who I believe have a good heart! This is not a religious conflict (I'm literally Christian lol!), this is Indigenous peoples resisting a colonial entity. We need ceasefire NOW and burying that call to action in this piece is so, so sad. We all need to be doing whatever we can to stop the expulsion of people in Gaza, to stop the killing of children. When the government votes to silence the only Palestinian American in congress, what other responsibilities do we have but to continue to fight for what she, too, fights for?
On Twitter, you said genocide is not the right word - again, devastating thing to see, after you do acknowledge the continued ethnic cleansing of my people. No one gets a monopoly on the language of genocide. I don't think you'll listen to a Palestinian, but there are Israeli genocide and holocaust scholars who call this is a "textbook" case.
https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide
I would really, really encourage you to check out the resources at the website decolonizepalestine.com, especially on the origins of Zionism. From the founder of the ideology himself, in a letter to famous colonizer Cecil Rhodes:
“You are being invited to help make history,” he wrote, “It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor ; not Englishmen, but Jews . How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial.”
This is cited in this section - https://decolonizepalestine.com/introduction-to-palestine/
Criticizing Hamas, whatever. No, they are not the Palestinian people, but that's not really the issue right now. We give billions of dollars to Israel every year, if they really wanted to take out all of Hamas, they could! It's easy to find specific people. The technology exists; they do not. They want the land. Gaza is not a sovereign state, (which you do recognize), it is an occupied territory under siege. There is little other option for people in Palestine besides violent resistance; in 2018, during the Great March of Return, thousands of Palestinians participated in a march at the border fence that keeps in them in the open-air prison that is Gaza. This was a peaceful protest, peaceful action against their occupation; they were met with violence. https://jewishcurrents.org/we-are-always-met-with-violence-gazas-march-of-return-at-one-year
Alternate forms of resistance, such as the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, is criminalized in states all over the US - another non-violent alternative, and yet, limited. Placing economic pressure and sanctions is how apartheid in South Africa ended. If you truly believe in brokering peace, you would commit to the BDS movement and encourage others to.
https://bdsmovement.net/
Israel is not good for anyone; the founding of the state requires a collapsing and erasure of the diversity of Jewish identity. The creation of Israel caused suppression and loss of so many Jewish dialects of Arabic, the suppression of Yiddish, the recreation of a vibrant religion. Israel depends on global antisemitism to construct itself as a safe-haven for Jewish people -- but, it is only specific types of Jewish people who are truly
"safe". https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2013-01-27/ty-article/.premium/ethiopians-fooled-into-birth-control/0000017f-f512-d044-adff-f7fb92c30000
Re: hostages, Hamas literally tried to negotiate more hostages and Israel said no lol. That government does not care about their citizens. Additionally, there are THOUSANDS of Palestinians held by the Israeli government right now, many of them with no idea why. Are they not hostages?
I don't want anyone to die. Before the creation of Israel, people from all over the world lived in Palestine (Even though we were under the occupation of the British!). Jerusalem was full of different neighborhoods and had its own culinary culture distinct from other parts of Palestine because of this. Jewish Palestinians did not want the state of Israel, they wanted to continue to live with their fellow Palestinians in co-existence. It is not antisemitic to criticize a nation-state, it is necessary, just as we criticize the US (which is also a settler-colonial country, built on the genocide of Indigenous people.) It is not antisemitic to simply call for CEASEFIRE.
I lied here's more - Palestinian American doctor & poet Fady Joudah. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/9/fady_joudah_family_killed_by_israel
"When we say, for example, Israel has a right to defend itself, we’re also saying that Palestinian lives are not equal to any other lives that we deem superior to them. And I think that we have not repeatedly asked the question in American media and culture: Do you believe that Palestinian lives are equal to Israeli lives and to Jewish lives? There are many, Jewish people among them, who believe the answer is yes. But there are many more who haven’t even entertained the question honestly. And I think the importance of the question is to go beyond the moral lip service reflex of saying, “Of course, yes,” because to say “yes” means that you have to believe in the equal humanity of Palestinians as a political condition for freedom. When we hear about all the stuff from Blinken or Biden, it is really a language that says, “We believe that the Palestinians have rights when we decide that they have equal rights. We will put it on the back burner.” Always on the back burner.
And what I say is that we have reached a point where the murder and the destruction of Palestinian lives has reached a point of every time it reaches, it goes up higher, escalates in what is permissible about destroying Palestinian lives. We are not just talking about the numbers of the dead. We are talking about 2 million people who are living a life worse than death, and they have to overcome that and the trauma, that is unspeakable. And I do not expect the U.S. media and mainstream media or politics to even care about this. The ghosting continues."
Thank you for writing this! I adored Misha but I do not agree with his stance. I really hope he sees this and gets a better idea about this issue. Maybe it's not too late for him to show the same energy he showed for the Ukraine issue.
Anyway last thing. Misha, you're a poet! Join poets in some non-violent resistance and boycott the Poetry Foundation, which is complicit in silencing pro-Palestine voices (among many many other things!), until they commit to PACBI. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O3oj57qClwFuOCyj7lpraWI5AYUSRupPcNuT69_wIe4/edit
Also, who is dehumanizing who? Who is getting called non-human animals? Who is called "children of darkness" by Official government Twitter accounts? Whose children are writing their names on their arms so someone can identify them? Whose children aren't getting to see their first birthday?
Additionally, many of the Israeli lives in the initial attack were military personnel - when we talk about civilian deaths, the vast, disproportionate majority of those are Palestinian. There is no reason for holding back or obscuring what needs to happen NOW, which is CEASEFIRE.
I tend to think the dead, mutilated, and raped bodies of women being paraded in the streets to cheers of Palestinians were pretty dehumanized. You have to know there’s raw footage being circulated and sadly, Hamas did this conflict no favors by broadcasting the atrocities on Telegram. The speed with which this protests began without even acknowledgement of the 10/7 atrocities...even you are, “yeah, whatever” ...definitely impacted how average folks view this conflict. It’s a shame more voices didn’t denounce the atrocities of Hamas as loudly as the “gas the Jews” voices. We might be in a very different place if they did.
You are so vile
If you think I’m bad, you should see what Hamas does to babies.
,🤷🏽♂️gave us a proof on what hammas does to babies infact even the captives being released was for medical purposes and (( the children beheading stories were as simple as a lie ))
more over the nowday 5 days ceize fire were on replacement of 50 captives by women and kids 🤷🏽♂️hamas had no womens or kids so was it from ( incaptivating normal population that israel do all time ) let alone hamas 350 captives in compare to 2 million prisoners in israeli prisons
,🤷🏽♂️gave us a proof on what hammas does to babies infact even the captives being released was for medical purposes and (( the children beheading stories were as simple as a lie ))
more over the nowday 5 days ceize fire were on replacement of 50 captives by women and kids 🤷🏽♂️hamas had no womens or kids so was it from ( incaptivating normal population that israel do all time ) let alone hamas 350 captives in compare to 2 million prisoners in israeli prisons
I think all the Hamas fan fiction goes on another Substack. I’m sure if you search for Hamas fantasy fiction you’ll find it. Good luck!
Of all the people Misha should listen to is you! I hope he reads these replies and use your sources. It's not to late to change one's mind and admit they got it wrong!
Thank you, i hope so too 🥲♥️
Lots of people care about what Misha thinks, and should; he's generally kind. But nobody should care a whit about what YOU think, 'Trans Loving T-RF'.
He’s grown, he should’ve done the research himself, it’s best to just block him, he shows support to Joe Biden and hanged out with mark hamil who is a Zionist not that long ago, he is all for Israel but doesn’t want to say, in fear of losing fans aka money
Garbage. It isn’t always about money. His essay is balanced and boils it down to the basic fact that people are being killed and that’s the biggest atrocity on both sides of the conflict. Everyone else wants to sit this war squarely in the political arena when it involves so much more than that. I agree that the numbers from one side to the other are not comparable in 99 ways. But the 100th way is: people are dying. The ONLY thing to stop the death and destruction of human life is CEASEFIRE NOW. Putting his ideas or mine or Summer’s or anyone else’s on blast does NO ONE inside the war any good.
I understand you want to help, but what's written here in support of Israel is propoganda specifically designed to paint themselves as victims. The issue with this is that it is not a debate nor a discussion; there is overwhelming proof of the global north's personal interest in funding Israel and this should quite frankly be enough to question why these governments continue to push these myths that are reflected here. As a society we tend to bash those who fight back instead of questioning why they were put in this position in the first place. To simply claim that there is fault on both sides is injust and unfair. This is not a war, this is a genocide acted upon Palestinians. They should not be condemned for fighting back, they should not be portrayed as villains for wanting to protect themselves. The world was silent during the Palestinian genocide until they fought back, is that not suspicious? Is it not worth wondering why global north is suddenly so invested? It doesn't take much research to see that Israel is sponsored by global north countries. We need to pressure these countries who sponsor Israel for a ceasefire. We must stop invalidating a genocide by insinuating both sides are equally responsible. A stance that blames both sides is exactly what allows for this violence to continue. Please be wary of where you get your sources and consider who else benefits from this
Hi misha.
I live in Israel and a lot of what you write is true but you need to understand that it's not all black and white. What hamas did on 7/10 is not something that this country and people can forgive and forget. It's was an Attempted genocide, they kill and torture so many innocent civilians (both in the festival and their homes) .
(Hamas not even hiding this. I don't recommend this but if you want to see some of the things that happened [from hamas Body cameras] you can go on telegram and search "Hamas" and watch their videos, you can see exactly what happened there, I'll say it again I really don't recommend this but it's your choice...
there is a full movie of 44 minutes that you can watch, "gal gadot" and "Alona tal" Screened it for some people in Hollywood yesterday)..
We can't just put are weapon down when there are still so many civilians who still Kidnapped by Hamas.
Israel cares about The people in Palestine more than Hamas!!!
You don't find that weird that there are so many Arab countries but still no one takes them?
There are 2 million Arabs in Israel but not one Israeli in Gaza...
Hamas uses Palestinians as Human Shield, they hide under hospitals and places that they know the idf not going to bomb
(The hospital that got bomb in Gaza is from The rockets of the Islamic Jihad, I have a lot of videos to show you if you want).
By the way, they don't want a two-state solution, Israel give them a lot of opportunities to do it but they don't want it, you probably heard of ״from the river to the sea Palestine will be free"
That means from Jordan river to the sea (all Israel) will be free (from the Jews),The intent of the trial is genocide...
A lot of people also forget how they Celebrated in Gaza on 9/11, In Israel it was a day of mourning and in Gaza it was a day to celebrate.
Israel is the only country that 4000 of her civilians got killed and 250 got kidnapped and people still don't think we have the right to protect ourselves.
Hamas=isis
(They even found isis flag on one of the Hamas terrorist).
(Also I have dyslexia so I'm sorry if there are spelling mistakes)
Israel cares more about the people in palestine than hamas?
You mean the same israel telling people to evac and then bbkng the evacuation route? the same people bombing hospitals and bakeries and water tanks? That same israel?
are you for real???
you have drunk the koolaid so completely
At least they told Palestine they were going to retaliate which is a damn sight more than HAMAS did on October 7th. Hamas are a terrorist organisation and while they are involved in this conflict there will be no peaceful conclusion. I don't agree with the oppression Israel have had over Palestine or the taking of their land but what HAMAS did is unforgivable and Israel are naturally going to retaliate even if it is wrong. HAMAS is the cause of a lot of Palestinian deaths
sources:
israeli citizens want an amusement park after gaza is a mass grave
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hasan_Piker/comments/178iirr/zionists_dreaming_of_building_an_amusement_park/
israelis want gazans eradicated so they can take the land and have nice hotels with a waterpark
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRv2CetV/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRv241MG/
israeli officials want to kill civilians
https://twitter.com/kthalps/status/1723538810221338973?t=HuEClImVv7TVmXj-Fll--w&s=19
Israel would be insane to think that their oppression of Palestine would not lead to a radicalized group like Hamas, which is comprised of mostly orphans from the previous attacks Israel had done on Palestinians.
Hamas is a direct result of the "oppression Israel have had over Palestine" and the "taking of their land", as you point out.
Without Israel's displacement of Palestinians since the Nakba and their subsequent occupation and apartheid, Hamas would not exist. Therefore, Israel is solely responsible for Palestinian deaths, and the attack on October 7th.
Israel never needed a reason to kill Palestinians before, so Israel's "retaliation" in response to the Hamas attack is really just more of the same. Except now they are bombing with the goal of taking Gaza completely as Israeli territory. And Israeli citizens can't wait to build a amusement park on the mass graves of Gazans.
If Israel cares so much then why haven't they allowed humanitarian aid in? If they are so great then why don't they want their hostages back? I am not going to sit here and argue with Zionists when the Jews of the WORLD are standing with Palestine. I'm grateful that @misha wants to learn and i am confident he will be on the right side of history. But I will warn Misha that once you see it. The propaganda. The "it's complicated" phrase to scare people from feeling stupid and telling them indirectly to stay out of it. Once you see it and open Pandora's box. You can't unsee it. You will see the corruption in the world. It's all about money and power at the expense of Palestinians 💔 and The Zionist get to steal the land 💔
There is a YouTube video with a man named Scott Ritter who's a former Marine intelligence officer. It's very eye opening.
https://youtu.be/2MnwX49UDiM?si=Wl6GZCdhYAu2eJ-Z
^ This is more propaganda.
You are not wrong. But I don't believe that both sides have elements that are equally bad. The entire situation is very one-sided. One side has the power and support. Gaza has neither.
I am angry. I have never liked our one sided support for Isreal. And now I am enraged by it.
Palestine actually has a lot of support within the region. Not all support is Western support.
That is good. And I know people around the world offer support, but I am still angry that my government keeps handing them bombs and making excuses.
I'm admittedly not as educated as you are (and also sick, and Autistic), and so I'm somewhat speechless in the face of this well-written argument, but it sTILL feels like a "Peace without justice" kind of vibe and still feels a lot like the people who can't stop both-sidesing the /genocide/ that is going on of the Palestinian people, lest they be accused of some kind of antipathic bigotry.
You left out a LOT of what's going on, like how Israel basically BUILT Hamas and how Bibi insisted people who wanted to "thwart the Palestinian state" SHOULD support them. How they've been using Hamas's reactive violence in the face of apartheid and genocide for a long time, to "justify" what they basically admit is unrepentant, unremitting genocide, and this is just another leg of that particular process. How most Israelis put this "war" (it's not a war, it's not a conflict, it's a genocide; but you're right that it won't stop until all is gone, if Israel's government is left to continue) and all of the actions of Hamas AND of Israel exclusively at his feet. How none of what they're doing even makes SENSE if they want the hostages supposedly brought back safe, but it makes sense if that's a ploy to justify attacking Palestinians until, to paraphrase, "no human being can exist [in Gaza]".
There are a LOT of people, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, atheist, whatever, condemning this /as a genocide/ and demanding that REGARDLESS of what happens with Hamas, the ceasefire must prevail, not once but ALWAYS, and Palestine needs to be freed of Israeli violence and control. Why can't you do that? Why does what you 'think' involve so much lowkey ass-covering for Israel's actions? It's not okay, at this moment, to get into the conversation and dodge that word as it happens before our eyes. Or to agree that Israel has any RIGHT to any of it.
It seems obvious to me, looking at what's happening, that if Hamas were gone, if Palestine remained in any way a viable state after that happened, Israel's government will just build and support another Hamas to continue to justify their unregulated, inhumane endless attacks on Palestine. That's part of why I say, you cannot agree that Israel has any right to any of it: so long as you agree with that, their propaganda is working and Palestine will remain always in danger. That's part of why you lay the entire thing at the feet of Israel's government.
Hi Misha, I want to thank you for what you wrote, it takes a lot of courage to bring such an opinion these days.
And on another note, I have a question for people who are so opposed to the struggle for peace, and take support of one side and encourage the destruction of the other side. What is your strong and very unequivocal opinion based on? Apart from online articles I presume. I see so many people say Israel is an apartheid state which I find far from reality. I'm an Israeli, and before you lose your shit. NO I do not support the deaths of inecent civilians in Gaza. And YES I can differentiate the Hamas from the Palestinians people. But from personal exprience I find the sayin "apartheid" very untrue. I grew up in a small city with many israeli-arabs and we both go to the same school with the same classe. We have the same friends, the same right to vote and the same opportunities for what ever career path we either choose.
And to the occurent of the war I don't see that communionship break but on the contrary. For example in my street lives Yusuf–a Palestinian constraction worker, and his one of the nices people I met. Since the occur of october seventh he hasn't taken one moment to gloat on others pains, but rather mourned their losses. And when Israel's goverment decided to attack Gaza, I can ensure you no one cheered on the danger of his family members there but rather prayed for their safety.
The conflict is difficult but should not be result on sides but rather be fought for peace. And I know there will always be the extremes on each end that would rather rejoice on the others suffering. But we don't define a community on their small extreme percent. Because I know most Israelis and Palestinians would not wish upon each others death.
Well said , very articulate and gives a different insight to conflict
Thank you, and for those who still struggle to fully understand what's going on, I suggest you hear what Mosab Hassan Yousef has to say:
- https://youtu.be/maqXf2Ckh40?si=XjLWLNoIN2ca4MOj
- https://youtu.be/k2BSDLFVT74?si=mArBYl_jnhEI82wx
Hassan is a Palestinian, and the son of the Hamas founder. He has seen firsthand of the brutality Hamas is capable of. And in my opinion knows much more, and cares much more about the situation than any of those "middle east experts" who suddenly popped out around the world.
I replied to your tweet but wanted to expand a bit on my response. I’m quite fond of you and respect your dedication to using your platform to speak on issues such as this, but your language towards Israel is too kind for the type of brutality and inhumane behavior they’ve displayed not only over the past month, but the past few decades. While I don’t disagree that post-holocaust, Jews deserve to have a place they call home, that does not mean that they have the right to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes. It does not give them the right to occupy their land by military oppression. They are an apartheid regime disguising themselves as a legitimate government and taking the US’s tax money to commit unspeakable war crimes against Palestine. Palestinians don’t have an army. They don’t have any branch of military. The power dynamic is CLEAR. My mother is Jewish, my Grandmother...and what happened to their people is horrible, which is why it sickens me to watch Israelis commit the same crimes against Palestinians under the name of a beautiful religion that doesn’t reflect these horrors at all. Amnesty International’s Secretary General said it best: “Our report reveals the true extent of Israel’s apartheid regime. Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. We found that Israel’s cruel policies of segregation, dispossession and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid. The international community has an obligation to act.”
Conversation is always important and you asking for our opinions is noted and appreciated, but there are no two-sides here, this is genocide. I used to have faith in a two-state solution, but after a lot of time spent educating myself, it’s clear to me that the only just solution is to give Palestinians back control of THEIR homeland.
Hi, although I appreciate and understand your concern for the Palestinians. I find many of your words incorrect and even insulting in this regard. I am an Israeli, so to say that the Israelis collectively as people commit crimes against the Palestinians, that are comparable in some way to the atrocities that happened in the Holocaust, in my opinion, is simply untrue and very inflammatory. There is a big differences between the Israelis and the Israeli government just as there is a big differences between the Palestinians and Hamas. The extreme small percentage who support both should not define these two communities. You can search and see that a few months before the war, more than thousands of Israelis protested against the Israeli government and its conduct. AND EVEN TODAY. Thousands of Israelis are protesting against the government's focus on attacking instead of finding a way to return the hostages:
- https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzmkHv3gS5f/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
But what worries me the most in the statement is the saying that Israel is an apartheid state. Apartheid by definition is the African word for separation, which means, apartheid is a system of legal racial segregation that values white people over people of color. So honestly, I don't understand to who Israel is doing apartheid... Is it the Palestinians in Gaza? Because it doesn't make sense, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Is it against the thousands of Palestinian workers in Israel? Since a Palestinian construction worker lived on my streets, I did not recall him being at any disadvantage compared to the Israelis. He did not receive different wages from Jewish workers, he was not segregated and treated differently. On the contrary, he was quite loved at our neighborhood and was pleasant to those around him.
So if apartheid was not committed to those mentioned in these two scenarios, then who is it aimed at? Israeli-Arabs? It sure doesn't seem that way, considering that they are permanent residents with full civil rights and freedom of religion, and that's without mentioning the fact that there is a large percentage of Israeli Arabs who volunteer in the police as well as in the army. There are judges and even eleven parliment members who are muslim.
But speaking from experience I live in a small city with many Israeli-Arabs, and it doesn’t Matter if it’s close friends from school or simply coworkers. we see each other as equals. And so many others:
- https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzbYtZ6M7DP/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- https://youtu.be/Bs94YDv3wj0?si=qIUHEo_u8RVbXvq1
I won't even speak of the difference between civilian casualties being held hostage by their own government - and a deliberate sadistic massacre that brought our (Israeli) rage upon Gaza. I could be overemotional about the horror Hamas inflicted. Just one fact - Israel does not occupie Gaza. We left it in 2005, and we only dream of one thing - that they leave us alone. Gaza has a big border with Egypt, but no one speaks of Egyptian occupation of Gaza, why is that? Why won't they let the people of Gaza in? Why do we need to be slaughtered, just because we built a life for ourselves?
I've lost all faith in everything good in this world since October 7. I honestly think the world has gone completely insane. And you just proved it. My heart is broken, all our hearts bleed constantly because we know the people who were killed personally, and we fear for our lives and we constantly hide from rockers, BTW ain't it weird that Gaza has no water or food, but plenty of rockets? But , no matter how broken our hearts are, no matter how alone we feel - our spirit is strong, and we won't let anyone slaughter us just so casually. I am an atheist, so I cannot pray, but I hope that you will see the truth before it's too late.
You were the only angel I believed in...
Anna.
Agreed for the most part. Unsure how useful the “calls for ceasefire” can really be, though, since Hamas have said they will not respect any ceasefire. Is it possible to negotiate with terrorists? Should Israel even try? When one side’s position is “the other side should not exist” how does one negotiate a lasting peace with that? (I have been looking to Egypt and wondering if perhaps they could intervene and try to broker some kind of peace. Or at least open the Rafah border and welcome in the Palestinian civilians who would like to be out of the firing line (a mammoth task that perhaps Egypt doesn’t want responsibility for.) A temporary solution only, of course, but it would no doubt save many lives in the short term. UN agencies would at least be able to get people medical care, food, water and shelter if Egypt opened the border to refugees.)
So here's the thing in my case
I'm against violence of any type, it doesn't matter the country, religion, color of skin etc. This situation remembers me somehow to AlQeda or ISIS groups, that's not the point, sorry. Look, my country for example🇲🇽 has been accused that we're all dangerous & this is a bad place to live &even that we're violent for the things that happens all the time with those involved in cartels & those things, but those are the groups, no because they're bad news, me too for example, right? So I believe same goes for these groups like Hamas, once again I'm against of violence, not against the people living in the place where those groups live, makes sense? So that's what I said few days ago "No more war" The fact that people fight against whoever gives an opinion about this, speaks volumes to me of why we keep having these situations, many people are in war with themselves, which is sad & because of that they're against whoever thinks the opposite to them. Like the Hamas group got it?
Also, everytime I've been trying to aboard this topic boom! "No, you need to learn the story of Palestine, or Israel" or "no jewish are not like that for this & that" & I'm like, relax I'm saying I'm against Hamas group only & the terrorism they're causing, but Misha many people are soooo passionate about it, that no matter what, the conversions were ending in discussion, that's one of the problems to talk about this publicly like you said. I'm not afraid & I wish I could have a powerful voice like yours to raise my voice too & be listened, but instead, what I receive? Fanatic people trying to convince me I'm wrong & why & attacking me (I'm referring to social media) So it's complicated to raise the voice with people that believe what they believe & nothing can't change their mind. Violence is wrong & some of them are like, yes they deserve it! I'm like oh no! For those wondering why the world is what it is, I believe that right there is the answer. A lot of people have became cold, indifferent & negative & in that are the roots of so many bad situations like those. Also wrong people in power heartless, that don't care about humans being just power, money & control, that's always their goal & that sucks.
Thank you for always raising your voice! Respect for that!
It’s not genocide. No other ‘genocidal’ force rings up people in the area and gives them advance warning of the fact they are going to bomb an area and tell people they need to leave for their safety. What they are doing, the removal of basic needs, is tantamount to war crime though.
I don’t condone how heavy Israel have gone. Or the fact they have killed 2/3rds women and children. I don’t condone the daily attacks on a people who are ultimately unable to protect themselves. But the reality is Hamas do nothing to protect their people in Gaza. They have the capability to build tunnels but do not use that to build adequate shelters to protect their own civilians. That means Hamas are equally as culpable in the killings as Israel. They use their own people as human shields because the sad reality is every death furthers their cause. They could wipe Gaza off the map and that would be a win for Hamas.
The problem is people believe everything they read in the media. And they tailor their own reading to what one side or the other are saying. Unless you work in this area or you are living these experiences, you don’t know the reality of what is going on.
While I’m glad and truly grateful you’re calling for a cease fire because you have a platform. I do think that a lot of the wording and phrasing is a little too charitable to the Israeli. What’s happening is not just an atrocity it is literal, genocide and ethnic displacement. This did not start on October 7th it’s also frustrating that you don’t seem to mention that Israel did, in fact create Hamas as a strategic move to continue Zionist plans for ethnic genocide. It’s not pretty to hear it’s not fun to say but it’s the literal truth and the is really government has even said so themselves. When you push people taking away all their civil liberties, they’re homes, encourage settlement terrorism by literally bringing your soldiers, and allowing them to defend people taking Palestinian’s homes, taking away their food, taking away everything from them. You give many of them no other choice but to join this organization even if you don’t agree with them morally. Israel has also assassinated, so many peaceful liberation activist leaving only left Hamas. Why would do this? Well, like the fascist government said it’s in order to force people into conflating, Palestinian liberation with terrorism. And I do not say fascist government lightly their have been literal fascist and holocaust revisionist in the Israeli government and that’s fucking crazy. this zionist movement goes way further than you actually may realize. For me personally, I do truly think that the only way to actually be peaceful and librated. Is a one state solution of a non-religious government that’s not led by the current Israeli government or Hamas and it will be called a Palestine because at the end of the day that land was theirs first. You also don’t seem to really understand that Israel is not exactly defending themselves by any means. Carpet bombing the entire area will kill the civilians hostages and they are absolutely okay with that because it’s not defending its people it’s giving them the opportunity to kill as many Palestinians as possible and I think you really need to acknowledge that. If you truly knew what it’s like to live in Gaza, you would know that there is very much a good guy and a bad guy in the situation. The good guys are the Palestinian people that have been living under oppression their entire lives. The bad guys are the Israeli government. I don’t know why you would even try to act like that’s not the case. Also, yeah, of course Israel is going to have constant threat. It’s an illegal occupation. It was given to them by the British someone who did not have any authority into giving the land to them. The Palestinians were absolutely their first it is their land let’s not get that confused. It’s not incredibly complicated that dates back centuries into where the religion began. This has nothing to do with religion. This is about Zionism and we need to call it that. Is there antisemitism and anti-Jewish rhetoric in this conversation absolutely we can acknowledge that too but to not mention that many Jews and holocaust survivors haven’t condemned the Israeli government for committing genocide is just too charitable to the government that’s committing genocide to me.
There was no “two sides”, “it’s extremely complex”, and “ no obvious good guy or bad guy” when it came to South African apartheid. It was very clear who is the bad guy Nelson Mandela himself was considered a a terrorist, and was even put on the United States terrorist watchlist. And when you consider that he himself even said "We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians” idk to me it becomes very clear who is objectively in the wrong here
This is probably the most balanced article I’ve read on this subject.
You are a very brave man, for even writing this, as there is so much shouting and vitriol on this subject.
Congratulations and thank you.
Okay I'm gonna try my best to put all the words going in my head in coherent sentences now so here we go.
Misha I love you and I respect you soo much that's why I'm gonna say all this now .
What you wrote is fine it's your choice not to take a side and it's fine . My issue is not calling what's happening right now in Palestine a genocide..because Misha unfortunately IT IS.
If you look up the definition of genocide you will get this : the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.
And that's exactly what's happening right now there , they don't care who they're killing at this point kids , women , men ..ect they're bombing everything hospitals, schools, churches, mosques..ect they're killing everyone in the most brutal way.
Netanyahu doesn't give a shit, for him everyone in Palestine is Hamas he wants to keep bombing until there's nobody left what and that's full on genocide.
Kids don't deserve this families don't deserve this ..all I'm asking from you is to look deeper look at the truth that's right in front of us ignore the news look at what the Palestinian journalists are documenting, look how what Israel is doing beyond wrong it's against human rights in every term possible.
So yeah please Misha I know you listen to us and you want to help and you can by searching and learning more about this and seeing how again what's happening in Palestine is GENOCIDE and it needs to stop.
Big love to you 💙
Couldn't have said it better myself!!🙌🏿🙌🏿
This is the best and most concise piece I’ve seen written about this awful conflict. It’s not up to us (our governments) to take sides, we should be striving to bring peace to this region. Misha, you have written this piece from both sides and I cannot see how anyone can assume you are favouring one party over another.