Let's Play Social Justice

i really hate when ppl say "how can israelis carry out ethnic cleansing when their parents and grandparents fled the holocaust" -- partially bc it shows zero understanding of the militarized israeli psyche and how the holocaust plays a major role in state propaganda to garner support for endless occupation and apartheid, partially because there is no sociological research that shows that a group that has suffered genocide won't do the same thing to others

what i get much more caught up asking myself is: we are a people who deeply understands the yearning and the pain of diaspora. 3,000 years of psalms and prayers and songs and holidays and stories that remind generation after generation of where the jewish people came from -- not voluntarily, but through ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer and expulsion

and yet we chose to inflict the unspeakable pain of exile upon the palestinian people

It didn't feel right to let this sit in the tags. If you aren't comfortable with what I'm doing, please say so.

But if you’re gonna boycott Gal Gadot I hope you’re also going to boycott every American actor with a ‘support our troops’ sticker.

This is about Gal Gadot & Wonder Woman btw. I honestly don’t know enough about the wider situation to say whether or not her comments are boycott-worthy, but here’s some things to consider

The post she made:

In Israel, military service is mandatory - you do not have a choice.

The US & the UK is responsible for untold atrocities through our militaries and like @socialjusticeichigo says, it is not a controversial statement for Western actors to say ‘support our troops’. You need to think about if you’re holding Gal Gadot to harsher standards than you are Western actors.

This isn’t a value judgement either way on Gal Gadot and what she said, I’m still looking into more informed opinions about it, but it’s important to consider the above context when forming your opinion.

So the US along with Australia just voted no to the Palestinian statehood bid at the UN. They literally said that voting yes to a two state solution would hinder a two state solution. The hypocrisy of the US and other countries “exporting democracy and peace” is staggering. Shameful day for the USA.

An activist from the International Solidarity Movement blocks IDF soldiers from shooting at protesting Palestinians in Gaza, saying “You’re shooting at kids, don’t you understand that? Just pull back!“ [video]

Guys. This is a woman grappling with an armed soldier wearing nothing but a jacket.

I think we need to know her name.

Diana Prince 

this is why I wanted to be a war journalist. how powerful is this segment. why did it not make it on the news?

Because Western/US media supports Israel’s war crimes, just as the US funds and arms Israel’s ethnocidal regime.

In case anyone else is like me and didn’t get the Diana Prince joke at first and was super confused (Wonder Woman) and is curious to know who she is, she appears to be Huwaida Arraf (first link to her Twitter, second to her Wikipedia page).

thank you for the links and correct info, leggy

Illustrated poetry: ‘Oh rascal children of Gaza’

Rafah-born author and poet Khaled Juma wrote a heartbreaking tribute to the children of the Gaza Strip amidst the missiles striking his hometown. At least 506 Palestinian children have been killed since Israel commenced its latest invasion of Gaza on July 8, 2014

Photograph #1: A Palestinian boy, who fled with his family from their home during Israeli air strikes, bathes his brother at a United Nations-run school in the Jabalya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip on July 31, 2014. The school is a designated shelter for Palestinians who were displaced by Israel’s offensive. Photo credit: Mohammed Salem

Photograph #2: A Palestinian girl reacts at the scene of an explosion carried out by the Israeli military that killed at least eight children and wounded 40 more in a public garden in Gaza City on July 28, 2014. Photo credit: Finbarr O’Reilly

Photograph #3: A traumatized Palestinian child is comforted by a man arranging care for him in a hospital in Gaza City following an Israeli air strike on July 9, 2014. Photo credit: Momen Faiz

Photograph #4: A Palestinian child pulls out toys from a box at a local market in Gaza City during a temporary ceasefire on August 6, 2014. Palestinian and Israeli delegations met in Cairo with Hamas demanding an end to the siege on Gaza and Israel demanding a demilitarization of the territory. Photo credit: Lefteris Pitarakis

Photograph #5: A Palestinian boy sleeps at a United Nations-run school in Gaza City on July 14, 2014, after fleeing with his family from their home in Beit Lahya. Photo credit: Mohammed Salem

Photograph #6: Doctors tend to injured children while a young girl sitting on her mother’s lap cries at a hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on August 4, 2014. Photo credit: Eyad El Baba

Photograph #7: A Palestinian girl cries while being treated at a hospital in Beit Lahya following after sustaining injuries from an Israeli air strike on a United Nations school in the Jabalya Refugee Camp on July 30, 2014. Photo credit: Khalil Hamra

Photograph #8: Two Palestinians girls celebrate the first day of Eid Al-Fitr on the grounds of a United Nations school in the Jabalya Refugee Camp in the northern Gaza Strip on July 28, 2014. Their families are among the dozens that have fled their homes and sought refuge in the school. Normally, Muslim families in Palestine celebrate Eid Al-Fitr by visiting one another and gifting children with new clothes and shoes. Photo credit: Khalil Hamra

Photograph #9: One-and-a-half year old Razel Netzlream was killed after she was fatally hit by shrapnel from an Israeli air strike on an adjacent home the previous day. Her father carries her body to the funeral in Khan Younis on July 18, 2014. Photo credit: Alessio Romenzi

Photograph 10: A portrait of Shahed Quishta, 8, is fixed to a pillar in her home in Beit Lahya on August 16, 2014, after an Israeli tank fired a shell into the living room. She was killed on July 22, 2014. Photo credit: Khalil Hamra

Hollywood Studios Blacklist Penelope Cruz over Gaza Letter Accusing Israel of ‘Genocide’ | IB Times

Actress Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem have roused the fury of Hollywood producers, with pledges made to snub the Spanish couple.

Oscar-winner Bardem and Cruz signed an open letter speaking against “the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation army”.

The letter accused Israel of “advancing on Palestinian territories instead of withdrawing to the 1967 borders.

"Gaza is living through horror… while the international community does nothing."

The Spanish letter was signed by 100 leading figures in the film industry, including director Pedro Almodovar.

One top producer who has worked with Cruz says he privately has vowed not to hire her again, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Another top Hollywood executive also privately expressed his disapproval, saying he’s “furious at Javier and Penelope” and wasn’t sure about working with the Spanish couple again.

Relativity Media chief executive Ryan Kavanaugh was the only studio head willing to go public with his views: “As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I know that anyone calling what’s going on in Israel ‘genocide’ vs. self-defense is either ignorant and shouldn’t be commenting or is truly anti-Semitic.”

However, Kavanaugh doesn’t believe the letter will harm either of the actors’ careers as long as their films are box office hits.

As one film producer explained: “I think the thing any executive or producer will try to calculate before working with Penelope Cruz or Javier Bardem in the near future is what their value is in the all-important international marketplace. And what territories they might have alienated people in by what they said. It might not be that many. But it’s really all about business.”

Other Hollywood big names have waded into the controversy, including comedian Joan Rivers. When quizzed by a TMZ reporter on her thoughts about the 2,000 Palestinians who have so far been killed, she said: “Oh my God! Tell that to the people in Hiroshima.

"Good. Good. When you declare war, you declare war. They started it. We now don’t count who’s dead. You’re dead, you deserve to be dead. Don’t you dare make me feel bad about that.

"They were told to get out. They didn’t get out. You don’t get out, you are an idiot. At least the ones that were killed were the ones with low IQs."

(Photo Credit: Adrian Sanchez/Getty)

Add this to the list of reasons why HollyWhite needs to be dismantled

May all those racist producers’ movies flop 

Here’s the timeline:

Now:

Israel is abhorrent.

UNRWA is the UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees all over the Middle EAst. It’s short of resources under normal circumstances but right now it’s struggling to provide for the tens of thousands of people fleeing Israeli fire in Gaza right now. If you any ability to do so, please consider making a donation. If not, then please spread the word.

Even though there is currently a ceasefire in place, the refugees still haven’t been able to return to their homes, if they have homes left standing to return to. Many are also suffering from psychological problems as result of Israel’s campaign of terror in the last month. UNRWA has been stretched to its absolute limit and needs all the support it can get. So I ask again, please consider donating, and if you can’t, then spread the word.

DONATE TO UNRWA HERE

BBC: Biased Broadcasting & Censorship.