Free Palestine

I have never posted in this community before, despite the fact that I am a wildly political person. Honestly, I'm not sure why I've waited so long, I'm a person that really hates when people die for no reason I hate when people don't have autonomy over their bodies and that's what you can boil my politics down to, so there's been a lot to write about. Yet I haven't done it until this moment. Maybe I didn't want to open myself up to that kind of feedback, and we will see how this goes if I ever do it again.

That being said I am not the type of person to just dip my toe in. I'm going to take a goddamn nose dive.

Not only do I want a ceasefire, I would like Israel to pay for financially and otherwise for what they are doing to the Palestinian people.

I'm going to start out with my strongest argument and that is the evidence presented to us live by Palestinian journalist Motaz Azaiza. I was pointed in this direction by a tik tok talking about the sterilization of the genocide by mainstream media.

The reels are harrowing, and the words used to bring me there were "you won't be able to stomach it, but people are living it right now. So stomach it".

I could not stomach the videos. I made it through a little under a minute and had to turn it off. The Palestinian people have to deal with it twenty four hours a day seven days a week, and they have dealt with occupation for seventy-five years.

So here it is

content warning

blood.

dead bodies.

children injured.

missing limbs.

war.

genocide.

slaughter.

crimes against humanity.

hopelessness.

abuse of power.

father's tears.

mother's tears.

children's tears.

desperate prayer.

why. why. why.

It sounds the same in any language.

Why?

Let's go over the definition of genocide and the steps to it happening, you might find a few of these things happening in your country and think huh I didn't think we were there yet.

Merriam-Webster defines genocide as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.

Genocide doesn't just start though, there is a researched and peer reviewed ramp up that exists.

The Holocaust Museum designates ten steps to the build up of a genocide.

Step one: Classification: "The differences between people are not respected. There’s a division of ‘us’ and ‘them’ which can be carried out using stereotypes, or excluding people who are perceived to be different"

Step Two: Symbolisation: "This is a visual manifestation of hatred. Jews in Nazi Europe were forced to wear yellow stars to show that they were ‘different’"

Step Three: "Discrimination:The dominant group denies civil rights or even citizenship to identified groups. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship, made it illegal for them to do many jobs or to marry German non-Jews."

Step Four:"Dehumanisation – Those perceived as ‘different’ are treated with no form of human rights or personal dignity. During the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Tutsis were referred to as ‘cockroaches’; the Nazis referred to Jews as ‘vermin’."

Step Five: "Organization Genocides are always planned. Regimes of hatred often train those who go on to carry out the destruction of a people."

Step Six: "Polarisation – Propaganda begins to be spread by hate groups. The Nazis used the newspaper Der Stürmer to spread and incite messages of hate about Jewish people."

Step Seven: "Preparation – Perpetrators plan the genocide. They often use euphemisms such as the Nazis’ phrase ‘The Final Solution’ to cloak their intentions. They create fear of the victim group, building up armies and weapons."

Step Eight: "Persecution – Victims are identified because of their ethnicity or religion and death lists are drawn up. People are sometimes segregated into ghettos, deported or starved and property is often expropriated. Genocidal massacres begin."

Step Nine: "Extermination – The hate group murders their identified victims in a deliberate and systematic campaign of violence. Millions of lives have been destroyed or changed beyond recognition through genocide."

Step Ten: "Denial – The perpetrators or later generations deny the existence of any crime."

Now I've shown you proof that the state of Israel is hovering between Step Nine and Step Ten on there. Those videos by reporter Motaz Azaiza are proof. I'm going to try to point to some other obvious things that connect the state of Israel to a current genocide. Then I'm going to point you in the direction of voices that are more important than mine on this issue.

I also want to drive home the difference between the state of Israel and the Jewish diaspora. The overall Jewish diaspora does not want this to happen. They do not support it. Hate crimes have gone up against them as well. Jewish people got arrested calling for a ceasefire while occupying a government building, a Jewish rabbi stood up and demanded Joe Biden call for a ceasefire and was booed in the room. In fact some of the loudest voices opposing the genocide of the Palestinian people (outside of Palestinians themselves) have been Jewish.

This is a Netanyahu and his regime problem.

Hamas does not represent all of Palestine, it was however a response to seventy five years of oppression and control. That's the thing with western countries, we tend to see rebellion against occupiers as a bad thing.

What happened on October 7th was horrific.

I do wonder how the best military in the world missed the missiles, they have after all defended the homeland before from Hamas missiles. The Iron Dome is one Israel's prides after all, and the United States put a lot of money into it as well (1.6 billion with a B). I do wonder if a person in power was waiting for the right kind of thing to happen to indulge in his hatred.

To me there's no other excuse, someone treating the Palestinian people, their children, after all Palestine is half children. So the numbers you hear coming out of there (which are probably not accurate) at least half of them are kids. It must be hate. There's nothing else strong enough to do that to people.

I'd also like to talk censorship, there is a reason the header for this is a watermelon. It is because from 1967-1993 first the flag then the colors were banned from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Therefore the watermelon being the same color as the flag became something that represents it.

This kind of censorship still exists today, in fact leftists and supporters of Palestine use the watermelon to get around algorithms to make sure their videos are seen. They have begun to ask people to interact with their videos differently, telling people to comment "thanks for the makeup tutorial""can't wait for my trip! Thanks for the travel advice" to prevent algorithms from suppressing their voices. They've also advised people to interact with holiday ads with "free Palestine" you get the double joy of them using their money to advertise the cause.

If you would like a daily update watch this creators videos, she also has a website with what the words she's using mean.

If you would like a solid education as well as responses you might come across when talking about this. Follow this creator.

This creator goes over actions and things you can do. This is a video that shows Joe Biden's staff at a protest.

This video also breaks down the risk that the democrats are taking by running Biden in 2024. Many leftist's tipping points have been the response to the genocide.

Once again I would encourage you to support journalists and creators who represent who is actually being affected by this tragedy. Some of them are risking their lives, this website tracks journalist deaths.

This is a video of a Jewish Rabbi standing up asking Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire and getting hushed at a press conference.

This article is not as comprehensive as I would like it to be, and I encourage you to explore this yourself. The people who suffer most in war are always the civilians. This is one man, one administration enacting his rage on a people who cannot defend themselves.

"We teach life sir"

I'm going to keep updating this article as I get information. My partner pointed out some good Reddit pages for history, actions, and news.

History:

Edit: there are also genocides going on in Haiti, The Congo and Sudan.