Palestine

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12475922

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18719806

The musicians of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra have sensationally passed a vote of no confidence in their senior management, after an acclaimed pianist was removed from a performance because he spoke in support of journalists who died in Gaza.

“We believe it is the duty of senior management to lead and manage in accordance with the MSO’s Values and Behaviours, however it has become apparent that these values no longer appear to be aligned with those of the Orchestra and staff,” the letter read.

At a concert on Sunday, Jayson Gillham dedicated a solo to journalists in Gaza — then had his following concert on Thursday cancelled.

Link to original fully paywalled article

The Times reporting consistently condemns war crimes committed by Russia while in Gaza, it either obfuscates their nature or legitimizes Israel’s excuses for committing them. In Gaza the accusation that resistance fighters operate amongst civilians grants carte blanche for Israeli war crimes; in Ukraine the tactic is framed as that of a wily and brave resistance struggling against a military with vastly superior firepower. Ukraine’s “outgunned” army always needs more weapons, while the notion of The Times suggesting so for Hamas is absurd. And while the paper has provided in-depth coverage of the art and culture that is at risk of being lost in Ukraine, it has categorically ignored Israel’s violent campaign to erase Palestinian cultural production.

Conclusion:

The United States has a clear interest in painting Russia—one of its main geopolitical rivals—as the thuggish aggressor in Ukraine that commits war crimes for sport and presents an existential challenge to Western civilization. And it legitimizes its military aid and diplomatic support by portraying Ukrainians as the scrappy underdogs that resist in whatever way necessary (with Western weapons) to protect their homeland.

In Gaza, the United States has an interest in presenting Israel, its bedrock ally in the Middle East, as a nation defending itself from existential threats that is forced to make hard choices between destroying bloodthirsty terrorists and killing civilians en masse. Palestinian resistance has to be completely decontextualized, its motivations and history erased. It is necessarily presented as a cruel, ISIS-like beast which is driven by a single-minded desire to slaughter Jewish people.

Summary by brave leo :

• Yousef and Maisara, residents of al-Shuja’iyya, a neighborhood in Gaza City, chose not to evacuate despite the area being under siege by Israeli forces.

• Maisara, a resistance fighter with the Qassam Brigades, was killed by an Israeli drone in mid-July. Yousef, his best friend and a Hamas supporter, stayed behind to bury the dead and protect the neighborhood from looting.

• Yousef, who was not a member of the Qassam Brigades, wanted to be recruited to fight the invaders head-on. He was inspired by the courage of the fighters he had seen.

• The Israeli army launched two invasions of al-Shuja’iyya, in December and June, suffering heavy losses during the first battle. Yousef and his friends helped the fighters by bringing them food and providing reconnaissance.

• Yousef received military training from a young age through Hamas-organized summer camps, which provided youth with basic training.

• The text highlights the ongoing conflict and resistance in al-Shuja’iyya, with a focus on Yousef’s experiences and desires to contribute to the resistance.

"Objective reporting" btw.

Jordanian authorities are using the country’s new cybercrimes law to stifle expression, particularly pro-Palestine sentiment, leading human rights organisation Amnesty International has found.

At least 15 individuals have been prosecuted under the law after criticising authorities online, Amnesty’s report says.

The scope of crimes is also deemed broad, as people can be prosecuted for accusations such as “spreading fake news”, “provoking strife”, “threatening societal peace” and “contempt for religions”.

“Under the pretext of protecting the digital space, Jordanian authorities have escalated their blatant assault on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in the country, using overly broad provisions,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“They have particularly targeted recent pro-Palestine activism and criticism of government policies towards Israel.

Hours earlier, the Palestinian father-of-two left his apartment in Deir al-Balah to collect birth certificates for his three-day-old twins – Aysal and Aser, a boy and a girl. But while he was out, he said, he received a phone call that an Israeli strike had hit his home, killing the two babies, along with his wife, Jumana.

In a rare interview with an aid worker in Gaza, Casey Harrity (Save The Children team leader) describes the aftermath of the attack on the school and the general conditions on the ground:

"80 verified killed in this attack, possibly more ... Still bodies that have been dismembered under rubble.. There were children living in this shelter.. We must stop the attacks against children"

"What we know is that there were women and children living in this school as a shelter. We've seen that. We cannot verify Hamas activities"

"This is the worst I've seen.. I've worked in Syria.. Iraq.. Other places.. You cannot compare human suffering.. But we're seeing a new level of depravity in this country"

"We cannot see attacks against children be the new normal"

This is in response to this video. I expressed concern about propaganda that leads a population to excuse atrocities, and they responded with this after some back and forth. For the record, we're not Israeli, neither do we have any friends or family who are, so I have no idea where "we" came from. I even called them out for it earlier in the conversation. I'm not posting the rest of the convo so don't ask.