Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/23/gaza-toddlers-got-the-polio-vaccine-then-an-israeli-bomb-took-their-legs

Holy shit. Just saw this image on Facebook. Title is paraphrasing.

Entitled “the difference between abstract propaganda and objective history” and mods strip it without sighting relevant rules, did Mossad finally get at least one mod they pay on every sub over 100k or something? It’s not like I tried posting it on world news.

In other news.. when people talk about “genocide denial” in Yugoslavia or Cambodia, since there is such ample writings and lecture in which he discusses it at length never denying a single atrocity by either side.. do we like definitively know who started and nowadays keeps propagating that falsity? I remember those lies too when I was 18, I’m 35 now.. how the hell do people still persist in them? Is Jordan Peterson or Joe Rogan spreading that tired lie still and I just missed it?

As this year draws to a close, I sit in the corner of a dark room, reflecting on everything we’ve endured. Since this nightmare began, days have lost their meaning. It has been a year of loss, blood, and destruction. Time feels like an endless loop, with each day resembling the next—filled with cold, silence, and broken only by the sounds of airstrikes or the wails of grieving mothers.

This year aged me by decades. I watched as loved ones were ripped away, one after another. I saw the home I built with my own hands reduced to rubble and my dreams shattered before my eyes. We lost everything—our safety, our aspirations, and even the basic dignity of life.

My father, the pillar of our family, was gravely injured. He now lies helpless, his eyes filled with sorrow and pain. Every day, I try to ease his suffering, but I can’t hide my helplessness, knowing he desperately needs an expensive surgery I cannot afford.

The children around us are not spared either. My nephews run through the freezing house in torn clothes that barely shield them from the harsh winter. Their innocent, cold-stained faces pierce my heart. All I can offer them are empty promises that things will get better, even as I see nothing but darkness ahead.

While the world prepares to celebrate the new year with fireworks and festivities, we live under skies filled with warplanes and bombs. Joy fills TV screens worldwide, but here, our streets are soaked in blood and tears.

Yet, amidst this pain, a small glimmer of hope persists—the hope that we can find a way out. I am writing to you today to ask for help for my family. We urgently need to raise funds to leave Gaza, where life has become impossible, and to cover my father’s critical surgery. Any support, no matter how small, can be a lifeline for us—a chance to escape this nightmare and start anew.

If you’re reading this, please remember that there are people suffering in silence. Help us, or share our story. You might be the reason we survive. https://gofund.me/d84fe805

An article by Alain Alameddine and Seth Morrison on the Middle East Monitor, also in Hebrew on the One Democratic State Initiative's website

Seventy-six years of occupation, ethnic cleansing and settler-colonization, leading up to today's genocide in Gaza, cannot disappear overnight. In light of this, does the historical Palestinian and antizionist Jewish vision for a single democratic state where Palestinians and previous Israelis coexist make any sense? How would such a state guarantee the security of its citizens—Wouldn't previous oppressors and victims be at each others' throats?

Zionism claims that Jews have always been and will always be persecuted. Accordingly it presents a model for a state exclusive to Jews as the only solution, and promotes this apartheid throughout the world, by taking advantage of the long history of European antisemitism to encourage Jewish immigration to Palestine to leave their societies, cleansing non-Jews from Palestine using different means of violence, and even supporting similar identitarian projects in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria and other countries. In other words, Zionism claims that violence is inherent to having different identities and that separation is the only solution. The Palestinian liberation movement on the other hand has historically declared that violence in the region is the outcome of an oppressive settler colonial project, and that dismantling it is the solution.

Who is right? Could a democratic state guarantee peace and security for all of its citizens? And what do historical cases of colonization and decolonization have to teach us?

Dismantling colonial relations of power, establishing the legitimacy of the democratic state

In Ghassan Kanafani's "Returning to Haifa", the Palestinian child raised by Israeli settlers ended up joining the occupation forces. One could also easily imagine a settlers' son raised by Palestinians joining the resistance. This shows that violence, both the occupiers' and the occupied's, is the result of a political structure rather than of any inherent qualities. The fact that over 90% of Jewish Israelis side with the genocide in Gaza and that most Palestinians side with armed resistance is the result of colonial relations of power that were imposed by a colonial state. In other words, the role of the decolonial democratic state is not to "inherit" a cohesive society but to build and develop cohesion within it. In the word of Fanon, "decolonization brings a natural rhythm into existence … Decolonization is the veritable creation of new men". This required understanding how the settler state has imposed colonial relations of power and then determining what policies will dismantle them. The democratic state is a democratizing state.

For example, the state will grant Palestinians the rights that the Zionist state had deprived them, particularly the right of return and the right to compensation, without being unjust to Jews. It will implement a model that would be fair to all, regardless of their socioeconomic status. It will abrogate racist laws such as the Basic Law or Citizenship Law, ensuring that all are totally equal before the Law, and will criminalize political Zionism and all kinds of settler colonial ideologies. Instead of having different school curricula for Jews and non-Jews, it will unify the curriculum; and will make sure that universal civic values replace Zionist values in it. At the socio economic level, it will establish a comprehensive safety net with universal free education, universal health care and full equality in hiring and wages, closing today's income, poverty and education gaps. Previous war crimes will also have to be investigated, although the mechanisms will need to be determined by the future citizens of that state—both Palestinians and their Israeli partners.

The state will also have the monopoly of violence, which includes disarming segments of the population that are currently armed. And to quote Ner Kitri in his article "The transition from a Jewish state to true democracy will benefit all", it will use this monopoly to "protect its citizens’ lives rather than colonial privileges". Finally, the state will commit not to use its armed forces for expansionist purposes as Israel historically has. As in the cases of Kenya, South Africa and Algeria which we will discuss in more details below, deportation will not be on the table. Israelis who feel a genuine connection to the land (be it for religious, cultural or other reasons) will enjoy life as equals in a dezionized Palestine, while those who choose to leave will be able to do so peacefully.

By eliminating colonial privileges while guaranteeing rights to all, the new Palestinian state will establish and solidify its legitimacy in the eyes of its society. Crucially, instead of legitimizing its existence on the basis of representing sectarian interests, it will do so on the basis of its functional capacity to administer the affairs of its society and to guarantee its citizens' rights—rights that Israel denies Palestinians and failed to deliver to Jews. This change—this decolonization, in the fullest sense of the word—will signal a rupture with Zionism and the global colonial project. The result will be a society where tribal identities will melt away and whose citizens will not merely "coexist" but actually live together, the two previous demographic groups forming a single "mosaic of life" as Ilan Pappe expressed it.

This said—is this a realistic vision of what could happen? What does the history of Palestine, as well as historical cases of decolonization, have to teach us?

Violence under colonization and after it: Historical examples

Palestine has always been the home of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Bahai and observers of many different religions who lived together in peace. Before colonial Zionists, Palestine welcomed non-Palestinians such as Kurds, Armenians, Circassians and European Jews. For example, Zionist education initiative "TBTN" indicates that there was an "important and vital Jewish community in Gaza during the early Muslim period", and that "the Jewish community experienced a period of prosperity under Ottoman rule". TBTN explains this peace was disturbed on two occasions: First in 1799, when Jews fled Gaza ahead of Napoleon's invasion of Palestine, "marking the temporary end of a Jewish presence in the area." These Gazans returned in the 19th century and "the city was again an important Jewish center". This ended in the 1920s when, following the mass migration of Jews to Palestine and Balfour's promise to establish "a national home for Jews in Palestine", riots started throughout Palestine and Gazan Jews fled once again. In both cases, violence was the result of European colonial interference, not of inherent religious or cultural differences. As expressed in the Palestinian letter "To Our Other", "it is Zionism that has stood in the way of life, common life, on the basis of freedom and fairness".

Some recognize the above and understand that Jews and Palestinians can coexist in a dezionized land, but fear that in this specific case—over 76 years of oppression—it will prove impossible for previous oppressors and victims to live together. Obviously, feelings of supremacy on one hand and of revenge on the other are to be expected. Interestingly, historical cases of decolonization seem to reveal a pattern: When the balance of forces tips in favor of the indigenous, a transition that is more or less rough happens, a large number of settlers leave, those willing to let go of colonial privileges remain in peace. In other words, history shows that although the process of liberation can be violent, the liberation actually ends, not increases, violence between previous enemies.

Kenya is one such example. The Mau Mau uprising, which began in the early 1950s, was a significant and violent resistance movement against British colonial rule. After years of unrest and increasing pressure, the British government was forced to negotiate the independence of Kenya with the native liberation movement. The new state promoted a policy of forgiveness and reassured settlers that they could stay and contribute as equals. Many settlers left, fearing reprisals. Those who stayed did have to relinquish privileges, particularly in terms of land and resource redistribution, but there were zero cases of large-scale revenge.

The Évian accords that ended the French colonization of Algeria stated that Europeans could depart, remain as foreigners, or take Algerian citizenship. In his article "The liberation of Palestine and the fate of the Israelis", Eitan Bronstein Aparicio explains that following the announcement "a violent terrorist organization named OAS (Organisation Armée Secrète or “Secret Army Organization”) emerged and caused many casualties, mainly Algerians but also anti-colonial French, in an attempt to prevent the liberation of Algeria". This violence subsided within two months. After which, Eitan continues, "Most [settlers] chose to leave Algeria. They ran away in panic, out of fear of the day their domination would be over. But in fact, there was no real existential threat to them. They left because they were captive in their own colonial identity. In other words, they could not imagine a situation in which they would live in equality with the Algerians. And they paid a huge price for being uprooted from their home due to their own occupier mentality … [While] 200,000 French decided to stay and live in the liberated Algeria. From their testimonies, we learn that they saw Algeria as their home, and they had no reason to leave."

The end of apartheid in South Africa followed the same pattern. The negotiations between the apartheid government and the African National Congress (ANC) were accompanied by considerable violence and unrest, including clashes between rival political groups, police crackdowns, and incidents like the Boipatong massacre and the assassination of Chris Hani, a prominent ANC leader. The first democratic elections, however, were marked by a high turnout. The government enacted decolonial policies such as Black Economic Empowerment and land reforms that stripped settlers of a number of their privileges, and settlers who chose to remain as citizens did so peacefully. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission also provided an interesting model, investigating past abuses and allowing perpetrators of human rights violations who provided full disclosure of their actions and demonstrated that their crimes were politically motivated (Truth) could apply for amnesty (Reconciliation), thus judging the colonial political program that had caused the crimes rather than the human tools it had used to do so.

Other cases of decolonization seem to follow the same pattern, showing that what we need to fear is not the dismantling of the colonial Israel state or the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state, but the unfolding of the transitionary period between them. This danger can be brought to a minimum, or even averted by learning from and improving on the South Africa and Kenya models, when the Palestinian liberation movement and their Israeli partners for decolonization and peace work together on it. The colonized have made it clear, decade after decade, that a democratic state is what we want to see from the river to the sea. They must work to make this vision even clearer to both friend and foe. We invite our other—today's colonizers—to "upgrade from settlers to citizens", as our Israeli comrade Ner Kitri beautifully expressed, and to join us in our common fight for freedom for all.

"[We were led] to believe we could not live without the nation-state, lest we not only be denied its privileges but also find ourselves dispossessed in the way of the permanent minority. The nation made the immigrant a settler and the settler a perpetrator. The nation made the local a native and the native a perpetrator, too. In this new history, everyone is colonized—settler and native, perpetrator and victim, majority and minority. Once we learn this history, we might prefer to be survivors instead." — "Neither Settler Nor Native", Mahmood Mamdani

Alain Alameddine is a decolonial praxicist with a focus on Palestine and the Sham region and a coordinator at the One Democratic State Initiative. He is happy to be reached at alain.a@odsi.co.

Seth Morrison is an American, Jewish antizionist activist supporting pro-Palestine organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace. Organizational information for identification only. He writes in his personal capacity. [sethmorrison30@gmail.com](mailto:sethmorrison30@gmail.com)

I have been written below. I've been posting this to Avaaz and Change.org. If you're okay with that, please read this and sign. Why I post on this subreddit, is just I want to let you know what is going on in South Korea. Gaining your sign is secondary to me.
Please stop the Nazis from resurrecting in South Korea.
나치가 한국에서 부활하는 것을 막아주세요.
I know that the illegal martial law that happened in South Korea shocked the world.
나는 한국에서 일어난 한국의 불법 계엄이 전 세계에 충격을 주었다는 것을 알고 있습니다.

I think the reason it is shocking is because it happened in an advanced democratic country,
이것이 충격적인 이유는, 이런 일이 선진적인 민주주의 국가에서 일어났었기 때문이며,

and because it makes you think this could happen in your country too.
여러분이 살고 있는 국가에서도 이런 일이 일어날 수 있을 것이라고 생각하게 만들었기 때문이라고 생각합니다.

The risk has not disappeared yet.
위험은 아직 사라지지 않았습니다.

The judiciary of South Korea is deliberately not making a clear statement about this illegal martial law.
한국의 사법부는 고의적으로 이번 불법 계엄에 대한 입장을 명확히 발표하지 않고 있습니다.

Also, the Korean media is publishing articles suggesting this illegal martial law may be legal.
또한, 한국의 언론 역시 이 불법 계엄이 합법적일 수도 있다고 암시하는 기사를 내보내고 있습니다.

This is contributing to the ruling party in South Korea claiming that the illegal martial law is legal and to the government in South Korea delaying the investigation into the illegal martial law.
이는 한국의 여당이 불법 계엄을 합법적이라고 주장하는 것과, 한국의 행정부의 불법 계엄에 대한 조사를 지연시키는 것에 기여하고 있습니다.

All of this is happening by legally abusing the laws that are supposed to protect the values ​​that we hold dear.
이 모든 일들은, 우리가 중요하게 생각하는 가치들을 보호하기 위한 법률들을 합법적으로 악용하여 벌어지고 있습니다.

We have seen in the 20th century that those who wish to destroy democracy have done so by using the tools of democracy legally. This was the rise to power of the Nazis in Germany, which led to the catastrophe of World War II.
우리는 민주주의의 파괴를 원하는 자들이, 민주주의의 도구를 합법적으로 이용하여, 이를 달성하는 것을 20세기에 본 적이 있습니다. 독일의 나치의 집권이 그것입니다. 이는 2차 대전이라는 재앙으로 이어졌습니다.

If the illegal martial law in South Korea is successfully justified, the impact on the world could be very serious.
한국의 불법 계엄이 정당화되는데 성공할 경우, 이 일이 전세계에 미칠 영향은 대단히 심각할 수 있습니다.

If this attempt succeeds, the forces that attempted to impose illegal martial law will regain enormous political power.
이 시도가 성공하게 된다면, 불법 계엄을 시도했던 세력은 엄청난 정치적 권력을 다시 손에 넣게 될 것입니다.

Fascists who seek to overthrow democracy around the world will try to emulate this. Those who prefer violence to world peace will also try to imitate this.
전 세계의 민주주의를 전복하려는 파시스트들은 이를 모방하려 할 것입니다. 세계의 평화보다 세계의 폭력을 더 선호하는 사람들 역시 이를 모방하려고 할 것입니다.

The investigation of the Korean National Assembly has found evidence that the forces that attempted illegal martial law attempted to cause armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
한국 국회의 조사에 의하여, 불법 계엄을 시도한 세력이 한반도의 무력 충돌을 발생시키려 했다는 증거들이 발견되고 있습니다.

At a time when the world is suffering from the unfortunate events that are happening in Ukraine, if the forces that have tried illegal martial law are recognized as politically justified, they will try to start armed conflicts again to gain more power.
우크라이나에서 일어나고 있는 불행한 일에 전 세계가 고통받고 있는 이 때, 불법 계엄을 행한 세력이 정치적 정당성을 인정받게 된다면, 이들은 더욱 큰 권력을 가지기 위하여 다시 무력 충돌의 발생을 다시 시도할 것입니다.

If this happens even in Northeast Asia, I think it will lead the world down a path of no return.
동북아시아에서마저 이런 일이 발생한다면, 나는 이것이 전세계를 돌아올 수 없는 길로 이끌 것이라고 생각합니다.

Remember, even the United States failed to recognize or prevent this illegal martial law in advance. They will continue to repeat extreme actions to strengthen their power.
미국조차도 이 불법 계엄을 사전에 인지하거나 막지 못했다는 점을 상기해주십시오. 그들은 자신의 권력을 강화하기 위해 극단적인 행동을 계속 반복할 것입니다.

At a time when democracy and peace are threatened more than ever around the world, this issue is no longer just a Korean issue.
민주주의와 평화가 세계적으로 그 어느 때 보다 위협 받고 있는 이 때에, 이 문제는 더 이상 한국만의 문제가 아닙니다.

I believe that the judgment of the South Korea Constitutional Court and the South Korea Judiciary on this illegal martial law will have a serious impact on the fate of the entire world.
나는 이 불법 계엄에 대한 한국 헌법재판소와 한국 사법부의 판단이, 전 세계의 운명에 심각한 영향을 미칠 것이라고 생각합니다.

A few centuries ago, this kind of problem would have had to be solved by military force.
몇 세기 전이었다면, 이런 종류의 문제는 군사력에 의해 해결될 수 밖에 없었을 것입니다.

But today, we can do better by proving how many people see this issue as important.
하지만 오늘날, 우리는 이 문제를 중요하게 보고 있는 사람의 수가 얼마나 많은지 입증하는 것으로 대신 할 수 있습니다.

Please show the Constitutional Court of Korea and the Korean judiciary that you do not want the illegal martial law in Korea to be justified in the name of law.
한국 헌법재판소와 한국 사법부에, 당신이 한국의 불법 계엄을 법의 이름으로 정당화되는 것을 바라지 않는다는 것을 보여주십시오.

Show the Korean government that you do not want them to deliberately delay the investigation into the illegal martial law.
한국의 행정부에게, 불법 계엄에 대한 조사를 고의로 지연시키지 말기를 바란다는 것을 보여주십시오.

Tell them that you will not tolerate them exploiting the loopholes of our legal system.
그들이 우리의 법 시스템의 허점을 이용하는 것을 용납하지 않을 것임을 말해주십시오.

Furthermore, let us warn those who would seek to destroy our democracy, using the tools meant to defend democracy, in the name of legality, that we are watching.
나아가, 우리의 민주주의를, 민주주의를 수호하기 위한 도구들을 사용하여, 합법의 이름으로 파괴하려는 자들에게, 우리가 지켜보고 있다고 경고해주십시오.

We must oppose self-destructive legal enforcement in democratic countries.
우리는 민주주의 국가에서 일어나는 자기파괴적인 법적 집행들에 반대해야 합니다.

According to an announcement by Acting Minister of National Defense Kim Seon-ho, armed South Korean military operatives whose operational objective was to blow up South Korean or American military facilities in order to incite armed conflict and make it look like an attack by North Korea or China returned and turned in their weapons on December 24, a very long time after the illegal martial law was imposed.
김선호 한국 국방부 장관 직무대행의 발표에 따르면, 무력 충돌을 발생시키기 위하여, 한국군의 시설이나 미군의 시설을 폭파시켜, 북한이나 중국의 공격인 것으로 위장하는 것이 작전목적인 한국군 소속 무장 첩보 요원들이 불법 계엄이 일어난지 아주 오랜 시간이 지난 때인 12월 24일에 복귀하여 무장을 반납했다고 합니다.

The investigation revealed that the South Korean generals who participated in the illegal martial law were under the command of a former general who had been dishonorably discharged.
불법 계엄에 참여한 한국군 장성들은, 불명예 퇴역한 전직 장성의 지휘를 받았다는 수사 내용이 발표되었습니다.

Still, there is a possibility of danger that has not yet been revealed. The ruling party in South Korea is still buying time. In the meantime, there could be a movement of the South Korean military to attack the South Korean military itself or the South Korean people.
여전히, 아직 밝혀지지 않은 위험의 가능성이 존재합니다. 한국의 여당은 여전히 시간을 끌고 있습니다. 그 사이에 한국군이 한국군 자체를 공격하거나 한국 국민을 공격하려는 움직임이 있을 수 있습니다.

I ask you all to hope that nothing more terrible happens in South Korea.
여러분들이 한국에 더 끔찍한 일이 벌어지지 않기를 희망해주시길 부탁합니다.

• Avaaz Link
• Change.org Link

In a world filled with joy and hope, children go to sleep under warm blankets, surrounded by comfort and security. They wake up to the sound of birdsong, heading to school with bright smiles and backpacks filled with dreams. They play in vibrant playgrounds, painting their future on the canvas of life with radiant colors.

But here, in Gaza, the picture is starkly different. Hamoud, Kinda, Fathi, and Mira, children as delicate as flowers, live their days in a torn tent that barely shields them from the biting winter cold. Their worn-out clothes fail to protect them from the harsh winds, and their small feet tread on the rubble of homes that were once sanctuaries of safety.

Hamoud, a four-year-old, stands beside a pile of rubble that used to be his home. His eyes carry a gaze far beyond his years, the look of a child who has seen more suffering than his tender age can bear. Kinda, barely able to speak, clutches her torn doll as if it’s the last thread tying her to a world of childhood. Fathi, a boy who loves to draw, finds only shattered stones to sketch his dreams on, refusing to let them fade. And Mira, the youngest, barely understands what is happening around her but smiles nonetheless, as if to say, "I’m still here, stronger than all of this."

Life in Gaza is far from the life the world knows. These children wake up to the sounds of explosions and go to bed each night hoping to survive until morning. Their playtime isn’t in lush playgrounds but among ruins that might conceal deadly remnants. Their illnesses aren’t just passing fevers but the result of polluted air and toxic smoke, threatening them with diseases they cannot afford to treat.

Yet, despite all of this, their eyes still hold a faint glimmer of hope, a resilience that refuses to fade. Hamoud dreams of a beautiful house and a swing to play on. Kinda wishes to become a doctor to heal the pain of those around her. Fathi dreams of painting a grand mural about the Gaza he loves, and Mira simply wants to see a day without fear.

These are the faces of children enduring a reality they didn’t choose. Their story is the story of Gaza, where childhood is trapped between ruins and siege. They don’t ask for the impossible—only for their right to live. Share their story, be their voice, because the world must see this injustice and know that there are children in Gaza who refuse to let their childhood be erased, no matter what surrounds them.

If you feel moved by their story, you can make a difference in their lives. Donate now to help Hamoud, Kinda, Fathi, and Mira through this link: https://gofund.me/d84fe805. Every contribution brings them one step closer to warmth, safety, and a chance at a better future.

Through this sub I got introduced to Jeffrey Sachs. What I've heard from him so far, his thinking seems largely in line with Chomsky. The arguments he makes are convincing, but also controversial and in some cases difficult to fact check.

A summary of the more controversial claims he made in a recent Youtube video:

1. The U.S. has been running American foreign policy in the Middle East on behalf of Israel for the last 30 years.
2. In 2001, Wesley Clark was shown a document at the Pentagon listing seven countries the U.S. planned to have wars with in 5 years. The U.S. now has been at war in six of the seven countries listed: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan. Next up: Iran. These wars were sought out for the benefit of Israel.
3. Israel deliberately assassinates peacemakers and negotiators from groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to prevent peace negotiations.
4. The JFK assassination was likely the first clear case of domestic assassination by U.S. intelligence agencies, with the possibility that Robert Kennedy's assassination followed a similar pattern.
5. The U.S. was involved in the 2014 overthrow of the Ukrainian government, installing a regime aligned with U.S. interests.
6. The U.S. is currently trying to kill Putin.
7. The U.S. government lied about the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
8. The CIA and other western intelligence agencies are involved in assassination plots and covert operations continuously and all across the planet.
9. There have been recent attempts by the US agencies to destabilize the governments in Georgia and Romania.

I'm just looking to get an as accurate as possible view on what's going on in the world.

Does anyone have links to facts that either support or disprove points made above?

PS: the Youtube vid is from the show of Tucker Carlson - a show I never thought I would view with interest..😂