Today, June 5th, commemorates the 50th year of Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza, and the WB (aka Palestinian Naksa)

In 1967, Israel occupied Gaza, and the West Bank, where 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians were uprooted from their homes, 10 Palestinian villages were destroyed, and 2 Palestinian refugee camps destroyed.

This event is known as the Naksa, the second Palestinian exodus.

(not be confused with the Nakba, the first Palestinian exodus.)

Everybody get more anti war right now

What is even there to say? I can't keep waking up in a world where I read the news and I see schoolchildren bombed, millions of people displaced, old ladies carrying their cats and while their houses get turned into rubble, the waste of industry and human talent into bombs that shoot down other bombs.

Am I insane? what the fuck is going on?

Even the most just war of liberation is painful and regrettable, but you well know I'm not talking about that, we're watching first world countries sell weapons to feed endless war and just bombing targets like if it's a reflex act just what they do, the complete surrender of any hope of building a better world or coexisting and we're all treating this like it's just the natural state of things.

I'm sorry if I'm being dramatic but genuinely, get more anti war right now.

Warfare is not an inherent state of humanity, in any case, and it can and it will be abolished. I'm tired of people treating this like it's just the weather or nature. We know the material reasons behind war and they don't hold up and won't hold up forever.

And because I've just been watching Comic Con stuff, I truly do not understand the aggro Old Man Hal has toward John Stewart the Fair. Either as a replacement, or just a 'new Lantern' in general. (The implication (so far) seems to be he hasn't done diddly/was in retirement before the show?)

Like, I'm glad Stewart (so far) hasn't been depicted as taking it graciously. That the character is as antagonistic and seems poised to genuinely replace Jordan, but, like?

To say nothing of the fact that "he's just keeping the ring warm for me" doesn't feel like a necessary story beat (Lantern rings are pure energy; they materialize out of thin air, etc), the way they got this man moving is distressing, to say the least. Esp since Jordan is apparently one of Stewart's childhood heroes?

(Also, have the Martians always been antagonistic? Are Miss Martian and J'onn J'onzz just, like, the Worf and Spock of the species?)

Absolutely no hate to the original poster, but I'm a bit surprised/disappointed by the overwhelming amount of people who think that the Manhunters are Martians.

Admittedly sharing a job title with J'onn is unfortunate, and probably why people are getting confused, but the Manhunters are probably the most known of the non lantern villains that the GL comics have, probably more commonly appearing that certain colour Corps too. And a core part of the two martian heroes in DC is that they're the sole survivors, to have random martians in the show would be totally detrimental to their characters.

To add to the comments about John and Hals relationship, modern comics tend to veer towards "all the lanterns are friends and guy is a lovable rogue" but for most of the bronze and early modern age, Hal and Guy were legit rivals as both were in line for first billing, and John had a chip on his shoulder about not being the original pick. This dynamic seems to be coming through more than the modern status quo.

You're good. No hate taken. I was genuinely asking a question toward the end.

I'll be honest, I would've told you that a lot of what I remember about the Martians, and by extension the term "Manhunter" (a moniker for "police" in the DC canon, apparently), is primarily from J'onn Jonzes' non-comic book appearances.

And that, in the comic books with J'onn and the Lanterns (during Kyle Rayner's time in the spotlight) I have read, the Manhunters were never in the issues I got my hands on. That my understanding of the Lanterns generally has been "infighting" with other Lanterns (Yellow, Red, Sinestro, Parallax).

But reading the synopsis for Justice League's "Blackest Night" reminds me that I was at least introduced to them, but generally incurious beyond the cartoon. So my default setting remained "Manhunters are Martians".

There's also the fact that one of the characters, presumably speaking to Hal Jordan, says the Manhunters can shapeshift and look like anyone. Hence the assumption that the antagonists were Martians.

I've seen someone say it's someone unaffiliated with Martians or Manhunters, so we'll see.

Manhunters, to my knowledge, are just giant killer robots in all their iterations. Humanoid space police Manhunters, thus far, have no shapeshifting abilities, just Sherlock Holmes detection skills.

Technically, you're not wrong about the optics there, in theory. J'onn and M'gann are genocide survivors, which would be something to keep in mind with the Martians. But I'm not necessarily assuming that's something the writers would take into consideration (if the Martians are in the show), and genocide victims are not exempt from committing genocide or murder. IIRC, J'onn's brother, a Martian, caused the Martian genocide in the first place (at least in one canon iteration).

I'm kinda aware of the rivalry between Hal and Guy, because at the point that I occasionally read a DC comic with a Lantern in it... yeah, he always seemed to have Vegeta-level beef with someone.

As for John's chip on his shoulder: It's something I picked up on sometimes, but never really associated it with Hal. Generally, my default for John/Hal is little to no relationship.

I never quite reached the "Lantern Corps Camaraderie" era, but it's been a minute since I've read DC, so I'll probably be hopping around eventually.

(Quds)

Israeli cabinet members and lawmakers have joined a far-right march towards the Gaza Strip, calling for the rebuilding of illegal settlements in the besieged Palestinian territory and the occupation of more areas.

Hamas has dissolved its government in Gaza, but its residents’ lives are still a living hell

Hamas dissolved its government in Gaza to remove any obstacle to reconstruction, but little has changed for ordinary Palestinians in the Strip — because Israel ultimately controls whether the nightmare it has inflicted on them will ever end.

[Link to article]

Every year since 1976, on March 30, Palestinians around the world have commemorated Land Day. Though it may sound like an environmental celebration, Land Day marks a bloody day in Israel when security forces gunned down six Palestinians, as they protested Israeli expropriation of Arab-owned land in the country’s north to build Jewish-only settlements. The Land Day victims were not Palestinians from the occupied territories, but citizens of the state, a group that now numbers over 1.6 million people, or 20.5 percent of the population. They are inferior citizens in a state that defines itself as Jewish and democratic, but in reality is neither. On that dreadful day, in response to Israel’s announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of acres of Palestinian land for “security and settlement purposes,” a general strike and marches were organized in Palestinian towns within Israel, from the Galilee to the Negev. The night before, in a last-ditch attempt to block the planned protests, the government imposed a curfew on the Palestinian villages of Sakhnin, Arraba, Deir Hanna, Tur'an, Tamra and Kabul, in the Western Galilee. The curfew failed; citizens took to the streets. Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as those in the refugee communities across the Middle East, joined in solidarity demonstrations. In the ensuing confrontations with the Israeli army and police, six Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed, about 100 wounded, and hundreds arrested. The day lives on, fresh in the Palestinian memory, as in 1976, the conflict is not limited to Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but is ever-present in the country’s treatment of its own Palestinian Arab citizens. The month following the killings, an internal government paper, written by senior Interior Ministry official Yisrael Koenig, was leaked to the press. The document, which became known as the Koenig Memorandum, offered recommendations intended to “ensure the [country’s] long-term Jewish national interests.” These included “the possibility of diluting existing Arab population concentrations.” Israel has been attempting to “dilute” its Palestinian population - both Muslims and Christians - ever since. the situation is as dire as ever. Racism and discrimination, in their rawest forms, are rampant in Israel, and are often more insidious than physical violence. Legislation aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestinians from Israel is part of public discourse. Israeli ministers do not shy away from promoting “population transfers” of Palestinian citizens - code for forced displacement.

May 15, 1948 - This day marks the Palestinian Nakba (or "catastrophe"); the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 by Zionist militias and terrorist groups such as Haganah, Stern, and Irgun.

In this Israeli takeover of Palestine, over 70 massacres were carried out, entire villages massacred, 85% of Palestinian land was lost, and 800.000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes.

Even from before its' official foundation, Israel has been an explicitly colonial project, supported by European powers who often saw it as a way to rid Europe of Jews. Israel has always been built on ethnic cleansing, genocide, land theft, terrorism, and colonialism. [video]/[video]

You've probably seen this NYT article by Nicholas Kristof getting a lot of praise today (moved to an archive link to avoid the paywall)

He reports on widespread rape and sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities. The Palestinians who he interviewed risked their lives to speak out. Many of them were threatened with death and some were told they would be raped if they spoke up on the sexual violence they endured.

My issue is that neither Kristof or NYT deserve any credit for this article. Both NYT and Kristof are responsible manufacturing Israel's "case for genocide".

Even in this article where he is sharing actual testimonies from Palestinians who were subjected to such intense levels of sexual violence, he is spreading the Oct 7th rape hoax that has been debunked numerous times

I think everyone should read this article because courageous Palestinians risked their lives to tell their stories but don't forget that people like Nick Kristof and orgs like NYT have played an active role in this genocide.

Also huge trigger warning. This article has testimonies that are really hard to read so please keep that in mind

Oh my God the testimonies are so horrible I can't bring myself to read most of this.

Some of the testimonies are from children. Let that sink in. Children are risking their lives again to speak out against the sexual violence they already had to go through.

The IDF used dogs according to the testimonies. They filmed, took pictures, and laughed while doing all of this.

Never has an ideology needed to be ended more than Zionism. This is so horrific

Adding a source that specifically debunked the Oct 7th mass rape hoax that the NYT reported on

That's a great source.

Also worth pointing out that the Oct 7th rape allegations that were weaponized were from ZAKA volunteers. These volunteers aren't trained to do anything but collect dead body parts which they then transfer to Jewish morgues.

ZAKA was formed by Yehuda Meshi-Zahav who is the same guy that lead Keshet which is a Jewish terrorist group. Yehuda is also well known for attempting suicide when it came out that he was responsible for over a dozen sexual assaults and rapes.

ZAKA was recruited to join Israel's Hasbara campaigns, they have been working directly on behalf of Netanyahu to shape propaganda, their operation unit commander has gone on record saying that he "puts aside medical consideration and decisions are made on who deserves treatment based on whether they are Jewish. If it's clear he is an Arab, don't save him."

Not to mention not one of these volunteers has been medically trained to make such an assessment.

That source I just linked does an amazing deep dive into this whole situation. I highly recommend giving that a read.

Had to repost this after reading up on ZAKA and founder Yehuda Meshi-Zahav. Apparently he sexually assaulted women, girls, and boys for several decades. And so many people in the community knew and didn't do anything until Chanel 13 did a report on him.

So not only did ZAKA lie about the Oct 7th rape, they also actively covered up Yehuda's rape for decades. And that's not even getting into how close this organization is to Netanyahu. They present themselves as a selfless volunteer force but in reality are a propaganda arm for the genocide.

They Do Not Exist (1974) by Mustafa Abu Ali (watch)

from PalestineCinema.com:

Iran isn't an anomaly. the US has a long history of bombing hospitals. they did it in Laos, Cambodia, Yemen and Iraq, and bombed a hospital in Afghanistan that Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) had already given them precise co-ordinates for.

source

they've bombed hospitals in other countries too. destroying infrastructure necessary for life, through bombs and sanctions, is standard US practice against any population it wants to subjugate. like all imperialist powers, nothing is off limits when trying to expand its ability to exploit and pillage

On a day like this, April 9th, 2003, Baghdad Museum was destroyed by US forces. they opened the gates of the museum to looting

"Although the U.S. has been actively repatriating artifacts—Immigration and Customs Enforcement returned more than 1,200 items between 2008 and 2015 alone—it has also let some things slide. “It is worth noting that there were no follow-up congressional hearings or independent investigations to pinpoint the parties responsible for the negligence connected to the museum debacle,” Archeology Magazine reported in 2013. What’s more, as the Chicago Tribune reported in 2015, “American military members, contractors, and others caught with culturally significant artifacts they brought home from the war there largely aren’t prosecuted.” It’s not known how many Americans brought home artifacts as souvenirs or war trophies, but one expert suggested to the Tribune that the known cases—a defense contractor who brought back gold-plated items from Saddam’s palaces; a U.S. employee who shipped home an Iraq government seal; a Marine who bought eight ancient looted stone seals off the street—are just “the tiniest tip of the iceberg.”"

"The looting, Al-Hamdani said, was clearly precipitated by the invasion. The war forced archeologists to stop work at their sites and leave behind hundreds of impoverished locals whom they’d trained and employed as excavators. Desperate and out of work, these locals began to earn an income the only way they knew how: by excavating—and selling their finds."

"But even aside from looting, some of the Iraqi artifacts that stayed in the country were badly damaged by the U.S. invasion. The Babylonians’ famous Ishtar Gate, built in 575 BC south of Baghdad and excavated in the early 1900s, offers a stark example. In 2003, U.S. forces established a military camp right in the middle of the archeological site. A 2004 study by the British Museum documented the “extremely unfortunate” damage this caused. About 300,000 square meters were covered with gravel, contaminating the site. Several dragon figures on the Ishtar Gate were damaged. Trenches were cut into ancient deposits, dispersing brick fragments bearing cuneiform inscriptions. One area was flattened to make a landing pad for helicopters; another made way for a parking lot; yet another, portable toilets.

“It is regrettable that a military camp of this size should then have been established on one of the most important archaeological sites in the world,” the study noted. “This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain.”

To say it’s “regrettable” is an understatement to someone like Al-Hamdani, who noted that because civilization got its start in Mesopotamia, its archeological heritage represents the origins not only of Iraqis, but of all people. Wrecking that, he said, amounts to “looting the memory of humankind.”"

- Sigal Samuel for The Atlantic

A reminder for forgetful Americans

not that i give a shit about international law but “could constitute a war crime” is rich, as is the implication that this would be the first.

“a whole civilization will die” could not be a more explicitly genocidal statement. the entire Western media apparatus has blood on its hands, but like, we knew that right? dont i get tired of stating the obvious? my own words mock me as i type them.

Farha (2021, dir. Darin J. Sallam)