Timnit Gebru (she/her).Nov 1, 2023

CNN talks about Palestinian deaths like its a natural disaster.

"Palestinian American family mourns 42 relatives killed in a single day in Gaza"

How exactly were they killed CNN? Was it an earthquake? A flood? Some sort of natural disaster? The number of videos I've seen of Palestinians who have lost entire generations of their families because they were bombed in their homes, facing western journalists with absolutely no empathy for them, is sickening.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/world/palestinian-american-family-relatives-killed-gaza/index.html

Show threadTimnit Gebru (she/her).Nov 1, 2023
A computer science professor was talking about his family member who was shot by IDF in the West Bank, and he had to preface that by saying "Hamas is not in the West Bank." The only thing another one of my fellow computer scientists had to say was "That's not true, there are many Hamas supporters in the West Bank." The dehumanization is so deep.
Show threadTom Bellin Nov 1, 2023
@timnitGebru Seeing the IDF murdering innocent people without repercussions might have something to do with the radicalization of the population. Just thinking out loud.
Show threadRichardNov 2, 2023
@tob @timnitGebru I don't really like that excuse. It can be claimed by any side in a conflict and is a justification for continually escalating, eye-for-eye vengeance.
Show threadHat. AuDHD cat 😷🌺🍉🌻🔻Nov 2, 2023
@richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru it isn't an excuse.
Its an acknowledgement that human nature exists.
October 7th was an atrocity committed by Hamas.
The state of Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian civilians
Both sides are doing horrific things
But if you leave out the crimes committed by idf you really CANNOT condemn the crimes committed in retaliation.
Show threadAndrocat

@CatHat @richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru

What is missing from this analysis is that Hamas is a very useful tool for Netanyahu.

You will perhaps recall that Israel unilaterally released a whole bunch of Hamas fighters some 20 years ago, directly leading to the split of Palestinian leadership between Hamas rule in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank.

And then, usefully, Netanyahu gave Hamas independent funding in the form of frozen funds from Qatar.

Hamas does horrible shit, and that gives Netanyahu the opportunity to "strike back".
Netanyahu wants them to do horrible shit.

Nov 2, 2023 at 11:12amWeb
Show threadHat. AuDHD cat 😷🌺🍉🌻🔻Nov 2, 2023
@androcat @richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru
true. Genocide was always the plan. And unless im very mistaken, Netanyahu was definitely one of the ones planning it all along.
Show threadmike805Nov 3, 2023

@androcat @CatHat @richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru This sounds like the "enemy of the enemy is my friend" strategy. Trying to get Hamas and other factions to fight among themselves rather than fight Israel.

That turned out just about as well as winding up the Afghan jihadis to fight Russia did for the USA.

Isn't there some ancient Jewish wisdom about creating golems and how they tend to turn around and stomp on the rabbi doing the magic?

Show threadRichardNov 3, 2023
@mike805 @androcat @CatHat @tob @timnitGebru I think most of the golem stories are just about creating them to do household chores. You're thinking of Mary Shelley.
Show threadAndrocatNov 3, 2023

@CatHat @richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru

And like with voting, people who criticize non-violent resistance really need to explain why the far right spends so much time and blood on undermining the organizations capable of nonviolent resistance.

Fatah is the sole inheritor of the peace process. Israel's far right cannot deal with that, so they had to invent a different enemy to face.

Show threadHat. AuDHD cat 😷🌺🍉🌻🔻Nov 3, 2023
@androcat @richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru true although i don't think nonviolence would work given the genocidal attitude of the occupiers.
Hamas was propped up to give people like Netanyahu an excuse
Show threadAndrocatNov 3, 2023

@CatHat @richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru
But it was quite a big gamble, to openly create a monster, in full view of the public.

That does seem to indicate that they could not have driven their agenda without the provocations that Hamas have been delivering as if paid to do so.

If Fatah had been the only voice for Palestine, tens of thousands of palestinian lives might not have been lost, and the peace process would have remained enshrined, waiting for the spoiled children to return to the table.

It seems to me that this was a risk Netanyahu could not face.

Show threadHat. AuDHD cat 😷🌺🍉🌻🔻Nov 3, 2023

@androcat @richard_merren @tob @timnitGebru regardless of what MIGHT have happened

The long term strategy from people like Netanyahu has ALWAYS been aimed at wiping out Palestinians entirely.