Al Jaugelis

Technical Advisor at Fenestration Canada @FenCanada

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

“My name is Amos Goldberg. I am an Israeli Professor of Holocaust Studies. For nearly 30 years I have researched and taught the Holocaust, genocide and state violence.

And I want to tell whoever is willing to listen that what’s happening now in Gaza is a genocide.

A year ago when October 7th happened, like all Israelis I was in shock. It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. 1200 people - more than 800 of them civilians - were killed in one day. Children and the elderly were among those taken hostage. Communities were destroyed. It was outrageous, traumatizing, personal. Like most Israelis, I know people who were killed, who lost loved ones or whose loved ones were taken hostage.

But immediately afterwards came Israel’s response and within weeks thousands of civilians were killed in Gaza. It took me some time to digest what was unfolding before my eyes. It was agonizing to confront that reality. I was reluctant to call it a genocide.

But if you read Raphael Lemkin – the Jewish-Polish legal scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ and was the major driving force behind the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention – what is happening in Gaza now is exactly what he had in mind when he spoke about genocide.

It does not need to look like the Holocaust to be a genocide. Each genocide looks different and not all involve killing of millions or the entire group. The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words.

But there does need to be a clear intent.

And indeed, there are clear indications of intent to destroy Gaza: Israel’s leaders - including the prime minister and the minister of defence - and many high-ranking military officers, media personalities, rabbis, as well as ordinary soldiers were very open about what they wanted to achieve. There were countless documented incitements to turn the whole of Gaza into rubble and claims that there are no innocent people living there.

A radical atmosphere of dehumanization of the Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I can’t remember in my 58 years of living here.

Now that vision has been enacted. Tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men have been killed. Over a hundred thousand were wounded. There is a near total destruction of infrastructure, intentional starvation and blocking of humanitarian aid. There are mass graves and reliable testimony of summary executions. Children that were shot by snipers. All the universities and almost all hospitals are gone. Almost all the population is displaced. There have been numerous bombings of civilians in so-called ‘safe zones’. Gaza does not exist anymore. It is completely destroyed. Thus, the outcome fits perfectly with the stated intentions of Israel’s leadership.

Lemkin - that scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ - described two phases of a genocide. The first is the destruction of the annihilated group and the second is what he called ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator. We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.

And therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly what a genocide looks like. We don’t teach about genocides in order to realize it retrospectively. We teach about it in order to prevent it and to stop it.

But like in every other case of genocide in history right now we have mass denial. Both here in Israel and around the world.

But reality cannot be denied.

So yes, it is a genocide.

And once you come to this conclusion you cannot remain silent.”

- Statement to Led By Donkeys, December 2024
- Photo: Parliament Square, London, 8.40am, 4th December 2024

[Marika Mikiashvili 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 @Mikiashvili_M]

We survived a really bad stampede as the police pressed us out of the back side of the Parliament to the side street corners. I got quite scared for breathing at one point, and so did others. We are now singing as the water cannon’s facing us. #GeorgiaProtests #NoToRussianLaw

[Gabrielius Landsbergis🇱🇹 @GLandsbergis]

We should be doing more than helping Ukraine. We should be helping Ukraine to win.

[Alia @MizzzAlia]

My friend Adam in Vancouver- his strata complained to him for having the Ukrainian flag on his window. So tonight he did this instead… love it lol 🇺🇦

[Darius Skusevičius 🇱🇹 @skusev]

This weekend I had an honour to join the Congress of Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union (#SUSK) in #Vancouver. I presented my opinion on role of Student Activism in the time of War.

Great to meet with the leaders of 🇺🇦student movement from across 🇨🇦

#StandWithUkraine 🇱🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦

[Masih Alinejad @AlinejadMasih]

Iranian oppositions unites against the Islamic republic.
This is the new phase of Iran’s revolution against the gender apartheid regime.
Both within and outside of Iran we are united in common cause for a secular, pluralistic, democratic Iran,
And this is a message to the leaders of democratic countries. You must get ready for an Iran without the Islamic republic.

#MahsaAmini
https://t.co/ygmdIztwyz

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

Definition of VICTORY in UKRAINE WAR

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

The Ukrainian defense minister, Reznikov, on a panel with @radeksikorski, today. Agreed on definition of victory: Russia leaves all of Ukraine, pays reparations. World holds war crimes trials.

[Patrick Fox @RealCynicalFox]

The Izium Pocket 🧵:
With the caveat that this front is developing so fast there may not be an Izium pocket long, some initial thoughts on the development and aftermath of the current situation.
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[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

@Free_Media_Hub @IAPonomarenko Thank you for this image! If Putin cannot see this reflection, most of the world can …

[Free Syria Media Hub @Free_Media_Hub]

@IAPonomarenko Downfall

[Oleksiy Sorokin @mrsorokaa]

Ukraine will win! There’s no other way.

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

Crash on #LionsGate bridge NB

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

@AM730Traffic

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

@QueerArmorer Thanks for this!

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

Encouraging - these teens take an active role in changing the school culture - hope the school trustees follow through on their recommendations: Secondary students from Delta highlight the lack of anti-racism knowledge in schools https://t.co/VbdaDrgxoS via @DeltaOptimist

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

UK Def Sec @BWallaceMP 2022-01-17 #Ukraine article refutes Putin's NATO expansion charge, cites Putin's 2020 article as revealing his true motivations for absorbing Ukraine: https://t.co/C8GYSjtaca

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

I'll be sharing essential information every Canadian architect needs to know about NAFS, including how to address the many commercial fenestration products that are not within its scope.

[Daily Hive Vancouver @DailyHiveVan]

Are you prepared? Here are 43 essential things every Vancouverite needs in their earthquake emergency kit https://t.co/1cu1DAxnoH

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

@Pembina Institute publishes Green Buildings map with green jobs stats: https://t.co/HkjZVc2xLc.

[Al Jaugelis @Al_Jaugelis]

Province of BC supporting high performance window innovation with $500,000 fund. BC manufacturers can apply at https://t.co/G5Y0CVLufg