This is undoubtedly the best analysis I've heard to date of the Iran strike on Israel. It's long-ish (about 10 minutes) but absolutely worth listening to.
The man speaking is Chas Freeman, former Assistant Secretary of Defense and, very relevant to the topic, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
He's interviewed by @PLottaz, an Associate Professor at Kyoto University in Japan (this is the full video of the interview: https://t.co/zVxAFjDYlb).
What Freeman argues is that Iran's strike "changes all the rules of the game in the Middle-East". The biggest deal for him is that "the Saudis, the Emiratis and others informed the United States that they would not permit American operations against Iran from their territory and Iran warned those states that if they did, they would become targets. So in a sense, Iran has achieved the neutralization of American forces in the Persian gulf that it long sought. So from a tactical military point of view it was a 'nothing burger' - nobody was killed, nobody was damaged - [...] but from a strategic point of view, from a soft power point of view, it was a huge success. Iran accomplished its objective and it left Israel with an intolerable dilemma. Israel cannot continue to behave as though it can act with impunity."
if Shai Davidai had been black, LGBT, hispanic, Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and demanded the National Guard and FBI be sent to colleges to arrest, torture and kill "white supremacist transphobe Zionist anti-black racists", not only would be he fired in 1 second, but the entire conservative mediasphere would frame him as an evil monstrous snowflake easily triggered fascist who hates free speech
But Shai Davidai isn't from any of those groups. He's a genocidal Zionist, advocating mass arrests and violence by the FBI and National Guard for Zionism, to censor for Zionism and his precious Israel, so Bari Weiss, Aaron Sibarium, Jonathan Haidt, Ben Shapiro, and the entire conservative "anti-woke" mediasphere all love and adore him and have turned him into their "free speech hero"
"Black faces in high places are not going to save us ... Just look at the Black women's hand voting against a ceasefire in Gaza" – Professor Ruha Benjamin
Years ago, I was sitting alone outside of an ice cream shop in the west, contemplating my career options and where to work. I had been given offers and opportunities that would have required me to compromise on my beliefs or—at the very least—would have placed a burden of silence on me that isnt placed on non-Muslim journalists.
An elderly man in a long coat with a white beard passed by. He asked if he could sit with me, I said of course. His English was crisp and clear, I assumed he was Caucasian. After talking for some time, I found out that he was Yemeni and himself was once a journalist!
When I asked him why he left, or why he no longer works in the field, he told me firmly, "because I was not allowed to write the truth."
I don't remember all of our conversation as it was years ago, but I remember it came at the right time. When I was in a position where I was presented with opportunities that would have required me compromising my stance, in the middle of the west, a Yemeni journalist came out of no where and sat with me. He reaffirmed my conviction and reminded me that it was/is not worth it.
I never saw him again, but I still remember him and hope the best for him. He was a reminder in a time of need. As Allah says, وَذَكِّرْ فَ��ِنَّ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰ تَنفَعُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ
I can't imagine if things had gone the other way. I can't imagine if I had to work in a 'mainstream' outlet and whitewash the death of Palestinian children by the thousands, or subtly imply they deserved to die because they aren't human, but are human shields.
Allah gives us opportunities, he gives us signs. It can be an old man who approaches you in the middle of an ice cream shop. It can be a feeling in your heart that tells you something isn't right. How we act on those signs is our choice. Even the duty of the Prophe ﷺ was to warn: وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَـٰكَ إِلَّا مُبَشِّرًۭا وَنَذِيرًۭا
What you do with warnings, signs, admonishment you receive is up to you.
The execution of the German martyr Johann Sylvan, in 1572, for his rejection of Trinity.
Believing Jesus was a mere human being costed him his life.
He was a disciple of Adam Neuser, a German theologian who fled in the Ottoman Empire and converted to Islam.
The world map of 140 countries (out of 193) that recognise Palestine as an independent state, as of 2024. The 53 that do not are coincidentally known as 'the international community'
Meet this dedicated Japanese doctor who's currently volunteering in Gaza, thousands of miles away from home.
Risking his life selflessly, he treats patients and the wounded amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis resulting from over six months of brutal Israeli genocide.
The conflict over Columbia U's Gaza Solidarity Encampment pits an Egyptian-born school president against a student movement largely led by Arabs and Muslims protesting Israel's genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip. Goaded by Republican members of Congress and the Israel lobby, Columbia President Manouche Shafik has sicced the NYPD on the protesters, triggering mass arrests and suspensions of students for supposedly "trespassing" on their own campus.
Like so many contemporary Ivy League presidents, Shafik is not a scholar or academic. She currently serves on the board of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, providing a patina of diversity to a supranational global governing entity guided by a single uber-billionaire. Prior to that, Shafik acted as deputy governor of the Bank of England, the UK bank that confiscated Venezuela's gold reserves under orders from the US government in 2019. She has also served in top roles at the IMF and World Bank, where global south debt becomes a point of leverage for Washington and London. Her own journey to the US began as a young child when Egypt's populist President Gamal Abdel-Nasser seized land from her wealthy father.
Shafik owes her entire career to the trans-Atlantic oligarchy, and has no space in which to defy it. She was not appointed as president of Columbia to instill values like critical thinking or academic freedom. She's there to raise hundreds of millions from her wealthy benefactors. Her leadership not only exemplifies the elite corruption of US universities, it exposes the sham of neoliberal diversity politics.
@AvdullahYousef Imagine if you knew what you know about the evils of the world but you had no Deen. I'm surprised more people aren't self immolating tbh.
holy shit. The Israeli parliament just gave an honorary award to an Israeli Zionist musician who was arrested along with his father for gang raping and trafficking young children
God’s chosen lunatics have bombed a playground in Gaza, a ‘safe space’ used to hold recreational activities with children. 20 people including eleven children were killed
Remember when pro-Israel groups were recruiting people of "Middle Eastern appearance" to "embed" themselves "undercover" in Palestine solidarity demonstrations "masked" and in Kuffiyehs?
Keep that in mind when you see heavily disguised protesters yelling inflammatory things that then get reported on as hate at Palestine-solidarity demonstrations.