shannon ribbons

Prone to rants.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Here you go, @michaelgove:
Gove’s book is a confused epic of simplistic incomprehension, riddled with more factual errors and misconceptions than any other text I have come across in two decades of reviewing books on this subject. Thus we are solemnly told, for example, that during the Jordanian occupation of the West Bank from 1948 to 1967, the Palestinian population from Jenin to Hebron was “herded into, and kept penned up inside, refugee camps”, an idea as novel as it is comically ridiculous and ahistorical. During this period, towns such as Ramallah became sleepy backwaters, quite free from the land seizures and apartheid policies of Arab-free Israeli settlements and Arab-free road networks that followed the Israeli occupation — realities entirely at odds with what Gove calls Israel’s “culture of equality”.

Gove also rewrites history when he alleges it was the “appeasement” of the Palestinians represented by the Oslo peace process that encouraged al-Qa'eda to launch the 9/11 attacks. In fact it was not any offer to make peace, so much as the violent repression that followed Israel’s unilateral ending of peace talks that actually formed the backdrop to the attacks. In his Knights Under the Prophet's Banner, Bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri has written that it was the the repressive campaign waged against the second intifada by Sharon in the Autumn of 2000 that provided al-Qa’eda’s opportunity : as the corpses of dead children piled up, al-Zawahiri realized that here was the rallying cry that could unify the Muslim world. All that was needed was a massive strike, and the US system in the Middle East would begin to unravel. And so - thanks partly to Gove's friends in Washington- it has indeed proved, to the peril of us all.

Gove is also quite wrong that few Muslims or Islamists really mind what Israel does to the Palestinians and the Lebanese, and that “it is what Israel is, rather than what Israel does” that really provokes resistance. Instead Israeli violence is the principle cause of anti-American anger- Bin Laden himself has written that it was the sight of US support for the Israeli bombing Beirut in 1982 that initially radicalised him: “they started bombing… I still remember the blood-torn limbs, the women and children massacred. Houses were being destroyed and tower blocks were collapsing… As I looked on those destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me to punish the oppressor in kind by destroying towers in America…”

Throughout Gove's book, the old NeoCon myths are reheated and served up, despite being long discredited, most recently by the 2005 CIA report released last week by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Saddam, believes Gove, “invited Islamists into Iraq” (p130); he was “determined to pursue his WMD programme” and “dreamt of emulating” 9/11, strongly suggesting the central lie of Saddam's non-existent links with 9/11. Gove also repeats the tired old canard that the spread of democracy will exclude the Islamists from power in the Middle East, (p135) despite the evidence from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt and Algeria that given the option, the newly radicalized Muslim peoples of the region are much more likely to choose fundamentalist candidates over secularists.

At the heart of Celsius 7/7 lies the long-discredited idea that the Islamists are motivated by a deep hatred of freedom: as Bin Laden noted in his 2004 broadcast, if that was so “why we did not attack Sweden?” Instead, it is specifically to fight for freedom from US interference in the Islamic world that al-Qa'eda was formed: “We have been fighting you because we are free men,” said Bin Laden in the same speech. “Just as you violate our security, so we violate yours.”

All terrorist violence , Islamic or otherwise, is contemptible. But just because we condemn does not mean we should not strive to analyse accurately. It is exactly the sort of woolly elisions that Gove indulges in that has got us into the trouble we are now in.

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@JustAdaugoijele Oh dear how sad. Once again the church slams it's doors shut against genuine seekers of growth and knowledge. What a surprise. And guess what: Jesus probably learnt these practices in the east anyway but a jealous and megalomaniacal church edits this out of their canon. Imho ;)

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@karlmehta It'll get leaked to Israel and then they'll use it on Gaza, if it still exists. That's how these things work, no?

[Ori Goldberg @ori_goldberg]

חורג ממנהגי ומצייץ בעברית כי פעם ב. נטרף מתחושת הזמן, עדיין, שיש פה למרבית היהודים. יש זמן. אנחנו עוד לא ״כמוהם״. יש זמן לדון לעומק ב-״תלונותיו״ של ד״ר חוסאם אבו סאפיה, כשברור לא רק שהאיש רופא אלא שישראל מענה אותו נפשית ופיזית באופן שוטף. יש זמן לכתוב בעילום שם מאמר ב-״הארץ״ שקורא לאיזה ״מבוגר אחראי״ לשים גבולות לצבא שמוציא להורג אזרחים פלסטינים על בסיס יומי כדי למנוע פגיעות ״ערכיות״ בחיילים. יש זמן למחות נגד ״הכהניזם״. יש זמן לחכות עד הבחירות כדי להבין האם הממשלה מצייתת לחוק או לא. יש זמן.

אין זמן. הכל כבר קרה. מה שקורה עכשו הוא פשוט המשך. ישראל ביצעה ומבצעת רצח עם בפלסטינים. אין כל דרך להשוות בין מה שעשה חמאס ב-7.10.23 ובין מכונת המוות וההשמדה שבנתה ישראל מאז. אני לא יודע אם התכניות לבניית המכונה היו קיימות מראש. אני יודע, בהכירי את מערכת הבטחון, שתוך 24-48 שעות מן ה-7.10.23 כבר היו תכניות כאלה ושישראל החלה ליישם אותן לקראת פלישה קרקעית שתלווה באש משמידה מרחוק. עשרות האלפים (הערכה סבירה היא שמדובר ביותר ממאה אלף ושגם זו הערכה שמרנית) שהרגה ישראל - בהפצצות בהן הושעו כל ההגנות הקיימות לאזרחים, בהוצאות אינדיבידואליות להורג של אזרחים ש-״התקרבו אל הכוחות״ ולכן הכוחות ״חשו איום״ - כל אלה ליוו את הקמת מחנות הריכוז ומתקני העינויים. את כולם איישו ישראלים מכל צבעי הקשת הפוליטית. איש לא הרים קול (פרט לאלה שתמיד מרימים קול). איש לא התנגד. ישראל ביצעה ומבצעת רצח עם.

כל מי שמדבר על ״ההפיכה המשפטית״, גם לו יש זמן. ממשלת ישראל הודיעה שלא תציית לבית המשפט העליון. אכבד לרגע את חוקי הפארסה שהיא החיים כאן ונניח שבית המשפט העליון הוא שומר הדמוקרטיה והאחראי על הפרדת הרשויות. המעשה של הממשלה לא ״פותח פתח לאיום על הדמוקרטיה״. המעשה של הממשלה מבטל את הדמוקרטיה. זה בכלל לא משנה מה חושב אדם על בית המשפט. זו השיטה הנהוגה בישראל. המעשה של הממשלה משאיר את ישראל ללא כללים.

הציוץ שלי הוא לא ״קריאה לפעולה״. הפעולה היחידה שעוד יש בה משמעות היא ״נוכחות מגינה״ וגם היא נחלתם של צדיקים מועטים בסדום הישראלית. אין תקנה לחברה הישראלית שלא תגיע בפעולה כפויה מבחוץ, ממש כמו אדם לא שפוי שאיבד את היכולת להתאים בין הקולות בראשו ובין המציאות בה הוא חי. אני כותב כדי להגיד את זה בעברית, בפלטפורמה הזו שלא מחבבת אמירות ארוכות.

זו לא קינה. אין לי שמץ של געגוע לישראל שהיתה. גם היא נבנתה על אדני שקר, על כיבוש ודיכוי ועליונות, על גזענות שמשלה בתודעה הישראלית גם היום לא רק כלפי פלסטינים אלא כלפי מזרחים בכלל. אני משוכנע לגמרי שאם יחזרו לשלוט אנשים שנראים כמוני וגדלו כמוני (אשכנזי, מעמד בינוני) מצבה של ישראל לא יוטב בשום צורה. זה ניסיון להכין את עצמי לחיים עכשו, לא ״ביום שאחרי״, חיים שבהם נישא אני וילדיי את כתם רצח העם ואת בושת העליונות הרצחנית. צריך להגיד את זה בעברית קודם כל לעצמי, לסדוק את השריון ששפת אמי עטתה מזמן, השריון שמנמיך כל כך את הערבית עד שדובר העברית כלל לא מסוגל לשמוע בה סבל ואנושיות (גם לא בפרסית).

בשפתי שלי מבוצע רצח העם הזה. לצד ההיסטוריה המופלאה שלה, עברית היא שפה שאפשר לבצע בה רצח עם, שאפשר לנסח בה מודל שאין גזעני ממנו לחיים פוליטיים, שאפשר לשקר בה הכי הרבה לנו בעצמנו, לדובריה ואוהביה. הצורך שלי לומר את זה כאן הוא עצמאי לגמרי. אכפת לי רק מהלב שלי שנשבר בכל יום מחדש. לא מגיעים לי רחמים. שברון הלב שלי בטל בשישים מול רצח העם שמבצעת ישראל בעברית צחה. ובכל זאת, צריך להתאמן על המלים. כשהילדים שלי יחשבו על שפת אביהם, המלים הללו יזהרו בה בנגה אפל.

[Zara Quinn @_Zaraquin]

Israel dropped the largest non nuclear bomb on innocent people of lebanon, the media silent no UN outrage human rights are silent.

FUCK ISRAEL
FUCK UN

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

It's been 1000 days since the genocide in Gaza began.

During this time, I lost my job as a doctor in London, had my medical licence suspended, was arrested 5 times, charged and now awaiting a criminal trial in the courts of occupied Britain.

And I can't begin to explain how pathetically insignificant that all is compared to a single second in Gaza.

Where the equivalent of ~10 nuclear bombs has been dropped on a piece of land you can drive through in 30 minutes.

Where hundreds of thousands have been martyred.

Hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, orphanages bombed.

Men, women, and children sniped, starved, bombed, burned, kidnapped, tortured, raped, and displaced by 'israel'.

A campaign of total erasure against a native population of whom 50% are children broadcasted to the entire world. Waged by foreign invaders against Palestinians because they are not jewish.

And it continues.

1000 days and 78 years of genocide and occupation.

1000 days and 78 years of Palestinian steadfastness, resistance, and bravery.

All I can say is I wish I could have done more—that humanity could have done more. And I pray we live to witness the end of 'israel' and the religious supremacist ideology of zionism.

Palestinians are still fighting and so will we.

And victory is but an hour's patience.

[Mosab Abu Toha @MosabAbuToha]

You should feel ashamed to call yourselves journalists. There is nothing called “Palestinian-controlled” and “areas under israeli military control.”
It’s all Palestinian lands OCCUPIED by Israel. Israel is an illegal occupation.
And shame on you. This story is from June 15. TWO WEEKS AGO.

Here are the details you need to know about the child and his father which I posted June 15.

Israel opened fire on two civilians on the Salah Eddin St. east of Der el-Balah, killing a child and critically injuring his father.
Immediately, Israel abducted the body of the child and the his bleeding father.

The following day, israel released the body of the child and his wounded father.
The boy was SHOT IN THE EYE.

Israel and its terrorist forces released the body of a child after killing him and holding his body hostage for a few hours.
The child’s name was Rayyan Abu al-Ajin.

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@WexitPepe @jeoalbant You must have missed the bit about our crops and wildlife being fucked, even if you don't give a shit about the elderly, poor or otherwise vulnerable humans who will die because of this. You talk like a 5 year old sociopath.

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@GeoffreyLean Expecting, or even hoping for, our current systems of governance, based as they are on petty power struggles, fragile egos and financial bias against the common good, to make sensible choices when faced with fundamental issues of human survival, is futile.

[Ori Goldberg @ori_goldberg]

A while ago, after writing here that I consider myself an Israeli and will remain one, I had a brief but interesting conversation with @susanabulhawa on this platform. She asked me (if memory serves) what it is that I miss about the Israel that precedes 7.10.23 and what to what am I holding on in my claim to be an Israeli.

I answered that I may be a missing a load of lies but that I was born into this load. I grew up in a Hebrew-speaking family. I grew up Jewish, although Israel as a state attempted to produce its own version of Judaism, intensely nationalized (effectively substituting religion and culture for nationhood). I am 50 years old. A decision to simply repress or ignore my various imprints is one I (and I speak only for myself) have neither ability nor interest in making. During a broader discussion that preceded our brief exchange I wrote that I wanted to wholly remake Israel into a part of a single state in which Jews and Palestinians lived im full equality and dignity.

Some time has passed. The overt degeneration of Israeli society grows harsher each day. I do not believe that any human group (or any human) possesses characteristics that are forever chiseled in stone. I don't think Israeli Jews are or were inherently evil. But now, after an occupation lasting nearly three generations and nearly three years of overt genocide and ethnic cleansing, I firmly believe that whenever Jewish Israeli society could choose evil over goodness and oppression over dignity, it did so. Jewish Israel is the sum of its choices and those were consistently corrupt, hollow and inhumane. They resulted in what I thought of as genocide by indifference and is now referred to genocide by attrition.

All this to say that I have been thinking a lot about Ms. Abulhawa's question. I have come to realize that I miss nothing about the Israel that was and I abhor the Israel that now slouches towards Bethlehem to be born. What I want is a national and cultural identity built on the riches of Judaism and on the complete rejection of supremacy alongside the complete adoption of dignity and equality. I do not want to be deported once the current Israel is dismantled. I also belong here, not because my grandparents stole it but because it is my reality, my past and future.

That fact by itself rights no wrongs. Israel in its supremacist form deserves no pity. Israelis must redefine their very being in order to be heard. I do not know when and how this will happen. With the best of my ability, I pledge myself to this cause. I expect nothing in return. This is my albatross. I would like to think that I can be accepted here. I am of this land. I would appreciate an opportunity to live out my sense of belonging.

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@matthewsyed Good men do not sell weapons to genocidal regimes

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@Ed_Miliband You can't be both respected and claim that starmer deserves respect.

[Tarl 🇬🇧 🇮🇪 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @ui_imair]

@SkyNews You omitted the fact the handler also spoke Ukrainian.

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@Keir_Starmer And then you let Palantir rob us of every last bit of data and decency. Hypocrite and war criminal.

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@afneil It's not anti-Semitism to protest against a genocidal regime - Israel. If you're one of the people saying it doesn't meet that definition then you're making excuses for a country wiping it's neighbours off the face of the earth and you have lost your humanity.

[Roger Gall @Shambles151]

"Judge Johnson kept the jury in the dark of his plans to sentence the four as terrorists. This is the first time in British legal history that anyone has been sentenced as a terrorist for damaging property."

Please RT until this is both the 1st & last time.

Thank you.

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@SophyRidgeSky If Russia didn't exist people like him would have to invent it.

[Kareem 🇵🇸 @awm03]

@SkyNews @adamparsons As a Palestinian you can't file a police complaint or go to court,
If you turn to the West for help, they'll call on Israel to investigate itself.
If you take matters into your own hand, you'll be condemned as a terrorist. And if you speak up you'll be called an antisemite

[shannon ribbons @shamusr001]

@garzzio @TheGreenParty Yes apparently there are still a few Gazans who haven't been incinerated yet, let's wait before jumping to hasty declarations of genocide.

[Roger Gall @Shambles151]

[Andy] "Burnham declined to describe the catastrophe on the ground in Gaza as a genocide."

Please RT this -until the man who expects to be PM - no longer declines to describe the IDF's crimes in Palestine & Lebanon as a GENOCIDE.

Thank you.