🕊 Third Time’s a Charm 🌿

@JPapantonakis new account, after the last one got hijacked
#FreeAssange #人新世の資本論 #EndUSblockade

[Dr Vira Ameli | ویرا عاملی @viraameli]

Much has already been written about the hypocrisy of this letter. But one claim deserves particular attention. The authors repeat the story that Israel struck the ‘transgender section’ of Evin prison, purportedly housing 100 transgender prisoners. This false story circulated internationally after it was reported by the New York Times, before later investigations found no evidence to support it and the key source denied ever making the claim attributed to him.

Having spent my PhD years researching HIV in Iran, a subject that necessarily involved studying the legal, social and healthcare realities facing transgender people, I know full well that transgender people are not imprisoned in Iran for being transgender. Iran legally recognises transgender people and permits gender reassignment surgery. Furthermore, there are no dedicated prison wings housing 100 transgender prisoners.

Yet people who were willing to uncritically repeat such an implausible story are now writing open letters to Iranian prisoners, as though they possess a deep understanding of the people they claim to write to. It is another reminder of how often narratives about Iran are constructed from assumptions and second-hand mythologies, rather than from serious engagement with realities on the ground.

https://t.co/Sav02QXd2I

[susan abulhawa | سوزان ابو الهوى @susanabulhawa]

going from being a political prisoner and abolitionist to becoming an icon of Black liberation and anti-imperialism, then to endorsing Kamala Harris, and now lending your name to attack the current target of the full weight of empire is a hell of a life trajectory. what a tragic turn of legacy.

[🕊 Third Time’s a Charm 🌿 @ThirdTimesaCha1]

@freedomrideblog For whoever organized it, I’m guessing college students or graduates who’ve recently been radicalized by the Gaza genocide.
It appears like a gatekeeping intervention against anybody that might think to support the axis of resistance.

[Margaret Kimberley @freedomrideblog]

I have nothing to add to my statement but I have a question. Who was the intended audience for this open letter?

[Margaret Kimberley @freedomrideblog]

A great book if I do say so myself. Available in paperback, on kindle, and an audiobook narrated by me. Thanks in advance.
#Prejudential @SteerforthPress

https://t.co/41l6ujERbD

[Sara Al-sharif @ros_sara2002]

Is*raeli settlers, with the help of the IDF, are enjoying torturing a Palestinian child 💔

Shame on all

[Nick Cruse 🥋 @SocialistMMA]

Someone explain to me how DSA is a socialist organization when they consistently elect capitalists while organizing within a capitalist party? They are just aspiring managers of capitalism.

If socialism is such a dirty, unpopular ideology why do they hijack it?

[Seyed Mohammad Marandi @s_m_marandi]

Actually, it is the Guardian and other gatekeepers of empire, as well as the authors of the open letter, that have trapped their constituency between the two blades of a scissors. When it comes to Iran, these authors have for decades been no better than the likes of Netanyahu.

[Ali Abunimah @AliAbunimah]

They knew exactly what they were doing. I’m curious about who instigated this execrable pro-imperialist screed and why at this moment. The reaction however is heartening: From what I’ve seen it has failed to produce the divisions and doubts its authors undoubtedly hoped for

[susan abulhawa | سوزان ابو الهوى @susanabulhawa]

I'm struggling with this open letter, signed by people I admire deeply—individuals who've dedicated their lives to Black liberation and anti-colonial struggles.

But I just can't reconcile my instinctive reaction to the letter with the respect I hold for the signatories. Prominent intellectuals in the imperial core are using their voice at this hour primarily to criticize a government under active bombardment. While I believe that no government is beyond reproach or criticism, I have a lot of questions and cautions about this open letter.

The overall framing of is of two equally opposing sides—two blades of the same scissors. This is a wholly unfair representation of what is in reality a profound asymmetry of power. On one hand, a country that has been subjected to crippling, decades-long economic sanctions, now fighting kinetically an existential anti-imperial struggle; on the other hand is nuclear, AI-powered empire, with its inexhaustible money, munitions, supply lines, coalitions, surveillance, and near total grip on international political, legal, information, and economic infrastructure.

The severity of the imperial onslaught seems to be minimized in the letter. This is perhaps for the sake of brevity, but it should not stand without critique. What the letter describes as "current, indiscriminate waves of US-Israeli military assaults" undersells what's actually happening in the "six months into a war". Unprovoked Tomahawk missiles and B-2 bombers that targeting a an elementary school that killed 180 children and teachers, the country's spiritual leader and his family, more than a third of the country's political, military, and scientific leadership, civilian infrastructure, including water, farmlands, electric grids and power plants, an unarmed navy ship at sea full of young cadets returning from a peacetime maritime exercise in international waters. This after decades of attacks that went unanswered by Iran, including Israel's repeated assassinations of Iranian scientists, assassination of Qasem Soleimani, strikes on Iranians generals in Syria, strike on Iranian consulate in Damascus, assassination of Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil; the US shot down civilian aircraft of Iran Air flight 655, killing 290 passengers and crew, including 66 children. There were endless cyber attacks, covert and overt naval sabotage and so much more—all of it without response from Tehran.

The letter does not identify who the prisoners are or why they were arrested. In neglecting to do so, there is no engagement with the very real security threats, proven foreign interference, terrorism, and espionage, which Iranian authorities cite as reasons for some arrests and prosecutions. I have no doubt there are some who've been wrongly imprisoned, but we also know that many of those who were rounded up confessed to working with the Mossad, and recently a group who gruesomely disembowled a young reciter of the Quran are among those who are imprisoned.

There are currently 2 million incarcerated people in the United States, the largest prison population anywhere on earth. It is estimated that 4-6% of them are innocent—that's 80,000-120,000, about two NFL stadiums full of innocent lives behind bars. Setting that percentage against Iran's estimated 15,000 political prisoners, that's roughly 600-900 individuals. They deserve fairness, but to center them in what is perhaps the most existential anti-colonial struggle of our lives feels misguided.

I would also argue that comparing Iran's prisons with Israel's decades-long, systematic, colonial detention of indigenous Palestinians is another form of false equivalence. So is the comparison with America's ICE detentions, separation of families and loss of children in the process (who are most likely trafficked). It is not remotely fair to put a revolutionary government, barely a few decades out from under colonial boots and still under sanctions, in the same "carceral" category as two settler colonial states. One cannot ignore the enormous disparity of political, military, and historical circumstances.

The people held in Iranian jails are overwhelmingly Iranian citizens, prosecuted under the state's own criminal and national security laws, regardless of whether one thinks the laws are unfair. Palestinians held in Israeli administrative detention are non-citizen subjects of a military occupation, detained and re-detained indefinitely under military decrees without charge or trial. People in US detentions are another category—non citizens held under civil immigration laws pending removal proceedings with access to immigration courts, however corrupt they may be. These are three distinct legal relationships—1) a state and it's own citizens; 2) a state and migrants crossing its borders, and; 3) an occupying power and a stateless occupied indigenous population. The letter collapses them all into a single architecture of "carceral states everywhere," creating an analysis that is not supported by the underlying facts. It creates rhetorical equivalence that treats "administrative detention," "political imprisonment," and "immigration detention" as though the political stakes of each were the same, when the questions of sovereignty, citizenship, and self-determination underneath them are not.

The phrase that knocked me off balance was this: "...we reject the false binary of imperialism and hollow anti-imperialism." I note that @agent_of_change addressed this in a recent post, which he identified as the "load-bearing phrase" of the letter. Indeed, it does so much heavy lifting and I'm at a loss why the word "hollow" would have been inserted. It's so clearly deliberate, but why? How can Iran's insistence on sovereignty and dignity be called "hollow," despite the grave and terrible cost to themselves? They could have taken the easy path a long time ago and bowed to empire, like some of their Arab neighbors have done. They've chosen self-possession and loyalty to their ancestors and children instead. That can be called many things, but hollow is not it.

https://t.co/6w2XgYeV4i

[🕊 Third Time’s a Charm 🌿 @ThirdTimesaCha1]

@nxt888 Have you ever considered collecting your various interventions into a book?
I'd buy it, and I'm, sure others would as well

[Ali Abunimah @AliAbunimah]

The key message of this imperialist propaganda: “we reject the false binary of imperialism and hollow anti-imperialism.”

It’s about using purported Palestine advocates and “abolitionists” to discredit Iran and its allies as they resist annihilation by the empire

[Margaret Kimberley @freedomrideblog]

“These are not people to be dismissed lightly.”
That may have been true before today but it isn’t any longer.
This is a moment to clearly choose sides in opposing US imperialism. This letter is nonsense, liberal gobbledygook. What is “hollow anti imperialism?” What are they claiming is a “false binary?”
Iran has defended itself and stood firm, as other nations in the region have taken a dive for the US and Israel. It isn’t imperialist. What are these people even talking about?
At this moment in history, as the US prepares to deport 350,000 Haitians, as Israel continues its killing spree, they choose to denounce Iran?
They don’t even mention that Israel has assassinated Iran’s scientists, and that the US treasury secretary bragged about crashing Iran’s economy, and the US supplied mobs with weapons to kill Iranians and destabilize that country. How do you write a letter about Iran and not mention the murder of 165 people at the school in Minab? How do you make any comparison at all between Iran and apartheid Israel? The very idea is offensive.
The signatories of this letter have lost varying degrees of credibility, regardless of what else they have done in their lives. Then again, people like Angela Davis have lived off of undeserved reputations for decades. She doesn’t have far to fall.

[Dr. Yousef 🇵🇸 @yousef_ki1]

⚠️⚠️ Please don’t scroll ⚠️⚠️

I need your urgent help, Comment with a dot or emoji.

X is still placing restrictions on my account.
The reach has dropped significantly,
Not everyone can see my tweets.

Drop a word or even if a dot to break the restriction.

[Dr Rahmeh Aladwan @doctor_rahmeh]

Hind Rajab's mother posted this after 'israel' admitted they murdered her 5 year old daughter:

'I am the mother of Hind Rajab.

After more than two years, the "israeli" military has finally acknowledged that its forces opened fire on the car in which Hind and my family were trapped, and that it will open a criminal investigation, despite denying this at the time.

But I want to say this clearly: opening an investigation is not justice.

Hind was a frightened and injured child, trapped inside the car among the bodies of her family members, pleading with the world to save her. The paramedics who went to rescue her were later killed.

Why was there no investigation when Hind was begging for help? Why was there no investigation when the paramedics went to save her? And why, after more than two years?

I do not want a closed military investigation. I want an independent, transparent investigation and genuine accountability for everyone responsible.

Hind is not just a news story or a case reopened because of international pressure.

Hind is my daughter, and I will continue to demand the truth and justice for her, my family, and the paramedics who tried to save her.

Opening an investigation is a long-overdue step.
Justice has not yet begun.'

The original post from Hind's mother Wesam:
https://t.co/NQqgLH2I5y

[Muhammad Shehada @muhammadshehad2]

Disappointed the BBC cancelled my interview on Israel's killing of Hind Rajab

2 producers eagerly reached out. They confirmed the time & one called to prepare a brief for the anchor

She asked me whether Israel's announcement is positive, I explained in detail it was a cover up.

The IDF is blaming the killing of Hind, her uncle, aunt & 4 cousins on the family itself for trying to flee by car & on the ambulance sent to rescue her for "failures in the co-ordination of the movement."

None of this is remotely true! The Red Cross immediately informed the IDF about 5-year-old Hind who was hiding in that motionless car, & they requested permission from Israel to allow an ambulance to rescue them.

After multiple long hours, Israel granted greenlight to the ambulance & provided them with a designated route on a GPS to drive on.

As soon as the ambulance reached Hind's car, the IDF ambushed & bombed them immediately with an American made anti-tank missile then opened fire on Hind's car. The car was hit with 355 bullets.

Israel then kept that area under lockdown for 12 days, & prevented anyone from approaching.

Hind's mom went daily to the Ahli baptist hospital hoping to find her daughter, until her lifeless body was brought in along with the charred remains of the ambulance men.

Israel then claimed after an "initial investigation" that its troops were NEVER in that area to begin with. They maintained that claim for 2 years despite ample recordings & satellite images debunking this lie.

The only reason Israel is now making this new announcement of a deeper investigation is to shield its soldiers & generals from the International Criminal Court by invoking the principle of "complementarity;" that the ICC cannot investigate a state that is already investigating itself in good faith.

I told the BBC producer Israel today also quietly shut down the investigation into the triple tap killing of American, Canadian, British, Australian & Polish citizens in the WCK massacre. Israel blamed the massacre on the aid workers themselves for "deviating from the predesignated route" & for hiring an armed security guard "without informing the IDF" (both claims where debunked by WCK themselves, who had coordinates their every step with the IDF).

I told the producer the Israeli commander responsible for this massacre, Nochi Mendel, is a fanatical settler who had signed a petition calling for starving Gaza & that he was celebrated by settler leaders & supported by Israeli government leaders after what he did.

Mendel even received a box of chocolate from the settler council's leader & a letter of support for what he did.

Mendel was initially dismissed by the IDF & blamed for the massacre, but was quickly & quietly reinstated & promoted in the Defence Ministry as the head of the settlements and national infrastructure unit.

It's abundantly clear Israel is NOT serious about prosecuting any of the atrocities committed in Gaza. Since the genocide began, only two soldiers were punished by the IDF; one for microwaving a living frog & another for cooking sausages in the army kitchen on Shabbat.

The producer asked me: What about the 150 cases the IDF said are pending review?

I answered: it's just a number designed to give the appearance of seriousness, but it's essentially meaningless.

If it took the IDF two whole years to admit the simplest of facts that the entire world had already known, which is that their troops were the ones who fired on Hind Rajab's car, how do you expect them to do with the remaining cases that are not as high profile?

Five minutes after the call, the producer wrote me that they decided to cancel the interview & will not even host anyone else to comment on the issue, & instead they'll play archival footage!

[Prof Zenkus @anthonyzenkus]

If Democrats can't agree on abolishing the actual American Gestapo there better be no consternation when we decide to stay home or vote 3rd Party in 2028.

[Mohamed Ayman 🇵🇸🍉 @in_mosab]

BEG YOU 😭💔
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https://t.co/6zWJiCpoBk

[Briahna Joy Gray @briebriejoy]

I wanted to give folks the benefit of the doubt and be really sure before I started treating them as hostile rather than allies with a difference of opinion. But theres a realignment happening now where the left is being co-opted into the corporate Democratic Party at the expense of “the left” abandoning Black lives, congressional reforms, and Palestine, without gaining anything material at all. I can’t not call this out.

[Our Documentary Series "Genocide in Gaza" out now! @ICCAHOPT_BRICS]

🧵With Part IV finally released, we are again proud to share our documentary, "Genocide in Gaza", now available to watch online in this platform.

This project has been a painful labor of love and dedication, aimed at honoring the memories of those murdered and ensuring their stories are not forgotten.

In times when denying the existence of a people and then directly exterminating them is not enough, the very perpetrators have launched a multi-million-dollar online campaign - featuring bots, trolls and paid influencers - that also aims to deny the atrocities committed by Israel against the civilian population of Gaza (as if we were not facing the most documented genocide in history) by seeking to promote a post-truth in which a productive/artistic capacity and resources would supposedly operate in Palestine that would in fact be superior to that of Hollywood itself, by producing so many hours of apocalyptically hyperrealistic video per day.

Please, feel free to repost, quote or comment on our videos in cases where you come across some of the negationist accounts. And, of course, to make visible the painful drama of the people of Gaza, who have been massacred for almost ten months without their suffering being shown by the mass media.

🚨 Content Warning: This documentary contains graphic scenes and sensitive content related to violence, loss]. Viewer discretion is advised.

🇵🇸 All credit for the images to the brave journalists, photographers, YouTubers and Civil Defense crew from Gaza.

⬇️ Find the different parts of "Genocide in Gaza" in the tweets below. ⬇️