If you’re a Democratic politician pretending to be horrified by what’s happening in Gaza, fuck you. 98% of you just voted to give Israel another $500M in the middle of a horrific genocide. You take AIPAC money and kiss Israeli ass for a living. World’s biggest hypocrites!
Let me tell you a story, Hanan.
I’m Vietnamese.
In 1954, the Western powers, fresh from centuries of colonial conquest, decided Vietnam should be cut in half.
Not because the Vietnamese asked for it.
Not because it was just.
But because it served imperial interests.
The North would go to us, the ones who had bled to defeat the French.
The South would be handed to a U.S.-backed regime we never chose.
They called it a "compromise."
They called it a "solution."
They said we should accept it, and there’ll be peace.
That half a country is better than none.
That resistance would only bring needless suffering.
But we refused.
Because Vietnam is not a bargaining chip.
We are not a parcel to be divided by strangers and called free.
And when we resisted, they called us unreasonable.
They called us terrorists.
They said we were the problem.
Sound familiar?
What you just said about Palestinians—that they should have accepted UN Resolution 181 and been grateful for half a homeland—is exactly what they told us.
And we proved them wrong.
We fought not because we hated peace.
We fought because real peace cannot come from foreign dictates, settler violence, and forced partitions.
We fought because no people should be told to accept half their dignity so someone else can sleep at night.
We fought because Vietnam is one.
Not north, not south, but whole.
And we won.
Now you expect Palestinians to do what we never would.
To accept their homeland divided.
Their history rewritten.
Their future stolen.
To say yes to a plan they never agreed to.
Written by people who did not live there.
Giving away land that was never theirs to offer.
You call that a missed opportunity.
We call it resistance to dismemberment.
Palestinians said no because they knew what we knew:
To accept a settler’s map is to erase your own.
So don’t talk to me about Resolution 181.
Talk to me about the villages wiped off the map.
Talk to me about the mass graves and refugee camps that followed.
Talk to me about the families still holding the keys to homes they are forbidden to return to.
Vietnam refused partition. And today we are whole.
Palestine did the same. And for that, they are still being punished.
But they were right to refuse.
Just like we were.
Just like the Algerians were.
Just like the South Africans were.
And one day, like us, they will reclaim everything that was stolen.
Because memory is stronger than force.
And the land never forgets who it belongs to.
Any serious critic of Israel is automatically deemed a "Hamas sympathizer."
This is, by design, intended to condition work and study in the US on either vocally expressing love for Israel or staying silent: courtesy of the people claiming to restore free speech in the US.
Norman Brisky saying "Gaza, Gaza, Gaza..." is my new alarm 😭
Argentine actor of Jewish descent, Norman Brisky in his speech at the award ceremony “Gaza will never be defeated, it doesn t matter if you applaud me more or less but I feel it in my blood”
If Harris loses- it’s all self inflicted - she could run on what won Biden the White House - and go further - @SenSanders agenda - wildly popular .
She’s let the neoliberals push her right - just DUMB .
And then refusing to break with Biden on Gaza Lebanon and netenyahus lawless genocide .
It’s not 3 rd party
It’s not black men
It’s refusing to go where the votes are.
For those who have not read it yet, this is my new article at @inthesetimesmag about Jewish workers who are being pushed out of their jobs at Jewish workplaces for supporting Palestine. My investigation showed a massive purge happening in Jewish orgs.
https://t.co/tvAWECQpAz
In May 2023 the 12th edition of the Palestine Festival of Literature took place in cities across occupied Palestine.
Here, three authors – Ta-Nehisi Coates, Maaza Mengiste and Eve Ewing - reflect on what they saw in Palestine.
All interviews filmed in Palestine, May 2023.
Here is Ismail’s tribute to himself and the dying humanity.
“Let me tell you, my friend, that I no longer know the taste of sleep. The bodies of children and the screams of the injured and their blood-soaked images never leave my sight. The cries of mothers and the wailing of men who are missing their loved ones never fade from my hearing.
I can no longer bear the sound of children’s voices from beneath the rubble, nor can I forget the energy and power that reverberates at every moment, turning into a nightmare. It is no longer easy for me to stand before the rows of coffins, which are locked and extended, or to see the dead people more than the living who are fighting death beneath their homes, not finding a way out to safety and survival.
I am tired, my friend…”
Ismail Al-Ghoul
Al Jazeera Correspondent in Gaza