Celebrities take to social media to share their thoughts on Palestine & Israel

[xoxobliss]

People around the world have taken to social media and the streets in support of both Palestine and Israel as conflict continues. Since October 7, around 1,300 people have been killed, with 3,400 wounded in the Hamas attack on Israel. Israeli airstrikes have killed around 2,329 Palestinians in Gaza, with 9,714 wounded

Comments

[sodenoshirayuki]

Honestly, I think that the actions we've seen from Germany and France (shutting down and banning protests meanwhile people still risk jail to protest) are likely going to backfire massively in the long run. The media coverage backing the regimes is unsurprising but they're really trying to sell it and it doesn't seem to be quite working

Western Europe and the USA's determination to support Israel no matter what on both sides of the aisle ("aid"/spending on Israel's military etc is truly the only issue elected Dems and Repubs wholeheartedly agree on and vote in congress for) and the instant condemnation of any critique of the state of Israel as antisemitism is and has been giving hella Cold War vibes - except information doesn't flow in the same ways as it used to and general opinion doesn't look favorably upon US interventions in Latin America and Asia for instance. This is just the current Western colonial frontier disguised behind decades of self-righteousness and delusion born out of stopping a different genocide and it would be inconvenient (geo-)politically to self-reflect in that sense...

My great-aunt (who is a Holocaust survivor and German Jew) is probably the most vocal about this and has been really worried in the past 10 years about nazi ideologies returning and the consequences thereof (she wasn't just talking about AfD guyz 👀). i mean when you educated in the german school system and #NeverAgain is such a significant part of the curriculum, i think it's pretty rich the govt and media assumed people would automatically be pro-war crimes and -genocide just because it's in support of Israel and "Jews". the fucking surprise that Jews and Holocaust survivors don't support genocide is also wild to me like "who would've thought the survivors of a genocide don't want to see another genocide happening no matter what the victims look like or who they worship"

[benihime99]

The french ban is mostly motivated by the anniversary of the Murder of Samuel Paty (3 years ago)
The country has been on high alert for weeks.
The current situation added an extra layer of unrest (not to mention all the issue with police brutality).

The recent murder (2 days ago - which is being investigated by the anti-terrorist office) is certainly not helping

The whole country is a powder keg

The political future is looking fucking grim for all of Europe. As you said, in the long run this will backfire, hard

[sodenoshirayuki]

Yeah I'm aware of the reasoning for the protest banning in France, the current situation, and the events that have lead up to this. Hadn't heard about the recent murder also contributing 😢 but I'm a little bit behind on my Euro news rn

I'm extremely afraid that the right-wing parties will be successful in co-opting and twisting the universal & unquestionable govt support of israel to fit their agenda (even though they support it whole-heartedly lbr). I don't even want to say how they'll do it but despite what I said indicating having faith in human beings not wanting civilians to be massacred, it's not looking great for France or Germany either

The refugee/asylum seeker backlash in Germany has been fomenting for a while...

[benihime99]

It's extremely worrisome cause if Germany and/or France fall to the far right, the EU is done for and this will have some major effects.

I'm quite confident that even if Marine is elect she will not have the majority at parliament so there's that
But looking at Italy and the Netherlands... It's not good

[veracity]

My husband works with a Nazi and it makes them so uncomfortable. His family's history is peppered with the stench. Told boss who made sure they're not working with said Nazi. It's frustrating because of seniority, keeps the oldtimer there. I've noticed a lot of shifting political populism again in Germany. It's obvious when an immigrant.

[sodenoshirayuki]

um WTAF??? i hope you mean he's effectively a neo-Nazi descendant of Nazi party members who I assume toes the line right up to what's legal to say and what's not right? Cause an overt "I identify as a Nazi" or even a covert "Hitler had good ideas/speeches" should make you completely unemployable and radioactive though then again antisemitism never really died in Germany - they just introduced way more thought-based interventions and the AfD is doing the dog-whistling these days. Ugh, this is reminding me of stories of all the proud hidden Nazis my family had to encounter and deal with non-violently after the war - both in Germany and outside of Germany and having tolerate people who would happily eradicate you fucking pisses me off!

The growing political populism is exactly why my great-aunt said at our family reunion like eight years ago "we said never forget but y'all are forgettin'". Pretty sure she was addressing the whites in Germany and not us biracials in the fam living abroad...

I was actually catching up with a very close friend yesterday (we went to a Auslandsschule) and she told me when she was in Cologne doing her Masters a few years ago, her local friend confidently declared to her that "racism doesn't even exist anymore" and my close friend was like "um... i thought you were smart and educated but that's a dumbest take i've heard 💀". That's the other danger here too - thinking you're so liberal and elevated you've eradicated prejudice because progress or symbolic nonsense or "we took in so many refugees!!!" entirely and thus it can't and won't be discussed

[veracity]

That "no racism here" sounds very NRW/OWL, where I am. My husband also said that no one should be hireable but that would require corporate to care. (They frequently violate labor laws, so keeping Nazi dude isn't a huge stretch. Nor him having friends at work. Ironically working with a lot of immigrants.)

People say "never forget", celebrate the little stones with names in ground, honor. But it's never real. Only performative. It's why the government is dealing with devils at the moment. Front and back end, not just AfD. Noticed an increase in right wing flyers and discourse since the last election too. Taking in refugees does little good when you rob Peter and Paul to avoid opening the social safety net. Creating divisions to avoid accountability.

[sodenoshirayuki]

I am so sorry your husband has to deal with that at work 💕. What a shitty workplace and of course working with immigrants 😢.

Apropos "never forget", have you seen or heard of the documentary "Der unbekannte Soldat" (2006)? It's about the Wehrmachtausstellungen, a series of exhibitions using photography (by Wehrmacht soldiers themselves iirc) to challenge the myth and popular belief that the Holocaust was only perpetrated by the SS and affiliated groups and that the Wehrmacht had nothing to do with it. I highly recommend it though even the subject matter and photos are graphic but iirc the big focus in the doc is on the reactions, protests, and counterprotests re: the exhibition which is eye-opening.

That's all to say that "never forget" is a nice sentiment and slogan but when you have a not insignificant part of the population so steadfast in their denial and belief that their average joe relatives/ancestors etc reluctantly participated but in the armed forces only and besides it was a few bad actors and bad apples, then "never forget", wartime responsibility, and civilian complicity are all meaningless concepts because they see themselves as excluded from it. And since it wasn't them or their ancestors and they're not Jews anyway, they can say "never forget" with everyone else because yeah you know objectively the Holocaust is a bad look when they truly mean "never remember" because forgetting would have no consequences for them as non-Jews. It's quite similar to sentiments White Southerners have re: the Civil War/"War of Northern Aggression" where no one owned slaves and if they did, they treated them like family! etc etc 🙄

Taking in refugees does little good when you rob Peter and Paul to avoid opening the social safety net. Creating divisions to avoid accountability.

You are absolutely right and tbqh it was immediately apparent that that was what was happening and yet the govt was like "lalalala we can't hear you over our moral self-righteousness sticking it to other Euro countries". It's very honestly not dissimilar to Brexit where the fallout and consequences were predictable and predicted from the jump and those politicians leading the charge leave office and the consequences for everyone else to deal with.