That former twitter employee was found guilty of acting as an agent of a foreign government. So far the Israeli lobby has a free pass to meddle in without triggering the same treatment. See https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-twitter-employee-found...
The sheer volume of pro-palestine, pro-hamas (those are not the same), pro-islam and anti-jewish sentiment[0] I am bombarded with on Tiktok tells me that either:
* there is no moderation
* There is absurdly overwhelming pro-terrorism and racist sentiment
* The bot/spam farms are in full war mode.
I find it hard to believe that content is being moderated with any pro-israel bias on tiktok.
You can also sleep with those employees to speed it up [1].
[1]: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/kittylixo-onlyfans-instagram-em...
Here is a great example, this Chris Hayes of MSNBC news segment on the MSNBC YouTube channel where he is incredibly critical of what Israeli leaders are saying:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WTHVseqZdw
Notice the warning says:
"The following content may contain graphic or violent imagery"
There are no such warnings on the official MSNBC website on this video, thus it is specific to YouTube: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/chris-hayes-the-war-in-...
I've seen this happen on another video, one calling on the games industry to be supportive of the Palestinian struggle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDB_wYdn5f4
You can find a ton of videos on YouTube with similar content or worse that the Chris Hayes's video that is critical of Israel, but they are allowed: https://www.youtube.com/@msnbc/search?query=israel
Here is probably the best example, here is an official IDF video that shows clearly dead bodies and there is no YouTube content warning, just a warning that the IDF put in their video - thus allowing this video to still go viral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta7ScT67vQ0
Just one instance of that is one too many in my books.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/beheaded-babies-how-uk-media-...
https://electronicintifada.net/content/inside-israels-millio...
Iron Sting Mortar | How it Works | Israel Gaza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UueA6HIA0Pg
Rarely mentioned by the media is that Hamas builds command and control centers under hospitals intentionally putting civilians in harms way.
James Bamford has written at least 3 good articles about Israeli government influence of US civil society (social media) and elections (the leak of the DNC hack materials), all in the last year or so, at The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/authors/james-bamford/
And until extremely recently, the IDF and associated arms of the state have been engaging in even more deceptive actions, such as creating sock-puppet accounts to bolster support for government policy, targeting Israelis themselves: https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-admits-psychological-warfa...
It's impossible to be certain of anything related to these highly unaccountable and secret operations, but the "grain" of truth runs very much in the direction of Israeli state interference, with quite wide scope -- but effectiveness unknown.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/us-public-support-israel-drops...
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/31/us/politics/us-israel-ham...
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/12/united-nations...
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/10/congress-mem...
Here's an article from 2008, from the Jersualem Post.
https://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/ADL-YouTube-l...
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-officials-have-gro...
It feels more like an Israeli attempt at using fog of war and the masses ignorance on the matter to soften the reaction and spread doubt about the real numbers. As this talking point was continously used by Israeli spokespersons even after US officials believed these numbers to be fairly accurate. I would be happy to be corrected, I wish the numbers are actually less, and would want this to be the reality.
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-officials-have-gro...
https://nitter.net/paulg/status/1733146138226614465 https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1733146138226614465
If you ask me how Israel calculates its death toll the answer is pretty simple: they use archaeologists, forensic medical teams, and more
One of the most obvious examples of a prior discrepancy was the Health Ministry claiming that ~500 innocent civilians died when Israel bombed al Ahli hospital. Of course, we later discovered the hospital wasn't bombed, the parking lot was, the bomb wasn't dropped by Israel but was rather an errant rocket from Hamas, and that far fewer people died. In other words, a series of lies. The Health Ministry never corrected the death toll and kept adding from that.
Beyond this, here's one of many analyses casting shade on the Health Ministry's statistics: https://twitter.com/Aizenberg55/status/1744381711993946209
You can google around for dozens more. As I said to the prior commenter, I'd rather not have a debate here about whether the numbers are accurate (not because I'm not confident but rather because of the famous XKCD) and I simply mean to point out that Paul Graham has one standard for China's COVID death toll and a completely different standard for Hamas's Health ministry figures.
1. Regardless of the method, it was fairly accurate for years, and matched closely to Israeli estimates of casualties in prior conflicts.
2. The US, Israeli's largest ally, is not doubting those numbers. This alone says alot given that the US from a strategic perspective would want to present Israel in the best possible light they can given the majority of the globe is heading towards leaving Israel in isolation.
3. The Israeli claim against Almamadani hospital incident is placing the blame on Islamic Jihad (not Hamas) (pedantic point)
4. The issue of Almamadani hospital incident is still not settled, especially as the Israeli claimes have been debunked by multiple entities most notably the New York times. [1]
5. Ignoring the questionable numbers of this specific incident, because you might be right, but its interesting that the US's admission that the death toll coming from Gaza is accurate came at a date way after the Al mamadani hospital incident (my claim would be that this incident has been taken into consideration by the US officials when they admitted the accuracy of the death toll coming from Gaza). This paired with the US's strategic support of Israel makes their admission that the death toll is accurate is way more trust worthy than possibly exaggerated COVID death tolls, as in one case its an admission playing against the admitter, whereas the other case the admission is in favor of the admitter.
But thank you for sharing the Twitter thread, I'll investigate it and look into other sources as well
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/24/world/middleeast/gaza-hos...
With Netanyahu and other far right parties in power I'm not sure this is argument you think it is.
Also not great numbers with the free press either:
Better than some in the region, but not great.
And the refrain gets old when used as a cover for Israels terrible actions, but it actively makes me ill nowadays, maybe not as ill as "IDF is the most moral army in the world" when I think about the tens of thousands of kids they have blown up (killed and injured) I suppose.
Israeli law allows news censorship by the IDF. Currently, if you are a news outlet working in Israel, you have to pass your war coverage by them [1,2] even the CNN is forced to do this [3]. I don't know, but you seem to have a strange definition of free press. Should I list some of the series of scandals of IDF caught laying in the past to complete the picture? Just remember that they tried to convince people that the words [Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday] in Arabic are Hamas members names [4].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Military_Censor
[2] https://theintercept.com/2023/12/23/israel-military-idf-medi...
[3] https://theintercept.com/2024/01/04/cnn-israel-gaza-idf-repo...
[4] https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20231116-...
You can read more here if you are interested https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netany...
> The bare, white-tiled rooms showed no immediate evidence of use — for command and control or otherwise. There are no signs of recent habitation, including litter, food containers, clothing or other personal items.
> “This room was evacuated, and all the gear was evacuated. I guess it was evacuated when they knew or understand that we were going to enter Shifa Hospital,” Hagari said in the video.
If you have to label everyone who goes against the narrative that Palestinians are "human animals" that must to be wiped off the Earth, and other things Israeli politicians said while the IDF is doing it (or even just anyone who cares about factuality full stop) a Hamas supporter, that should tell you something.
As Bernie Steinberg said here https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/12/29/steinberg-weap...
> If Israel’s cause is just, let it speak eloquently in its own defense. It is very telling that some of Israel’s own supporters instead go to extraordinary lengths to utterly silence the other side. Smearing one’s opponents is rarely a tactic employed by those confident that justice is on their side.
The same principles that condemn the crimes of Hamas condemn the Israeli atrocities. It's really not complicated once you strip away all the labels of pro-this and anti-that.
Of acclaimed, established and renowned independent journalists, ...
with collectively decades of experience reporting on this very issue, ...
using direct Israeli sources, ...
to debunk the claims of any mass, organized campaign of rapes, beheading, mutilation, etc, etc, etc
https://youtu.be/RmhrRknUwtUsi=Bo851vbgprjsOdlo
https://youtu.be/WEyVdHL09vY?si=QaRCkr5TVKiinny
https://www.youtube.com/live/CPMf3CIa_BAsi=jzNZfD76KlK_7Oel
There's one unshakable truth emerging g from this genocide.
Israel TELLS you what happened, and it has been caught lying so much that it barely registers an upturned eyebrow any longer.
Palestine SHOWS you what happened, with 100s and 100s and 100s and 100s of videos, testimonies, etc, etc.
And that's why the vast majority of the world no longer believes you.
And why one side (guess which one?) is busy massacring journalists into the 3 figures now. If that side had the truth on their side, then they wouldn't be doing that.
It really is that simple!
I find this article failed to verify this claim at all.
I can find nothing elsewhere about 'iron truth'. It seems to be a creation by this website.
Then I goto their main page right now.
https://theintercept.com/2024/01/11/dnc-biden-israel-palesti...
Also multiple entries of 'Israel's war on Gaza'
Which is simply not factually correct. The palestinians are the ones who declared war and invaded Israel. Israel is in a defensive war.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-intercept/
I would say they being far left and low factuality seems to have been proven here.
https://archive.is/ERHPN#selection-2055.97-2055.288 https://archive.is/BR10K
Because it does. https://archive.is/ERHPN#selection-2055.97-2055.288 https://www.mintpressnews.com/israels-teen-troll-army-hasbar...
You are right about anti-semitic tropes, and it's a serious accusation, but if it's happening it's a problem. Not that official endorsement should be the standard to follow. Crowdsourcing a troll army for positive coverage is deceptive, regardless of whether support is official or shadier.
1. No it wasn't, despite the link PG shared. See: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28688179 . This won't surprise you but the Gaza Health Ministry also put out false data during COVID.
2. The American government's position has shifted over time from outright denial of the Health Ministry numbers to "we don't know, but we do know there are too many deaths." Let's see how it continues to shift as the conflict evolves.
4. Remember the context. You asked for an instance of the Gaza Health Ministry lying and I provided one. Are you now saying the 500 dead figure was accurate? Because if so, you're wrong that the matter is unsettled. While the exact estimates vary from as few as a dozen KIA to ~300 KIA, the entire open source intelligence community, all western intelligence agencies, and most publications agree the initial death toll was wrong. Also--not to be pedantic--but the NYT retracted their early coverage of the al Ahli hospital incident; the piece you link to was widely panned by open source intelligence experts; and it doesn't actually question the incident -- it just calls into question one particular piece of evidence.
5. I don't think you're following the narrative. Israel has said that the total death toll may be roughly 30% lower than what the Gaza Health Ministry asserts, but they also argue the list is NOT accurate. The list says almost everyone dead are women and kids, whereas Israel claims that roughly 8,000 militants have been killed and 1,000 captured.
- Israel has not carpet bombed gaza. They've used a higher portion of smart bombs than any other military in history and use F16s to guide their dumb bombs. Israel has dropped more than 25,000 bombs, and according to the high estimates fewer than 25,000 palestinians have been killed, meaning each bomb kills less than one person. Israel also establishes humanitarian corridors, drops leaflets, sends evacuation warnings, allows in aid, establishes safe zones, and much more.
- Nobody knows how many Palestinian journalists have been murdered. Gaza does not have a free press. What we do know is that many militants posing as journalists have been killed. See: https://www.camera.org/article/using-journalists-lives-as-cu...
- You're upset that Israel imprisons minors like these guys? https://www.wionews.com/world/are-hamas-resorted-to-training... Save some of your outrage for Hamas using child soldiers. Also, plenty of other countries, including the United States, imprison minors.
- I can see you've been listening to lots of Norman Finkelstein? Israel does not just wake up one day and say "let's mow the lawn" - each time they bomb gaza it's been in response to something like a suicide bomb or stabbing, which has happened for decades in Israel.
- I see you think you're familiar with the Hannibal directive. Can you link me to the text of this directive? The principles are tactical rather than strategic and followed by many other militaries, including the US.
This is a bold claim to make considering the evidence. We have satellite photos of Gaza and many estimates are that over 60% of the housing stock in the entire Gaza strip are damaged or destroyed[1] (some estimates up to 70% [2]; the lowest I could find was 45.3% [3]). Entire neighborhoods have been leveled in all parts of the Gaza strip. At least 29,000 bombs dropped on the strip have targeted residential areas. Over 65% of the population is displaced. More than 200 heritage and archaeological sites have been destroyed in the Israeli bombardment[2].
The bombings are not uniformly distributed, so if we focus on the most destroyed areas, which is norther Gaza and Gaza city, the numbers are much worse. Looking at this map[4] published by the BBC you can see that every part of Gaza city, Jabalia and Beit Hanoun have been targeted. Between 70% and 90% of all housing stock in these areas are damaged or destroyed[5]. Khan Younis south of the evacuation line has also had most of its areas targeted in Israeli bombardment and with an estimate 50% of all housing stock damaged or destroyed[5].
Here is what wikipedia has to say about carpet bombing[6]:
> Carpet bombing, also known as saturation bombing, is a large area bombardment done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land.
You have to be extremely selective in you consideration of reports on the evidence to deny that Gaza has been—and is currently in to process of being—carpet bombed. So selective in fact, that you would not just be wrong, but obviously wrong.
---
1: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-is...
2: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/31/israeli-bombardmen...
3: https://menafn.com/1107703299/ICJ-Should-Consider-Damaged-Ho...
4: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/89CD/production/...
I mean completely seriously that Israeli occupation forces are engaging in deliberate mass slaughter, including widely reported upon declarations of certain zones as safe for civilians followed by the bombing of those zones (https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-01-03-2024-...).
And it links to an article at https://www.972mag.com/the-israeli-government-is-paying-for-... "Another large sum (from the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs), around NIS 2 million ($570,000), was budgeted for building the Act.il website and producing multi-media content for it."
You're strangely confident that act.il getting government funding is "simply false" when you're simply wrong.
So explain just how the post was misleading.
"not none" would be acceptable for me.
https://speakupeg.com/2023/12/30/nyts-disgraceful-investigat...
> “She said she then watched another woman “shredded into pieces.” While one terrorist raped her, she said, another pulled out a box cutter and sliced off her breast. “One continues to rape her, and the other throws her breast to someone else, and they play with it, throw it, and it falls on the road.”
If people accept that at face value from a party that calls people "human animals" and turns off water for civilians and all that, while prepping to take over occupied territory it doesn't even consider occupied but theirs, well.
> Also, with regard to the beheadings, I know this is uncomfortable, but it's worth looking into a bit more than you have. There is lots of evidence that would pass muster in any court.
If it would pass in court, you can link to it here. Because, again, so far it's been claims accepted at face value, then attacking those who ask for evidence (it's in the OP article even, someone asking for evidence being flagged as "terrorist/fake"), then still no evidence.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/beheaded-babies-how-uk-media-...
> Watchdog The Seventh Eye revealed that Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs spent almost $2 million on one propaganda campaign in 2017 – part of which was allocated to Act.IL.
> A global influence campaign funded by the Israeli government had a $1.1 million budget last year, a document obtained by The Electronic Intifada shows.
> In its annual report, from January, Act.IL says its goal is to “influence foreign publics” and “battle” BDS – the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian rights.
I think that's a reasonably credible source, but you may disagree. The EI piece is a compilation of other people's work, in particular, The Seventh Eye, affiliated with +972.
On your point about "affiliation", that is clearly false, based on the OP article, and numerous other (more universally credible) sources, such as Forward[1], and Haaretz[2].
[1] https://forward.com/news/388259/shadowy-israeli-app-turns-am...
> The Herzliya headquarters is the base of Act.il, a hybrid Israel advocacy effort and online information operation. A joint project of two Israeli not-for-profits, it is led by former Israeli intelligence officers and has close ties to Israel’s intelligence services, its Ministry of Strategic Affairs and American Jewish casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson. Act.il’s leaders frame the program as an effort to counterbalance anti-Israel attitudes online.
> “We know each other,” he said of his group’s relationship with members of Israel’s intelligence community. “You don’t get [sent] a link to [a specific video]. We talk with each other. We work together.”
[2] https://archive.md/newest/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-new...
> A pro-Israel social media advocacy app that partners with the Israeli Strategic Affairs Ministry is asking activists to influence Googles search results for the term BDS.
> Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) told the plenum that “boycott organizations are spread out geographically and act in different areas. The organizations built a network of activity and act in coordination with the Palestinian Authority. There is a campaign of falsehoods fueling hate.”
> ”Since this is a battlefront like any other, the ministry put together a strategy for running the campaign against this phenomenon,” Minister Erdan stated.
> ”One of the principles for success is keeping our methods of action secret…Since most of the ministry’s actions are not of the ministry, but through bodies around the world who do not want to expose their connection with the state, we must protect the information whose exposure could harm the battle.”
The fact of the affiliation and funding being somewhat opaque in official records must also be balanced against the fact that it is government policy to enforce this opacity: https://archive.md/20190611095349/https://main.knesset.gov.i...
> Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) told the plenum that “boycott organizations are spread out geographically and act in different areas. The organizations built a network of activity and act in coordination with the Palestinian Authority. There is a campaign of falsehoods fueling hate.”
> ”Since this is a battlefront like any other, the ministry put together a strategy for running the campaign against this phenomenon,” Minister Erdan stated.
> ”One of the principles for success is keeping our methods of action secret…Since most of the ministry’s actions are not of the ministry, but through bodies around the world who do not want to expose their connection with the state, we must protect the information whose exposure could harm the battle.”
I don't know whether the specific legislation went into effect. Regardless, it clearly states that "actions [...] not of the ministry, but through bodies around the world" is an ongoing strategy for their success (in their view).
https://www.jpost.com/Features/In-Thespotlight/Want-to-help-...
Reporters Without Borders are a widely recognised and reputable organisation. Here's the direct link to the entry on Israel:
And the rhetoric matches the actions of the IDF. It's not "just" the bombing, it's also just blowing up whole villages demolition style, before/after making selfies and TikToks making fun of it. Just turning off water, plowing up the asphalts of streets, etc. etc.
Also, reporters without borders is not at all reputable. Here is one of countless rebuttals to their position: https://www.camera.org/article/using-journalists-lives-as-cu...
I started off this thread by disputing the claim you made that Gaza is not being carped bombed. To circle back to that point here is an interesting article by the Washington Post Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars in Gaza[1]. Of particular interest is the comparison to the bombing campaign of Aleppo and Raqqa.
ISIS is without a doubt one of the worse terrorist organizations we have ever seen. What makes ISIS particularly bad is that—unlike Hamas, IRA, Mau Mau or the Viet Cong—they are not resisting oppression of an occupying state but for their fight—like the Nazis—are for their own fascistic ideology and dominance. Their strength and brutality was also far worse then Hamas has ever been. And yet, they were defeated in Syria with far less damage and destruction then what the IDF has already imposed (without success) in Gaza.
I want to be absolutely clear though that the people suffering both the ISIS rule and then later the bombing campaigns which successfully deposed them, were indeed horrendous.
Another point of argument here is that there was no peaceful solution to ISIS. There is one for Hamas. ISIS wasn’t resisting oppression, Hamas is—just like IRA, FLN, etc. before them.
1: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/20...
Free to criticize but get jailed by the 100s: https://cpj.org/reports/2024/01/2023-prison-census-jailed-jo... (that's not free press)
For instance, Aizenberg55 discounts the fact that over 10,000 bombs were dropped in the first 10 days, which resulted in higher casualties than in the later stages of the war, with fragile lives that of infants and young kids dying of shock and fear. It is also easier to count the fatalities when an entire building is reduced to rubble and everyone in it is either buried or dead. You don't need archaeologists and nuclear scientists to count.
> What do you think of their methods?
Their methods have been known to be robust. IDF, in the past wars, have arrived at similar numbers to those presented by the Gazans.
> One of the most obvious examples of a prior discrepancy.
Just like the discrepancy of 40 beheaded babies? Or the murder of a fictional Holocaust survivor? https://twitter.com/yairbrill/status/1748836323908346359 Applying your own logic, why do you even trust IDF or Zaka, then?
> Paul Graham has one standard...
- First, people are allowed to be wrong and change their minds when presented with facts. There is no need to hold them to prior beliefs and beat them for it forever.
- Second, if you don't personally know Paul Graham, I doubt you're in a position to judge whether he's willfully accepting ordinary claims just because he's a closet anti-semite, when the fact is, a wide number of independent institutions also accept those claims.
One look at this "Hebrew" account and your assurances fall flat for the lies they are. https://twitter.com/ireallyhateyou
It has: https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/200203_trigge... (2002). It probably (orgs yet to verify) still does: https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/... (2023)
> The IDF, Netanyahu, and other leaders
Pray tell, what are the Minister for National Security and Minister of Finance calling for?
As for everyone else, here are the receipts: https://twitter.com/KintsugiMuslim/status/174301442945995164...
> I've donated more to Palestinian causes than you or almost anyone on the thread has.
It is solidarity that is in short supply.
> They go in and risk their soldiers to get terrorists, of which there are many.
Of course. All 2m of them at some point must be killed or punished because terrorists: https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/... Oh, and the violent Settlers... They are "security", too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duma_arson_attack No one mistake them for terrorists, please.
> encourage you to browse Israeli media
I mean, they've been calling for genocide since ever: When Genocide is Permissible, Times of Israel (opinion, 2014), https://archive.is/EuUdc
> The same thing happens in every war, including US wars. Remember Abu Ghraib?
One crime doesn't excuse another. Genocide has also happened, as has ethnic cleansing. Those are not the Pandora's Box the World wants to open again, and rightly so.
