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Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

haaretz.com

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Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#551

Post by nitwit005 »

lenerdenator wrote: post #96
Simon_ORourke wrote: post #87

How are those guys not treated as some hostile foreign power and have half their embassy staff expelled is beyond me.

General lack of countries with something even vaguely resembling representative government in the Middle East. Israel seems to only extend that sort of courtesy to a part of its citizenry, but when you remember that the "stable" countries in the region are all more-or-less absolute monarchies, it becomes obvious why the US is willing to at least work with Israel.

Most Americans have no idea how Israel is governed. Even grasping the basics of how the United States government works is sadly not guaranteed.

All most people know is the spin they've gotten from the media and politicians. Both tend to be very pro Israel in the US. That's changed a little recently, but not much.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#553

Post by hehdhdjehehegwv »

blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #337
hehdhdjehehegwv wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is not a democracy, a huge percentage of the populate cannot vote and have no civil rights or any sort. Let’s please stop repeating this falsehood. It’s propaganda and the facts are clear.

[flagged]

This is absolutely true: there are hundreds of thousands of adults who live within Israeli territory under Israeli control, where Israeli law and order is applied, who are not allowed to vote, have no representation at all, and are regularly subject to lethal violence from Israeli citizens.

That’s not a democracy.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#554

Post by pedalpete »

Simon_ORourke wrote: post #87

How are those guys not treated as some hostile foreign power and have half their embassy staff expelled is beyond me.

So would you also expel Russian and Chinese embassy staff?

Allies influencing other allies is part of the process. Don't just think that it is Israel doing it in America. America is also doing similar actions in other countries where they want to win favour.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#555

Post by nsguy »

Levitz wrote: post #525
nsguy wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might be a useful reference here: https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitio... "Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic." ... "Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other…

This is grasping at straws at an insane degree. If you compare the international blowback the US gets to any other country you are going to have a bad time because it has an extremely unique position in the world. And even if that wasn't the case, if you argue that pointing at how Israel does godawful stuff is antisemitic, all you are achieving is I no longer care about antisemitism because I'd have to be morally rep…

[flagged]

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#556

Post by poincaredisk »

s1k3s wrote: post #344
SkipperCat wrote: post #4

Not a comment about who's right or wrong in this war, but it is fascinating that we have entered the age of the Internet being a place where warfare is fought. There have always been people posting web content about conflicts but now with Gaza and Ukraine, it seems that the nations fighting are actively looking at the internet as the fourth field of battle. Just waiting for a random US future president to create an "…

Go to the Wikipedia pages of these events and click on "Talk" at the top or see the history of those pages. The amount of people fighting over this information war is mindblowing. If anything, this makes me question the accuracy of historical events that happened before humanity had access to such tools.

My understanding is, historians know that the source material is 90% bullshit (texts written to appease an ego of some lord, chronicles of war against "subhuman" enemies, religious scriptures), they just know how to find the remaining 10%.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#557

Post by hehdhdjehehegwv »

bitcurious wrote: post #320
hehdhdjehehegwv wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is not a democracy, a huge percentage of the populate cannot vote and have no civil rights or any sort. Let’s please stop repeating this falsehood. It’s propaganda and the facts are clear.

Can you speak more to your perspective? The only way I can understand your take is to say that the West Bank is rightfully Israeli and therefore its residents should be citizens with voting rights. Are you opposed to an independent Palestinian state?

I think other commenters pretty much nailed what I was trying to convey.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#558

Post by hehdhdjehehegwv »

revnode wrote: post #467
jonathankoren wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you get these ideas? Yes, Filipinos did vote for a territorial government as laid out in the Philippine Organic Act of 1902. Yes, Puerto Ricans vote. It's a territory. They have their own devolved government.

At no point did Filipinos have the ability to vote for Senators, Congressmen, or the President. Same for Puerto Ricans. US has other territories too, by the way, with the same restrictions. You have no problem calling the US a democracy, but when the same rules are applied elsewhere you have a problem?

I actually don’t think the United States is a functioning democracy for what is worth.

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#559

Post by idunnoman1222 »

davesque wrote: post #230
nextstep wrote: post #11

Also reported on by NY Times and posted here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40583068 but like most articles about Israeli hacking, US Big Tech involvement in the war, etc it was immediately flagged once it reached the front page. I don’t know how much of this is moderators removing posts, or if there is a pro-Israel brigade that is censoring HN’s front page.

I flagged it because it's really boring to see people go through the same predictable, tribal motions on a topic that's been covered to death by every media outlet.

Don’t read the comments then

Re: Israel reportedly used fake social accounts to garner support from US lawmakers

#560

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #538
YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. It is very obvious, as Levitz points out above, that Israel can just cozy up to the Chinese or the Russians if Uncle Sam washes its hands of it, China and Russia who would jump at the chance to gain a foothold in the Middle East, right next door to all those industrial juice springs. If I may. But even if that were not the case 20 years is plenty of time to cleanse Gaza, and the West Bank with it, of ever…

> But even if that were not the case 20 years is plenty of time to cleanse Gaza, and the West Bank with it, of every last Palestinian. I'd say at the current rate it would take hardly a couple years. Surely you realize that this is completely unhinged? You are apparently an intelligent person. Doesn't it strike you that there should be a moral dimension to this? That there is a right way to act that is independent of…

>> Doesn't it strike you that there should be a moral dimension to this?

I'm not endorsing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians if that's what you mean. At the same time, you can say that Israel has lost peoples' hearts, that it goes against international law, that it's unhinged etc etc but none of those things will stop the people in power in Israel, who btw are textbook fascists who spit "peace" like a dirty word, from doing whatever they like.

Historically speaking, the Holocaust did not end until the Allies invaded Germany (and even then, it continued until the last moment) and the massacre of Palestinians will not stop until a large international force invades Israel. This will not happen, so the massacre will continue until the last Palestinian dies or leaves and Israel extends from the river to the sea, just like the settlers want it.

That's the facts on the ground. In Lord of the Rings, the bad guys lose. In the real world, they often get their cake and eat it. You can call it unhinged, or realpolitik, you can insult me and attack me, but you're just shooting the messenger.

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