How Israeli actions caused famine in Gaza, visualized

If any other country in the world was doing what Israel is doing, there would be international sanctions against them and talk of military intervention (if they had oil or natural resources to grab). The fact that Israel can get away with this is almost entirely due to the US' "unwavering" support for political (a strategic military ally in the Middle East) and religious (Evangelicals and the "Promised Land") reasons.

As an American, I'm disgusted that my tax dollars are actively supporting genocide.

And let's not fall into the trap of telling ourselves that this only started in response to Oct 7. The Palestinians have been severely oppressed for _decades_ -- which is why it's almost impossible to root out something like Hamas, because the next generation of boys will be more than willing to sacrifice themselves to break and/or avenge the oppression of their families when they get old enough to carry a gun.

" We will clean Gaza of every potential murderer, and everyone there is a potential murderer." - Michal Woldiger, member of the Israeli Knesset

"Tulkarm and Jenin will look like Jabalia and Shujaiya. Nablus and Ramallah will look like Rafah and Khan Younis. They too will be uninhabitable ruins, their residents will be forced to migrate and seek a new life in other countries." - Bezalel Smotrich, Finance Minister of Israel

"It's a simple matter, existential and survival, of wiping these crazy Amalekites off the face of the Earth. Like the Nazis, so with Hamas: we will fight them and hunt them forever. Until not one of them is left. This is a Jewish commandment. This is an Israeli commandment. This is a historic commandment. And today's pictures are just another reminder of what we must not forget for a single moment: the nature of this deranged enemy. And why they must be wiped off the face of the earth." - Shai Golden, Channel 14 News

"Gazans will be concentrated in a very defined area and live as refugees their whole lives without water or electricity until they decide, of their own accord, to emigrate." - Eyal Shalit Snir, Lt. Col. in the Israeli military

"Anyone who stays there [in north Gaza] will be judged by law as a terrorist and will go through either a process of starvation or a process of extermination." - Uzy Raby, Professor of Middle Eastern History, Tel Aviv University

[Quotes taken from zionism dot observer, a website that aggregates statements from Israeli sources]

I think there's a sort of naivete amongst people who don't pay close attention to the realities of Israel's social and political climate, and simply ascribing a sort of ghoulish evil to the vague bloc of 'nationalist' or 'religious' right-wing is simply not true. Genocidal intent permeates every level of Israeli society, from citizenry to the highest decision-making levels of the government, to all strata of the military. Israel is a fascist society and it's plain to see. This is a Pandora's Box that cannot be shut anymore, and people won't magically unsee or forget the horrors that are broadcast on a daily basis on social media. The ghastly accusations of 'Pallywood' don't cut it anymore, either. The sheer speed of information dissemination has ensured that whatever horrors the Palestinians are experiencing the rest of the world sees in real time, as opposed to being memoryholed for 5-10 years, then uncovered in a viral tweet. Now, every airstrike is actually recorded as it happens, alongside its outcome.

What shocks me is that there are still people trying to whitewash and/or defend the genocide.

The level of mental gymnastics to believe the state of Israel has done anything but active genocide for decades is astounding.

The Ottomans had conquered the whole of Palestine, including Gaza, and had been ruling it for some few hundred years at the time their empire crumbled and the British Empire acquired it from them. The vast majority of the population, both Arabic and Jewish, and either Muslim and Jewish and Christian, were regular citizens of the Ottoman Empire. It was not being "occupied" by the Ottomans, any more than Turkey is "occupying" Istanbul today.

Then, the majority of this population, and the vast majority of the Arabic parts of this population, were displaced to make room for the novel state of Israel, most of the population of which were Europeans and Americans of Jewish descent. They came in and took the homes of the Palestinians living today in Gaza and the West Bank, or their parents or grandparents. And then they have occupied the lands where these Palestinians had been driven away to, with direct military presence for a long time, and then with "just" a blockade and controlled movement.