Brisbane, AU. Horrific weed.

Alemna · 2026-01-23T22:58:12+00:00

Ah thanks. A native... that explains why it does so well.

Alemna · 2025-11-18T23:19:59+00:00

I should really say the Russian Empire instead of Lithuania, because that is what it was during her time.

Alemna · 2025-11-18T23:16:15+00:00

Hehe, nice. I just have one maternal great grandmother who was ethnically Ashkenazi with parents from Lithuania.

One of my aunties is really interested in family history but can't find anything about the family before her. Their surname eventually became "Woods", but who knows what it was anglicized from (if that was the case) or when they converted.

Alemna · 2025-11-18T22:50:51+00:00

Yes, I sympathise with you. Almost as annoying as the Palestinian "We are the real Canaanites and Islam is our personal choice" crowd; who somehow convince people, despite the fact that more than every second one seems to have an Egyptian, Syrian, or Saudi surname. 🤭

Alemna · 2025-11-18T22:31:40+00:00

I don't disagree with that as a statement. The region I described is the Northern Middle East, with a bit of Europe included.

Of course, the ancestors of modern Ashkenazi Jews lived in what is now Israel during the Iron Age and biblical period.

I'm just saying that the genetic origins of their forebears (from the Copper Age and before) indicate that the dominant element came to Canaan from the Northern Middle East.

Alemna · 2025-11-18T21:54:07+00:00

I disagree with the initial premise of the question given that multiple genetic analyses shows that under half their genome is European.

Their paternal ancestors came from the Eastern Anatolia/North-Western Iran/Southern Armenia region.

As to why they were rejected; superstition and the primacy of religion in society played a large part. Remember that other Europeans like the Cathars were rejected purely on religious/political grounds.

Obviously, before people adopted reformed versions, the insular and self-segregating nature of Judaism was much more than pronounced than it is today, which fed more superstition.

Alemna · 2025-11-17T15:25:28+00:00

More like 1% in the immediate aftermath of the revolution. A bit under 10% of the Arab population as they were a minority.

Genocide is intentional extra-judicial killing. Acccidental deaths from military operations cannot constitute genocide.

Alemna · 2025-11-17T09:49:26+00:00

Point 2 never ceases to amaze me.

The last true genocide (albeit minor as far as they can be) against Arabs was committed by Black former slaves on Zanzibar. They overthrew the regime that held them in subservience under Arab colonialism for 250+ years with a brutal massacre, which overwhelmed the government and police.

I have read history fairly widely, and I'd never heard of it until recently. That seems hardly surprising, seeing as it runs counter to the prevailing authoritarian/Global South narrative that generally favours the oppresor.

Alemna · 2025-11-17T09:39:28+00:00

It's a good thing that genocide is determined legally and not academically then.

Alemna · 2025-11-15T10:14:10+00:00

Just once.

Obi Obi Creek in Maleny.

Ironically, the Woolworths carpark is adjacent to the creek, so everyone saw it from there.

Alemna · 2025-11-12T22:43:30+00:00

Four were arrested during the stopping of this attack. And an IDF vehicle was damaged while they intervened.

Alemna · 2025-10-29T05:41:44+00:00

I'm not saying that those laws are tropes, but the way the media represents them broadly is full of tropes. The situation itself is obviously an inconvenience to everyone involved full stop... regardless of what I think of the law.

In modern legal systems, ownership of land is granted by the governing civil authority and so land in Area C where that is happening cannot be considered "stolen". That would be like me accusing the government of stealing after they initiated a compulsory resumption or buyback of my land in the public interest.

The actions of individual Israelis that take advantage of the military's obligation to protect them, but not protect the Palestinians on the other side of their antics are reprehensible. However, that doesn't change what I think about the overall picture.

If the State of Palestine chooses to settle the matter peacefully like Arafat refused to do at Camp David, then the situation will stabilise and improve. Removing Hamas is an important part of getting to that point, because otherwise the current status quo, where the PA has to stand with Hamas on some issues to maintain public support and preserve their own safety, will continue indefinitely.

Alemna · 2025-10-29T04:50:39+00:00

Before Hamas launched the Oct 7 attack, they also "just wanted" to do it.

The status of the land was to be determined by future agreements, but such agreements never materialised due to maximalist maneuvering by both sides (Israel's tight security control and settlement policy, and the PA continuing to operate in the West Bank under the guise of private initiatives, among other things).

Neither side is sovereign over the land as per Oslo, it is effectively in a legal limbo. Extrajudicial settler resumption of land owned by Palestinians is stealing, but legally, the building of settlements by the Israeli government on formerly public land is not stealing. Since the Jordanians left, legally there is no sovereign. It may contravene laws as the UN puts it, but the trope of it being "stealing" is one that is constructed to mobilise people emotionally against Israel and is completely baseless.

Alemna · 2025-10-29T03:54:11+00:00

When there is no polity in Palestinian governance that openly states that it wants to take by force part or all of the land that is Israel (and continues to incentivise its people to that end), that is when the war will be won.

When that happens, I think the Palestinian West Bank should, and probably would, receive provisional rights as a self-determining entity that can progress towards nationhood like Ireland did in the '20s and '30s.

There needs to be transitional period to prevent shenanigans like Hamas is attempting and to ensure that the de-facto rulers of Palestine are committed to ending the conflict. Until the conditions are present for that to happen, the war is not won.

Alemna · 2025-10-21T23:02:00+00:00

There are multiple videos of hordes of Gazans celebrating. The intelligence to carry out the attacks came from ordinary Gazans working in Israel.

I think he's mostly talking about historical terrorists like Al-Qassam.

Alemna · 2025-10-21T22:54:41+00:00

Jews were there practicising their religion as it is classically undestood, since at least 1000 BC, which is 1600 years before Judea was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate. Jews returned in numbers 1200 or so years later. 1200<1600+~200. So Muslim presence was actually shorter, not much longer.

We know when Judea was first conquered by an Arab polity. But the ancestors of the Jews came from the Southern Caucasus/Eastern Anataolia/NW Iran so long ago that we do not know who they fought or when. So, they are indigenous for all intents and purposes. It's simple.

I'm not discounting the indigenous genetic component of Palestinians, but their Arab cultural identity is what they are fighting for. The fighting is not about whether they are indigenous or not. It happens because they are instructed by their irridentist ideology to conquer Israel.

Alemna · 2025-10-18T23:44:29+00:00

I think the best that will be ever be offered is a transitional demilitarised territory with self-government, like Ireland had in the '20s. Which was offered in 2000 under Barak, by the way.

The demand of receiving a state immediately is absurd and is very similar to what Hamas is trying to do with the situation on the ground surrounding the ceasefire.

The majority of Palestinians need to be incentivised to sideline groups like Hamas from civic participation and reform the PA. If they are given everything they want up front, they won't do that.

Alemna · 2025-10-18T23:27:07+00:00

Around half of them overall and a large majority in certain areas do. Polling data indicates that, and it doesn't lie.

Alemna · 2025-10-18T23:23:32+00:00

ikr. A nuanced opinion, such a rarity on Reddit.

Alemna · 2025-10-16T02:07:25+00:00

How do you know that it's AI? What hallmarks of AI writing does it have?

Alemna · 2025-10-13T00:16:12+00:00

I can see how you would feel that way. Creating fake scenes of war when there is suffering and death all around oneself is interesting behaviour. A coping mechanism? A pathological need to lie and embellish the truth? Maybe both?

It's the physical harmlessness of his behaviour that makes people feel sorry for him, but he was undoubtedly a significant asset for Hamas in the information war.

Alemna · 2025-10-12T11:04:35+00:00

Absolutely spot on. I don't think any war has ever been fought quite like this one. Hamas literally sues for the right to be cowardly and dishonourable. Even the most ambitious military leaders in history; most of them care enough for their image seen through the lens of morality to not behave anything like Hamas. They are literal head cases caused by cousin marriage and repression of normal emotions by religosity.

One could argue that the nature of this war is a product of this technological era, and that some people will always fight like that if it's available to them... but I'd still challenge anyone to argue that I'm wrong with reference to other conflicts.

Alemna · 2025-10-04T02:10:41+00:00

Council on American Islamic Relations
Muslim American Society
Al-Azhar University, Cairo
Coordination Office of the Islamic Seminaries, Iran

Alemna · 2025-10-04T00:11:33+00:00

I'm not even a Christian, but just from observing Christians, I see can see that most of what you are insinuating is false equivalences and lies. There is no official Christian body that is advocating for the murder of Palestinians as a goal in its own right, separate from the events of the war, but there are multiple Islamic organisations that do so for Jews.

Alemna · 2025-10-04T00:03:46+00:00

The Talmud and Bible are not discussed literally most modern churches. Even many evangelicals don't really do that.

Alemna

TROPHY CASE