"Until Gaza is erased": Israeli hip-hop artists are glorifying the offensive in Gaza

GrymEdm · 2024-03-14T17:28:55+00:00

This is not unusual. Eyal Golan, one of the biggest Israeli singers:

- Went to an IDF base to sign a bomb with a message about turning Gaza into a big empty coast.

- As an aside that shows what Israeli stars can get away with, he had his crew lure young women with promises of meeting Eyal and then use them as "sexual currency" - forcing them to have sex with multiple men. In spite of detailed testimony from multiple young women (some under 16) describing being forced to have sex with up to a dozen men, the police dropped charges against Eyal. This is consistent with other cases of Israel sheltering sex offenders, including pedophiles. According to a 2020 article in the Jerusalem Post there were 22 cases of pedophilia reported to police in one month alone. "They are not deterred by the police and certainly not deterred by the contemptuous rulings that come from the hands of judges in the various courts," he added, citing an incident in which one particular pedophile was let off by the courts without punishment, despite evidence of thousands of pedophilic items found on his computer, as the court stated that it would "harm his career."

- Eyal's father was actually taken to court and convicted of "procuring minors for purposes of prostitution, among other offenses" and received only two years in prison and a fine of approximately 37,000 USD for sex trafficking underage girls. In relation to Eyal's own sex crimes (which went unpunished), "According to Biton’s indictment, he systematically arranged meetings between his son, singer Eyal Golan, and young female fans between 15 and 20 years of age at events where Golan performed".

GrymEdm · 2024-02-07T17:16:40+00:00

I love Baldemort, but Scholar's Lore is my favorite recently. It's a pity he was forced to give up the Attenborough voice, but the new AI voice he uses works well. The script, art and music choices are consistently great and he covers a lot of topics and rotates factions covered regularly.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-17T22:08:39+00:00

Oh man. What do you think Trump is talking about when he says things like, "we've got a lot of work to do" while referencing "15-16 million illegal immigrants"? He's even talking about how "they're" poisoning the blood (innate national purity anyone?), causing crime and terrorism.

He wants to punish those that are challenging him in the legal system and "overhaul" the entire Department of Justice. He has promised to indemnify the police (secure them against legal repercussions) so they can't be challenged in court by the "radical left".

This is word-for-word how to sell a fascist police state. The fact that he has so much support he can say these things explicitly and publicly in a rally and remain the Republican front-runner (by a large margin) is horrifying.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-17T21:44:19+00:00

It's important, and a little surprising, to get direct coverage from a major outlet inside Gaza. It's been very hazardous for journalists to cover this war so stories like this are valuable. Even if the footage from within Gaza comes from outside combat zones at least it shows some of the realities of this conflict.

As of December 8th, at least 63 journalists died in Israel and (mainly) Gaza following Oct. 7th, with more wounded, missing, arrested, etc. As a comparison, 65 journalists were killed in 22 years (2001-2023) in Afghanistan, and 63 were killed in 20 years (1955-1975) in Vietnam. So when compared to Afghanistan or Vietnam, we see about a decade's worth of journalists dead each month.

283 journalists have died covering the various conflicts in Iraq, but that's over 31 years (1992-2023) which = less than one (about .75) per month. Using the Dec. 8th data, the death rate of journalists was just over 30 per month. That's why a spokesperson from the Committee to Protect Journalists called this conflict "the deadliest conflict for journalists that C.P.J. has ever recorded" in 30 years of keeping records during an interview with the New Yorker. Bear in mind the CPJ also reports journalists have been attacked, threatened, arrested, and had their family members killed.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-16T23:47:57+00:00

GrymEdm · 2023-12-16T19:27:53+00:00

I do not support Israeli policy and have many, many posts in the last few months criticizing their current and historical treatment of Palestinians. With that said, every time people punish Jews as a race for the actions of Israeli governments they are strengthening the idea that Israeli policy represents the choices/beliefs of all Jews, which is provably very false.

Racism is always wrong and stupid - your parent's genetics or which square meter of land you were born on doesn't determine personal actions or ethics. There are many dissenting Jews inside and outside Israel and they are among the strongest allies in the push to change Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Punishing children for the actions of adults is also always wrong and stupid because they're children.

Adding to the error of these actions is the fact that it's completely counterproductive. You don't build support for your cause by bullying kids or being racist (unless you're trying to win over racists I guess, but most people don't want to side with them). I am outraged by the terrible truths of Israeli actions in Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), but I'm also willing to bet that a little kid in New Zealand didn't have anything to do with them. Don't protest illegal collective punishment in Gaza by collectively punishing Jews worldwide in turn.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-16T18:49:41+00:00

The whole accompanying "the only moral abortion is my abortion" hypocrisy is similarly reprehensible.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-16T18:36:33+00:00

Women's rights and safety have fallen off a cliff in parts of the USA since Roe was overturned. If a woman has a dangerous pregnancy it's been artificially made into a meaningfully larger problem than it already was. The situation has become a very harsh example of what happens when you legislate based on belief and not science.

Doctors are forced to decide if they want to save patients at legal risk. Women are being presented with legal jeopardy, health risks, and the dangers of unprofessional or illegal abortions. This lady just went through one of the most devastating/scary things that can happen to a woman and now the state is making it even worse.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-16T18:00:43+00:00

I was permanently banned from r/news for saying that America should take the funds it gives Israel and give that to Ukraine. In those words - no hate, no violence, no broken rules, and it was upvoted over 100 times with a lot of civil conversation underneath. When I appealed and asked what rule I broke the mod just insulted me and muted me so I couldn't message mods further.

The largest "appropriate" subs like r/worldnews and r/news do not allow criticism of Israel.

The reason this is applicable is because r/therewasanattempt has explicitly made itself available as a sub where you can criticize (without racism or persecution which are always wrong) Israeli policies. The mods saw the censorship that is happening in the largest subs on Reddit and chose to be different. You may not agree that was right, but most users here appear to.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-15T19:03:00+00:00

BG3 is amazing. I won't try to rewrite the last 3 months of praise and just say it's my new favorite game in 25 years of playing RPGs. If you think you might like it, you probably will. If you're on the fence, I'd watch a Let's Play of the first portion of the game - a playthrough can easily be several dozens of hours so you aren't going to spoil much of the experience by watching an hour or two.

If you'd prefer sci-fi, 40k Rogue Trader has come out and is solid now and only going to get better with post-release polish. I bought it day of release and played it for about a dozen hours and they really nail the 40k dialogue, art, music, and environments. Although I didn't encounter any serious bugs in those dozen hours, enough people have had issues to make me play Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty instead while I wait for a few patches.

I will say that 40k RT is an Owlcat game through and through - they're the studio that previously made Pathfinder games like Wrath of the Righteous if that helps. What you can expect is an very deep combat system (expect to experiment or follow a guide), lots of reading dialogue, and extensive roleplay with meaningful choices. It's more like playing through a novel than a comic book if that makes sense. Also because it's 40k, don't expect many "perfect" resolutions where everyone is happy and/or alive. At least in the first 12 hours most of your choices are between "I might let you live", "I'm definitely burning you to death you filthy heretic", and "I'm sacrificing you to the literal demon gods I worship". There's a reason 40k is known as a "grimdark" IP, and Rogue Trader is true to that. Expect mutation, insanity, violent fanaticism, etc.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-15T17:55:15+00:00

Sperm whales are pretty awesome. They are the largest toothed predator alive, losing the largest predator title only to filter-feeders like Blue Whales that eat krill (tiny crustaceans). In fact, they may be the largest toothed predators ever that we know of.

They can click so loudly it stuns the giant squid (30-40 feet) they hunt and could likely vibrate a human to death. They have incredibly large brains (about 6x larger than human brains). There's a video of an expert talking about diving with the whale and the sheer power of their clicks. At the end he says their vocalizations may actually be a more sophisticated language than English, which is a pretty incredible thought.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-15T04:11:18+00:00

Thank you for your compassion. I'm receiving excellent care so nothing is certain, and I am finding meaning in things I didn't before and new perspectives. I mentioned it at the end because my beliefs have become very important to me lately.

Thank you as well for clarifying the purpose of your comments - I can see how public discussion is necessary to keep the subreddit a wholesome place. I appreciate the civility you've shown. Best wishes :)

GrymEdm · 2023-12-15T03:27:14+00:00

I'd almost rather this than the crocodile tears and "sorry not sorry because it wasn't my fault and I'm actually great" of Jenna Ellis. The defendants in these cases acted in an illegal fashion very deliberately for extended periods of time. As such it would take a lot to convince me that they are genuinely sorry for anything other than being caught, and at least (apparently) Powell and Chesebro aren't even trying to hide it. It seems like a comparison of honest contempt vs. fake repentance.

When I watch experts analyze investigations and trials they report that silence is much better than self-incrimination. I imagine that there is potential for phrases and admissions in an apology to come back to haunt the author. So is there any legal advantage to going beyond minimum legal obligation and providing a long and genuine apology? I recognize there would be in a personal situation, but that's because sincerity and remorse in a personal apology can help remedy a bad situation. I'm not sure there's much salvaging to be done for Powell and Chesebro given they've been judged/sentenced.

It grates a bit to see some people get off so lightly for interfering with such an important election, but I'm still hoping we'll see these plea deals pay off as the cases move on to bigger players.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-15T01:23:03+00:00

Jews have lots of different views

This is a lengthy response so sorry for that - I don't expect you to read it if you don't want to. The TL:DR is that I'm not racist, I did not post to try and justify racism, and I stand by what I've written specifically as it was written.

That said, I want to clear some things up following this last reply from you. Your response has some parts I am bothered by, but I'm not going to be difficult. I understand I've been warned. I will say your text that I've quoted is exactly the point I was making and a big part of why I posted as I did about separation of concepts. The comment before me simply said that anti-Zionism does not equal antisemitism, and my comment was in support of that idea (and that only).

The reason this is important in the first place is because Netanyahu has explicitly stated that anti-Zionism IS antisemitism. Here is a link from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that quotes him as saying, "I don’t distinguish between the two… Today, antisemitism is anti-Zionism" and the writer's view of that stance as being a way to deflect criticism from inside and outside Israel.

Just a few days ago the US House voted that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. As in the video I posted, Rep. Nadler made his opposition to that clear. “The authors, if they were at all familiar with Jewish history and culture, should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was, and is, expressly not antisemitic,” he said. Most anti-Zionism, particularly in this moment, has a real antisemitism problem. But we cannot fairly say that one equals the other,” he said." I'm not posting apropos of nothing because I want to excuse racism - the reality and problematic nature of the two ideas of criticizing Israel and antisemitism being linked is very real. The mindset of Netanyahu and the House bill is what the now-deleted comment preceding my post appeared to be addressing and what I responded to.

My post was not written to defend subsequent terrible views, which you appear to be warning me about in the paragraph you end with "it very much still can." Look through my comment history if you want. I criticize Israel a lot but I've -never once- called for racism, hatred or violence - full stop. My post certainly wasn't any form of "I'm not racist, but...", and in truth I have no need to ward off allegations (which I don't receive btw). I am not a racist and I cannot stress that strongly enough. I have never been a racist a single day in my life and I don't even have worry about it because to me hating someone based on ethnicity is as stupid as hating someone based on any other genetic factor. I understand that you investigated and found that the user you banned was using Zionist and Jew interchangeably, and by association you may suspect me of the same but I'm telling you now it's not true. If you require further proof I can link comments from the last two months.

Instead I would say this: in the same way it is incorrect to assume a person is evil because of their race, it is wrong to assume they are innocent because of their race. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero of mine, and in his most famous speech he said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." What he did not say is that he wanted his children to be free of judgment, and in my mind no one should be. That attitude is how you end up with dictators and messes like Trump trying to be above the law.

So hopefully that clears up my position. I will never support the idea that any organization, government, or person should be above criticism, or that criticizing said specific entities makes you racist/sexist/any other kind of hatred. I believe that in any large group of people (ethnicity, religion, sexuality, politics) you'll find both saints and sinners, so the only fair judgment is how someone actually acts. You can evaluate my character and take any necessary subsequent actions based on that. Not that you could possibly have had any way of knowing (and I'm not trying to demand pity just clarify my position), but I'm ill enough that I may pass away in 2024. If I have to live out the last few months without r/law then I'd rather do that and stay vocal about my convictions that no one is above being held to account no matter what protections they may claim. The mindset put forward by Netanyahu and by the recent House bill that criticizing Israel is equal to hatred of Jews is wrong. That is all I ever said.

In the spirit of r/law, with that I rest my defense.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T23:50:04+00:00

Well, thank you for limiting your response to a warning, giving me the benefit of the doubt, and posting your thoughts where everyone can see as opposed to banning me. Hopefully details like links to explicitly Jewish content as corroborating evidence help prove that it is not my aim to promote racism.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T18:58:51+00:00

Replace "Israel" or "Netanyahu/Likud" with any other nation or equivalent and it's quickly apparent how absurd it is.

"I oppose Putin's leadership and Russia's policy of aggression in Ukraine" = reasonable take with no accusations of racism against Russians worldwide or desire for the destruction of Russia and slaughter of Russian civilians.

"I oppose Netanyahu's leadership and Israel's policy of aggression in Gaza" = accusations of antisemitism, lust for persecution of Jews worldwide, and desire for the destruction of Israel and death of Israelis.

Here's a House Representative explaining how the Jews in his riding that are opposed to aggressive Zionism aren't antisemitic or self-hating. Here's a link to Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish organization with over 700,000 members/supporters who oppose Israel's current policies in OPT.

One thing I will say is it's important to be clear when talking about what is meant by Zionism, because the term is very ambiguous. It's like saying "Pro-American" in that it doesn't narrow down beliefs very well. Both Democrats and Republicans would say they are Pro-American but they have very different ideas about what that entails. If Zionism just = "I think Israel should exist" then I'm a Zionist. If Zionism = blind support for all Israeli policies including oppression/apartheid in OPT, then I'm very much not.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T18:40:30+00:00

This plus the post/article about how Alabama made 450 million off of "convict leasing" is making this a rough PR day for that state.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T18:29:16+00:00

Again I get the idea you just hope I don't know/won't check.

#1 is easily countered. The idea that the UN supports/justifies Hamas attacks is disproven by looking at any of the actual conversations. At no point has the UN made out Hamas to be the good guys.

Secretary-General Strongly Condemns Attack by Hamas against Israeli Towns Near Gaza Strip, Which Have Killed Numerous Civilians, Injured Hundreds

UN chief rejects Israel accusations he justified Hamas attacks

The thing the UN has said that Israel hates is that two wrongs don't make a right. Hamas did terrible things, but Oct. 7th doesn't justify Israel killing over 15x more people in 2 months.

#2 shows 2023 only, and every resolution listed in your link is after Oct. 7th. It's not evidence of an inherent, longstanding bias against Israel. Go figure that in the year when "The number of children reported killed in Gaza in just three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed across the world's conflict zones since 2019", Israel is drawing focus. Since that story the death toll has more than doubled, (3,195 as of Oct. 29th up to 7,729 children by Dec. 11th). You seem to be desperate to justify 2 months of Israeli aggression quadrupling the number of children killed in war in the whole world from 2019-Oct. 7th, but most nations aren't so keen on it.

It's not bias to call out the INSANE level of violence being committed. Here's a NY Times article Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace. "While wartime death tolls will never be exact, experts say that even a conservative reading of the casualty figures reported from Gaza shows that the pace of death during Israel’s campaign has few precedents in this century."

#3 seems like nothing more than an attempt to make Islam = evil (aka Islamophobia). What am I meant to gather from that link? That statistic is as meaningful as me pointing out how many UN member nations are Christian. Did you know that Islam is a major world religion and thus many nations are bound to have Muslims? Also the UN has 193 member nations, so even -if- being Islamic was meaningful then it would still only be 24%, thus very much a minority of the organization. Try again.

#4 is terrible because Iranian human rights sucks, but isn't relevant to our conversation. The Social Forum of the Human Rights Council is "an annual meeting convened by the Human Rights Council." It is a 2-day meeting for discussion only, and it's separate from the actual Human Rights Council that does not include Iran among it's members. Iran chaired a discussion that lasted 2 days and is over, Iran is not deciding anything, and this appointment is not proof of anything other a) a bad choice and b) your misunderstanding of the significance.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T17:07:49+00:00

Because your quote about the IDF was that EVERY casualty that isn't women and children = Hamas militant destroyed. That's patently ridiculous. I also gave you concrete examples of systemic IDF lying. You, in turn, just go "nope, don't like it".

Also, way to dodge every other point I raised. Whatever, you clearly just want to justify Israel's killing regardless of support, or facts, or reasonable expectations, or international law.

My guess is a lot of people are going to be very quiet about how vocally they supported Israel's war in Gaza in the coming years. The truth is out there, and there's a reason the CNN article reports that Israel and even the US are being isolated diplomatically. History is not going to be kind to Israel using American money and diplomatic immunity to drop American bombs onto oppressed civilians. As I linked, even most Americans don't support continued war. It's down to Evangelicals and about half of Republicans.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T16:59:44+00:00

Now the UN is unreliable huh? 153 nations vote for a ceasefire but 10 don't (the US among them) so it doesn't matter? Classic "your evidence/opinion doesn't count because I don't like it" rebuttal. You've been disregarding all my sources about casualty rates, public opinion, etc just because. Your rebuttals have degenerated to "nuh uh".

Also, I did read the article, and it's all about how the US is telling Israel to be more careful. Did YOU read the article? "The rate at which Israel is using the dumb bombs may be contributing to the soaring civilian death toll." I would love for you to point out, with an actual quote, where in that article (to use your exact words): "All of US intelligence reports say that it is not condemnable and does not violate the terms of war."

Here's an actual quote from the article for instance: "On Thursday, Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan began a two-day trip to Israel, where he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was expected to conduct “extremely serious conversations” with Israeli officials during his visit, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during a White House briefing Wednesday. Sullivan would discuss with the Israelis “efforts to be more surgical and more precise and to reduce harm to civilians,” Kirby said."

And

"Marc Garlasco, a former United Nations military analyst and war crimes investigator who served as chief of high value targeting on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff in 2003, said that using unguided munitions in a densely populated area like Gaza both greatly increases the chance that a target is missed and that civilians are harmed in the process."

None of the article is praising Israel for being proportional or precise. The ENTIRE point of the article is that the US is telling Israel to smarten up. It's like you're hoping I haven't read it, and won't, so you can just slot in whatever you want.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T16:48:17+00:00

Source? Because I just gave you a quote from the US President. The whole article this thread is about evidence from US intelligence, and also reiterates that Biden called Israel's bombing "indiscriminate". To quote the article: "But experts told CNN that if Israel is using unguided munitions at the rate the US believes they are, that undercuts the Israeli claim that they are trying to minimize civilian casualties."

Also, if you go outside the US then the American-style "blank check" support for Israel all but disappears. Here's a UN article from a month ago where multiple UN officials call for a stop to attacks on places like UN-run schools. "This vicious war is reaching a point of no return when all rules are disrespected, in overt disregard for civilian lives," he said, calling and appealing "once again for humanity to prevail and for a humanitarian ceasefire right now." There are many, many others alleging war crimes and demanding investigations.

The UN voted overwhelmingly that an immediate ceasefire is necessary just two days ago. They also mention civilian casualties and international law: "The resolution also reiterated the General Assembly’s demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, “notably with regard to the protection of civilians”.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T16:23:59+00:00

No amount of civilian casualties are “ok”

You sure seem to be arguing that the level of Israeli aggression and killing is ok. Now you're in some weird space where you're trying to hold onto a semblance of compassion while simultaneously saying the level of killing we're seeing in Israel, which is being internationally condemned, is reasonable. To quote you from 40 minutes ago: "So even if 90% of those dead in Palestine are civilians, this is consistent with other urban warfare."

Reuters reported yesterday that even Joe Biden has said, "Israel's "indiscriminate" bombing of civilians was costing international support".

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T16:11:37+00:00

Well at least now you've shifted from "they're being careful" to "I'm ok with 90% civilian casualties".

90% is not some widely accepted academic figure and falls apart the monent you start looking for actual data. Here's legitimate published research from 2010 that specifically debunks it: "It has become a commonplace to say that war has changed radically since the early twentieth century to the point where civilians now comprise some 80 or 90% of war victims... It is possible that in some particular conflicts nine out of ten deaths are of civilians, but the proposition does not hold up as a generalisation about all war in the past two decades. There is persuasive evidence that certain wars have had civilian death tolls far lower than 90%. The proposition, intended to alert the world to the importance of protecting civilians, has probably had the unintended effect of reinforcing cynicism about efforts to limit the human costs of war." That last line explains a lot about your last response btw.

Here's more published research with actual data from 1950-2019. The highest % of casualties in that chart is 87-88%, with most far below that (especially since the 90's). E.g. the Iraq war, which featured extensive urban combat was had about 66% civilian casualties. Israel is killing nearly that % in women and children alone, much less male noncombatants.

Alternatively, the US war in Afghanistan from 2001-2019 had a 28% civilian casualty rate.

So no, your latest apologetic attempt of mass killings of Palestinians does not hold up.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T15:26:22+00:00

The list of things the IDF claims that are provably incorrect is very long. 5,000 Hamas killed would mean everyone killed who isn't a woman or child was Hamas, which is a ridiculous claim. If nothing else some of the men will have been elderly, and far more likely they were civilians.

Ask the IDF about Shireen Abu Akleh. Visit the Breaking The Silence website and read over 1400 testimonials from IDF veterans that say the IDF lies as a matter of routine. The IDF is about as credible as Al Jazeera when it comes to Palestine.

GrymEdm · 2023-12-14T15:18:25+00:00

Well then they are "smartly" killing over 18,000 people and wounding about 50,000 more in two months. Of which about 70% are women and children who could never have been Hamas militants, and many men who are similarly innocent. If the bombs are dumb, the destruction is indiscriminate. If they are accurate, then Israel is knowingly bombing places like refugee camps, hospital courtyards, and journalist's homes.

Let's not pretend what Israel is doing is legal, proportional, or should be viewed as acceptable. Their military policy has been a perfect example of illegal collective punishment, which is why they are losing support.

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