Akashma Online News

His user name fowlsegs writes a reddit in response to the article “We have nothing to lose:I would rather die with my family under the rubble of our house than having a humiliating truce’=: Palestinian youth demand justice”
The article was submitted by user onicc in reddit.com/r/worldnews and in less than six hours it position itself in one of the most read posts in worldnews reddit.
The sad part of the article is that is about the death and destruction of Gaza, Palestine.
fowlslegs writes the following:

Wrote the following in the comment section of the post “Cellphone Video Captures Gaza Civilian Shot and Killed By Sniper,” but I thought I should share this here too. Obviously the first paragraph or so is out of context here, but I think the rest is important for to read (esp. for Americans).

Whether or not this video is real is trivial. If you think there’s no way it’s real you haven’t been doing your research. There are a huge number of extremely racist and angry Israelis and things like this are constantly happening. That’s why the civilian death toll is so high. Dozens of civilians have died from shelling today. Make no mistake many have been intentional.

Don’t you realize Israel wants to kill Palestinian civilians to punish them because they believe there is great support from Hamas? That’s why Gazans are denied ambulances, fishing territory, food and international aide, etc.. That’s why they have curfews and have their papers checked and their bodies groped at checkpoints within their own territory. That’s why it’s called the world’s largest prison.

Considering the following conclusion United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (2009).

The operations were in furtherance of an overall policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population for its resilience and for its apparent support for Hamas, and possibly with the intent of forcing a change in such support.

Read the Wikipedia articles about racism in Israel. Arab Israelis are largely segregated from Jewish Israelis and find themselves disadvantaged in terms of social mobility, education, and under the law. You’ll see from polls that the vast majority of Israelis are not afraid to admit they believe they are a superior people to Arabs and that they would prefer they and their family not have to share apartment buildings, playgrounds, schools, hospitals, etc. with their children.

Read the book Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation by Eyal Weizman. You’ll learn about how in the colonized (settled) areas of the West Bank, where Israelis bulldoze Palestinian homes to make room for their own, they drive on separate roads, live in gated communities, etc.. It becomes clear why the South African apartheid analogy comes into play.

Make no mistake: Israel wishes to colonize all of Palestine. That’s why they won’t consider any peace treaty which makes them give up the massive amount of land and resources they’ve taken, even though, AFAIK, every country has categorically rejected the legality of their land grab. Look at the history of their illegal housing demolitions, their settlements and outposts, their massive infrastructure within Palestinian territory, and their division of West Bank with numerous extensions of the West Bank Barrier. Their ethnic cleansing and Judaizing of space. Look at this historical map. That isn’t self-defense. Read about the huge number of settlers, citizens, and politicians who deny Palestine’s existence as a state. That isn’t self-defense. Read about the history of the Zionist movement.

I see people commenting about how it’s foolish to take sides when you don’t know what’s going on. I disagree. Take the side of the Palestinian and of the Israeli citizen. Invest yourself thoroughly in what’s going on. Something needs to be done about Hamas and terror attacks on Israeli citizens, but the situation for Palestinian civilians is much more pressing, and not only during times of war. (They experience violence, the destruction of their homes, the colonization of their land, checkpoints, curfews, discrimination, denial of access to building materials, medical and school supplies, etc.. See the film Six Broken Cameras to see examples of this happening and how the Palestinian civilian body has largely reacted.) Additionally, the amelioration of the living conditions of Palestinians is much cheaper (actually negative in expense, arguably) and easier than the elimination of a terror group that works largely in secret (see the continued existence of al-Qaeda, the Taliban, etc.).

As Reddit is largely US citizens we can actually do somethings about it. A conservative estimate of direct US aid to Israel puts the number at more than $130 billion. We are financing this imperialism with our words and dollar.

If you want to help Palestinian citizens, I suggest joining the BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement as a first step.

Boycott products made by Israeli or US companies operating in stolen Palestinian land and products made by corporations who provide the infrastructure for the operation. You can find a list of such companies online. One example is US corporation Caterpillar, whose bulldozers are used to destroy Palestinian homes.

Support divestment of your company, school, etc. from these corporations and also from any Israeli government owned business. Start a Students for Justice in Palestine group at your college/ University or join the one that already exists.

Call and email your national representatives and demand that aid to Israel’s military must be cut. Explain why using some of what I’ve written above or your own argument.

I hope this argument got through to at least a few of you. Fighting colonialism is a lot easier than fighting terrorism.

Written by an Atheist Jew with family in Israel. My family there is against the occupation and colonization.