Spied On

~ Clarissa

The screen on my flight to Madrid was pre-set to look like this:

It knows something.

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Published by Clarissa

15 thoughts on “Spied On”

    1. “standing up to the genocide, too!”

      Only if you define ‘genocide’ as ‘something I don’t like’….

      Israel is making no attempt to target civilians, it’s attacking a military group that uses civilians as human targets (and the civilians are mostly okay with that).

      Lots to criticize in the Israeli response but calling it genocide indicates a real lack of knowledge needed to actually engage in debate.

      Compare Ukraine where russia’s repeatedly stated goal is ethnocide (elimination of ‘Ukrainian’ as a national identity to be replaced with ‘russian’) and linguacide (elimination of the Ukrainian language to be replaced with russian) and only then genocide (to kill all Ukrainians who don’t agree with the first two goals).

      If Israel _wanted_ to commit genocide in Gaza it probably could (not completely but pretty close), so the reckless use of the phrase is used partly because people know it isn’t a goal of Israel.

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      1. Once again, you’re wrong. I’d say you lie, but I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt.

        If this, in the words of an Israeli official, is not a call to genocide, then what it? https://x.com/Fx1Jonny/status/1801757297196073269?t=LJtzjzjIRObG5Q1C6BAmaw&s=19

        What about these?

        https://x.com/umyaznemo/status/1797254816692916686?t=jEhUrBRiAdI1zkSTmq0M2A&s=19

        https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/1798208979644092860?t=2Yd-XpTlbWi6owCo1XhsBw&s=19

        https://x.com/KhalilJeries/status/1791826409561755948?t=Zg1U-tNaYSu6KGBJyLS2Ng&s=19

        Israel doesn’t target civilians? Explain these?

        https://x.com/ijassat/status/1749187343804751977?t=kmoEQ3FGeKIv1I6OaJGfiA&s=19

        https://x.com/mehdirhasan/status/1801436028185551193?t=ishyA6GdX-MgPdMjjmGGpQ&s=19

        https://x.com/ehab_judeh/status/1802264132328345672?t=z8K73G6EnfefTZzkPfa5RA&s=19

        As I’ve been saying, and I’ll repeat here, you can be informed IF ONLY YOU WANT TO BE. Or you can continue to repeat/believe the lies.

        There’s no difference in how Putin sees Ukraine and how Netanyahu and his goons see Palestinians. None. Prisoners from Russia are treated well in Ukraine but Ukrainians in Russian prison come back starved. Same in Israel, where Israeli hostages return in good health while Palestinian ones come back almost dead. Putin targets children, just like the IDF does. Putin wants all of Ukraine. Netanyahu wants all of Palestine.

        I could go on. Please stop writing easily verifiable lies

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        1. \ Same in Israel, where Israeli hostages return in good health while Palestinian ones come back almost dead.

          That’s untrue.

          Elderly women who were abducted to the Gaza Strip by Hamas and returned to Israel in the first two phases of the hostage deal experienced an average weight loss of 8 to 15 kilograms in captivity, the Health Ministry reported on Monday.
          …
          hostages report receiving only two slices of bread a day; occasionally, some received slightly more

          Regarding looting by IDF, it’s hard to believe. Obviously, I was not there myself, yet just a few days ago I read:

          A 19-year-old Arab from Abu Ghosh posed as an IDF soldier and gave an interview against Israel on social media …. claiming the “systematic and deliberate killing of women, children and babies in Gaza every day.”
          The police arrested him.

          Fake news is everywhere and Palestinians know how to use media better than us.

          Regarding achieving a ceasefire, a popular Israeli Hebrew blogger who knows Arabic and follows developments in the Arab world posted today (share the longish text to show the discourse in Israel):

          Demonstrations were held this evening in Ramallah, which is the bastion of progress and sanity of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the capital of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, an area where many Christians live. In the demonstrations, the participants chanted in favor of the murder of Jews and the continuation of fighting against Israel.
          …
          I will mention that for the number of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war, there are approximately 37 thousand dead, ten thousand missing and more than 85 thousand wounded.

          So how is it that the majority of Palestinians and almost all of the Palestinian media continue to call in favor of the war and in favor of the armed resistance to Israel even after such an amount of casualties and destruction on their side?

          How is it that in our country most of the media call for a ceasefire under almost any condition? And how is it that our demonstrations are the opposite of theirs? They are demonstrating in favor of the continuation of the fighting and here we are against the continuation of the fighting? And who will win in the end?
          …
          I wrote here a few weeks ago that whoever wins will be the side that has more patience and I will now add: whoever has the spirit. fighting spirit.

          As someone who has been covering the Arab world and the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians for years, I believe that Israel will forever live by the sword. I do not see a possible political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There will forever be war between the parties, what will change is the time intervals between the Hodans in the fighting. Even the Iranians, who are at the head of the arrow of Israel’s enemies “and run the show” understand this. Yahya Sanwar also understands. They are all playing chess with Israel with a strategic view of decades ahead.

          The current war is another stage on the timeline, but it is an important and formative stage. Whoever wins at this stage will tilt the scale in his favor in the Middle East for the next few years and maybe even for the next decades.

          From this understanding and from the broad perspective years ahead, the Palestinians and the Palestinian media continue to “raise” without reservation the resistance factions and encourage the continuation of the war. They do this even after almost 50 thousand dead and 85 thousand wounded on their side. Contrary to all logic? Or maybe with a very healthy Middle Eastern logic that helps to understand the environment and the weighty meaning of the results of the current war….

          The Palestinian media understand the importance of spirit and patience and they push for it with all their might. In Israel the situation is different. Something that makes some Israelis think that maybe it’s time to declare a break, rest, do damage control and wait for the next round…

          Those who believe that the time has come to stop before Hamas is destroyed should know that the Middle East is not a forgiving place. Mistakes are paid in blood. And a lot of blood.

          A clear indecision by Hamas and its remaining as a governing body in Gaza will send a message that Israel is ready to put up with a situation in which a terrorist organization, which is not the most difficult military challenge in the Middle East, has managed to strike Israel a victorious blow and continue to remain on its throne. This is a situation that Israel cannot afford to find itself in.

          Israel must detach itself from the motif of time. Time in the Middle East ticks differently. Israel should declare that the war is not limited in time and that it has prepared regular plans for a ten-year war in Gaza that will only end in the exile/destruction of Hamas. The motif of pressure on the end date must be neutralized. Israel must show patience.

          And must convey that she has spirit. fighting spirit This is an essential part of the road to victory that Israel must achieve.

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          1. \ the time intervals between the Hodans in the fighting.

            It should’ve been “hudnas” from Arabic:

            “A hudna is a truce or armistice. It is sometimes translated as “cease-fire”. ”

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          2. Happy to see that we’ve reached a consensus. Sad that the consensus is the the violence and death should continue.

            The question is whether when such violence happens to the ones we love, we’ll be back here to complain about “October 7” or “genocide” as infinitum.

            You can’t sign up for violence and then complain when it comes home to roost near you.

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            2. “You can’t sign up for violence and then complain when it comes home to roost near you.”

              Tell it to the majority of Palestinians who supported Oct 7.

              Palestinians are still addicted to the idea of a crushing military victory of Israel and driving all the jews from the middle east.

              They won’t accept any peace deal until that dream has died. And foolish westerners imagining they’re a bunch of secular democrats do nothing to move the region to peace.

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              1. You’re making my point. If we agree here and now that violence is the way forward, then would we have the right to complain when another October 7 happens? Do you not see how a cycle of violence helps no one?

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        2. “Putin sees Ukraine and how Netanyahu and his goons see Palestinians. None”

          Netanyahu (whom I despise) thinks the Palestinians are confused Jews who need to be brought to heel and forget all that Arab Muslim/Christian stuff and use Hebrew instead of Arabic?

          Who knew?

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            1. “Netanyahu wants all of Palestine with all the resources therefrom.”

              Hamas wants all of Israel and all the resources therefrom (and cleansed of jews with Islamic rather than secular law).

              Which side is stronger?

              Palestinians can’t win on their own, have burned all their bridges with Arab countries (betraying every one that tried to help them) so now they have a bunch of well-meaning westerners running interference for them while they plot new glorious operations that will end up costing thousands of Palestinian lives…

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              1. And, according to “Cliff Arroyo”, we should continue on that path of retributive violence until the most violent side wins.

                I disagree.

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          2. The attempts to equate Ukrainians and Palestinians are deeply insulting to me personally. I ask our anonymous friend to stop doing this. There is no analogy here. Only the most uneducated, ignorant prattlers see one.

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  2. “according to “Cliff Arroyo”, we should continue on that path of retributive violence until the most violent side wins”

    That’s a descriptive rather than prescriptive statement. I don’t like it but when two groups want the same land and aren’t willing to share…. one group drives out the other. There are more Israelis than Palestinians willing to share (see Israeli Arabs) but Palestinians are a dry well at present…. locked into failed policies that they won’t give up – they are the luddites of political resistance.

    When a group cannot win but won’t stop fighting…. (see American Indians for that sorry scenario).

    Those who really support Palestinians need to do the hard work of convincing them that they will never win a glorious military battle over the Israelis and to accept the best deal they can get given the realities on the ground and to try to focus on a better future.

    The best deal they can get now is not a single secular democratic state. Anyone pushing that idea is as bad as the ones telling them to keep up the violent attacks against Israel…

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