Sure. And being an anti-Zionist means supporting a secular multicultural democracy which upholds human rights and the dignity of all its citizens. Except, you know, when it means something else.
Here’s an interesting perspective: Eight Marxist Reasons to Despise BDS.
I think he makes some good points, especially WRT to the stupidity of the cultural/academic boycott of Israel extending to anti-Occupation Israelis. OTOH, he doesn’t address the fact that, AFAIK, all polls have shown that Palestinians overwhelmingly support the BDS movement, and presumably they don’t need a Marxist lecturing them to realize that they actually live in the Israeli economy, and anything that hurts it will also hurt them. They have decided the short-term pain is worth the potential long-term gain. Maybe that is a stupid decision, but if you’re going to claim to be about democracy, it seems like you need to at least acknowledge that fact.
…the problem with this framing is that each of these words describe individual events. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation daily killings were “mass slaughters of civilians.” The deliberate targeting and destruction of some hospitals was a “warcrime.” The ongoing siege is “collective punishment.” The murder of those 15 paramedics was an “atrocity.”
But what do you call it when, combined with intent, you put that all together?
What category do you put this in?
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/1-000-days-of-genocide-israel-wiped-out-over-2-700-families-destroyed-more-than-90-of-gaza/3984268
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/israel-erased-more-than-2700-palestinian-family-bloodlines-in-the-gaza-genocide/video/d34e8f939f63c2ab7632984d5a41afe9
When entire bloodlines of families are gone at this scale, what is the appropriate term for that?
What do you call this?
When we have a natural disaster anywhere in the world, it gets flooded with aid, civil defense workers, and reconstruction materials. But in Gaza? It’s being left to rot. Thousands of people are still missing. And for many, we don’t know if they are being held illegally by Israel or they are buried under the rubble.
What category do we fit that into? Hundreds of bodies are still buried under rubble in Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza. What do we call that? Some of those bodies have been there, rotting, for years.
I’m not suggesting that you have to use the word “genocide” here. Far from it.
But the people that do aren’t doing it for an “emotional response.” I use it because multiple different humanitarian agencies and a broad consensus of genocide scholars have all used the genocide convention to come to the very same conclusion: they believe that this is a genocide.
And knowing that it’s a genocide, every contracting nation has a duty according to the convention to prevent and punish what is a crime under international law. Because ultimately this is the point. This doesn’t end until we get to the point where the international community forces it to end. That’s why statistics like this are so important:
It means no matter how much the establishment tries to deny it, and how others try to police the use of the word, what has happened in Gaza is so openly, transparently, and so horrendous, that people can’t deny it anymore. And if the establishment continues to ignore what most of their voters believe, then the voters will look elsewhere.
Gaza right now needs a massive humanitarian response. It’s a disaster zone and it should be treated as such. You wouldn’t know it from the way most people act. But it needs food, aid, medical supplies, and reconstruction materials. Urgently. The reason why I’m still on Twitter is because despite all of its shortcomings, it’s still one of the few places where Palestinians still haven’t been utterly shut down by the platform. And while the daily mass slaughters have stopped, they are desperate for help.
…I haven’t shared from the situation reports in a very long time. But this is the current state on the ground.
From additional reporting:
On the healthcare system:
On supplies/aid:
On casualties:
On the West Bank:
Much more available at the link.