Freedom of speech you say?

[Ohlalalalala]

So it's OK for famous/ less famous people to back one side but not OK for others to back another side?

These are just a few examples of how pressures/ firings are directed at those criticising Israel. Is this normal? What the heck is happening? Is this to silence anyone from voicing what they think is the truth?

BBC News - Melissa Barrera: Actress fired from Scream 7 over Israel-Gaza posts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67494374

Susan Sarandon
https://deadline.com/2023/11/susan-sarandon-pro-palestinian-remarks-uta-dropped-1235632398/

Agent Maha Dakhil
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/tom-cruise-agent-maha-dakhil-palestine-b2451581.html

I would have understood if they imposed a kind of blanket gag order on all actors/ celebrities not to discuss the conflict.

But!

This is happening while hundreds of others publically supported Israel and were instead celebrated.

McCarthyite witch hunt, I say.

What are you talking about? Even Israel knows it is occupied territory! Do you think stealing land, uprooting trees, setting fire to farms, purposely ramming children with cars, killing people is normal? Please crawl out from the rock you are living under and read up on what is going on.
Israel is demolishing Palestinian homes illegally and building settlements illegally, in contravention with international law. Ben Gvir said the Jewish people will take the West Bank by hook or by crook. It's so upsetting that they have zero respect for international law and humanitarian conventions. They are literally forcing Palestinians out by either violence or death.
ETA: And then Israel says it is held to higher standards 🤔🙄😭

I must have missed something.. Since when has a toy octopus represented AS?

👏

Oh boy, the historical negationism going on here! Oh boyyyyy.

Come on, @derxa Did you never watch 'My octopus friend'? We have a much beloved, elderly octopus at our local aquarium, and they do also sell octopus teddies, key rings and note pads. The creature has a number of people who care for it, and it's highly unlikely they are all anti-semites! L

Leave the octopus alone. Isn't it enough to destroy its habitat with pollution? Poor creature.

yes, I'm sure octopi everywhere are really upset about it.

I see Zionism is now seen as socially acceptable opinion. Do Zionist genuinely believe in a two state solution ? Maybe I e understood Zionism wrong and they believe in a fair two state solution after all. If not then it’s the same as Hamas ideology. One side gets everything.

I think you understood Zionism wrong. Try again.

I will ignore your rudeness and repeat that the West Bank belongs to Israel. Why are Palestinian people moving there? Although they are facing less trouble there than when they encroach into other countries but none of them are ever criticised. I know why.

Does it mean a fair two state solution? That’s the question?

Israel has no more or less right to exist than any other country. That is the only socially acceptable, reasonable and rational assertion in this case. No one questions the existence of Kosovo, Bougainvillea or South Sudan and Israeli policy is a 2-state one. The antisemitism I see here and on other social media forums is not acceptable however and the obsession with a country 3000 miles away that's the size of Wales is extremely unreasonable. No wonder Jewish people are so afraid, it didn't take much for people to turn against them again, just a terrorist pogrom carried out by Hamas and the slaughter of 1400 Israelis.

Israel policy is clearly not two state, unless I live in some parallel universe otherwise why are they planting settlers throughout the West Bank . I don’t have a problem with a Jewish state as long as it doesn’t mean crushing the original Arab ethnic group that lived there.

Finkelstein on Anti-Zionism Vs. Anti-Semitism
JANE ADAS ISRAEL-PALESTINE POSTED ON APRIL 5, 2017

https://www.wrmea.org/israel/palestine/finkelstein-on-anti-zionism-vs.-anti-semitism.html

A few excerpts:

"One argument that anti-Zionism is motivated by anti-Semitism is that, of all the just causes in the world, so much international attention is fixated on Palestine and the Zionist state. Finkelstein pointed out that white South Africans also felt unfairly singled out for criticism during the anti-apartheid era.

Israelis and their supporters view the United Nations as particularly hostile to Israel. But Finkelstein sees the international community as being generous to Israel from the beginning.

Israel, Finkelstein concluded, is the ethical challenge of our time, not because of anti-Semitism, but because of the appalling features of its treatment of Palestinians. “If we eliminate the terrorist background noise, it’s hard to come up with a more unjust situation.” There is the longevity: 100 years since the Balfour Declaration; 50 years since occupation; 20 years since Israel’s blockade and siege of Gaza. There is the “inequity of Biblical proportion,” Finkelstein argued. For example, in less than six years, Israel has launched three assaults on Gaza, where more than half the population is under 18 and are refugees. In the most recent, Operation Protective Edge in 2014, 550 Palestinian children were killed and one Israeli child; 18,000 Palestinian homes were destroyed and one Israeli home. Suffering of such disproportion makes “a mockery of the demand for balance.” "
And this was in 2017.

Article in The Washington Report on the Middle East Affairs Magazine, published by the American Educational Trust.

@Alltheprettyseahorses what do you mean by this? I'm genuinely confused. Are you asking why palestinians are moving to palestine instead of other countries? None of the Palestinians are criticised for what when they 'encrouch' into other countries?

Why are Palestinian people moving there? Although they are facing less trouble there than when they encroach into other countries but none of them are ever criticised. I know why.

The only explanation is that she is trying to take the mick. No one can be this ignorant.

@feralunderclass I keep trying to do that thing where you read it with an open mind but as each post goes by its just making me more and more baffled
Especially about denying that occupied West bank is occupied territory

I'm not sure what is supposed to be confusing about stating the fact that the West Bank is Israeli territory not Palestinian. Do some posters think otherwise? If so, they are incorrect which can be easily checked so that should be the end of it.

Personal attacks again, eh? No, I am making basic observations about the anti-Israel faction. I prefer to deal in facts.

Occupied territory is a strange way to describe land that belongs to a particular country. I have never heard of Normandy for example being described as occupied territory although I suppose some might use that expression for Alsace.

@Alltheprettyseahorses it's not something I randomly thought of. It is occupied territory. Whether its legal or illegal is a different matter

And if you believe that the whole of West bank belongs to Israel then what does a two state solution look like to you?

If the phrase isn't used to describe land that belongs to other countries then it isn't a rational way to describe the area.

A two state solution is for Israel, Palestine and the other countries in the region to sort out. Palestine already exists - if Israel chooses to cede extra land or not, that's up to them as it would be up to the governments of any other countries to negotiate more land.

So currently which part of the region do you consider palestine?

The international community considers the west bank as under military occupation. Its not an insult to state that. So did Israel it's only In recent years especially after the Netanyahu period that some in Israel now use the term 'disputed territories'