There is something really sad about Bernie supporters who got duped by Russiagate: they promoted a scam that not only handed Trump multiple gifts (especially distracting from his real crimes), but was wielded to help destroy Bernie just as he was surging.
Has @johncusack apologized for buying into yet another chauvinist, militarist, and now discredited Russiagate story and attacking those who didn't? (thegrayzone.com/2020/07/07/pen…)
I thought it was perhaps smart politics for Bernie to go along w/ Russiagate; I was wrong.
Imagine if Bernie & crowd had called it out. They would've exposed a scam that neoliberals used to avoid becoming Bernie's party after 2016 -- and used to ultimately sabotage him in 2020.
The saddest thing is to to see people like @johncusack still cater to chauvinist, evidence-free Russia garbage not only after #MuellerTime collapsed, but after Russia was used -- as was predictable -- by the neoliberal wing of the party to destroy Bernie. How can he not see that?
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.@democracynow recently host a BBC journalist in Syria who spread outright sectarian incitement, without any pushback.
Here, Lina Sinjab claims that: "Most of the Alawite community are supportive of... former President Assad, and they had contributed or been part of the crackdown, the brutal crackdown, on the Syrians’ arrests, torture in prison and killing."
Note how she separates "the Alawite community" from "the Syrians", as if they're separate groups. She also declares that "most" of their community is complicit in crimes, as is regular Alawites are responsible for the Assad government.
To the extent that Alawites and other minority groups did "support" the government, that's mainly because they were under threat from the sectarian insurgency dominated by foreign-backed groups like Al Qaeda, a reality that is completely whitewashed here.
Here, Lina Sinjab dog-whistles more incitement against Alawites and Shia in Syria by declaring that: "many of the Alawites and the Shia in Syria have always been affiliated to foreign powers, like in Iran", which is the "most feared" foreign power in Syria.
Painting entire communities as "affiliated" with nefarious "foreign powers" is straight up sectarian incitement. This has real life consequences, as we're seeing in the regular videos of attacks on Shia and Alawites in Syria. Again, no pushback from @democracynow.
It's also telling that in discussing the threat from foreign powers meddling in Syria, this BBC journalist makes no mention of the UK government and its US, Gulf, and NATO allies, who spent tens of billions of dollars arming a sectarian insurgency in Syria. Not to mention the US sanctions and ongoing US military occupation that has crushed Syria's economy and prevented recovery.
I understand why a UK state media employee would omit this inconvenient reality. Why a historically noble independent media outlet like @democracynow chooses to go along is a different question.
Guess who was an advisory board member for ZAKA, the scam Israeli "rescue" group that's spread fake Oct. 7th claims including beheaded babies, “mass rape”, and a fetus cut from its mother?
.@gettleman, lead author of the NYT article that weaponized sexual violence to baseless claim that "Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7th", is on the defensive -- and doubling down on his fraud. ()
In a new article, he attempts to rebut unspecified "critics" -- whom he tellingly never names or cites.
That's because if he actually acknowledged and linked to the debunking by @TheGrayzoneNews, @intifada, and @Mondoweiss of his scam "reporting," it would be obvious that he can't refute it.
.@gettleman faced a serious problem: He led his story with a slain Israeli woman, Gal Abdush, and claimed she was a "symbol" of Oct. 7th sexual violence. He even all but declared that she was raped.
But then Gal's sister, Miral Alter, called out @Gettleman as a fraud. She said that "there is no proof that there was rape" and accused @gettleman of misleading their family.
Playing damage control, @gettleman went back to Miral and tried to get her to back down. The result is more scumbag journalism.
In his initial article, @Gettleman prominently featured the claims of Yossi Landau, Southern Commander of the scandal-plagued ZAKA. (pic 1)
But Haaretz has already exposed Landau as a liar for falsely claiming that he saw burned babies and a fetus cut from a dead woman’s womb on October 7. ()
So now, in his new attempt to defend his original article, how does the NYT fraudster @Gettleman handle relying on the Zaka fraudster Landau? He simply pretends he doesn't exist.
According to @Gettleman, two of the people he interviewed who described witnessing sexual assault "have since come under intense scrutiny." (pic 2)
This allows @Gettleman to omit that Yossi Landau has also come under "intense scrutiny" -- and found to be a flat-out liar.
Memo to @gettleman and his NYT editors: you don't get to escape accountability for relying on fraudulent sources by suddenly omitting that you relied on them. That shows you're only doubling down on your fraud.archive.is/H6rAm
A major embarrassment for NYT's @gettleman
and his story on "How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence."
Gal Abdush is the Oct. 7th victim whose story leads and is featured throughout the NYT article. Her family is even featured as the cover image. NYT describes her as a "symbol" of Oct. 7th sexual violence.
But Abdush's sister says "there is no proof that there was rape." She also accuses the NYT of manipulating their family. They didn't know that she would be presented as a rape victim.
In other words, NYT weaponized both a dead woman and sexual violence to spread propaganda in the service of a genocide.
“So far, there was only one direct eyewitness testimony” — whose tale was outlandish and had zero evidence.
@noam_dworman Now we got two new purported male witnesses. One isn’t identified. The other happens to be an officer from an elite Israeli military unit.
@noam_dworman The head of Israel’s rape commission says “we will never know neither the numbers or the scope” of these alleged rapes. Why not? And why should I buy these claims if so?
“As a condition to enter Gaza under IDF air support, outlets have to submit all materials and footage to the Israeli military for review prior to publication. CNN has agreed to these terms....”