I hate talking about Israel-Palestine on twitter. It seems hopeless. You make enemies. But it also feels cowardly to say nothing. I’ve been trying to work out what I could say about the situation that won’t immediately be processed along partisan lines. [thread]
Many Americans worry that any criticism of the occupation is either inherently antisemitic or gives comfort to anti-Semites. Here’s a picture that may complicate that. I took it in Hebron in 2016. Two settlers abuse Breaking the Silence activist in Hebron
Three Jewish men walking through the ‘sterile zone’ in the center of Hebron on the West Bank, a place where no Palestinians can go, but settlers can move freely.
The man on the left is called Ofer, a settler from Qiryat Arba, just outside Hebron. The other man is Baruch Marzel, a follower of Meir Kahane and proud friend of a mass shooter who killed 29 and injured 125 men and boys as they prayed at a Hebron mosque in 1994.
The man in the middle is Achiya Schatz, a former combat soldier in the IDF who was working with Breaking the Silence, an NGO formed by former IDF soldiers who want people to understand the reality of the occupation.
The two far right settlers are abusing Schatz, calling him a traitor and a liar for bringing a group of writers (including me) to the West Bank. I spoke to all three men. Part of my conversation with Marzel made it into a segment on Israel’s Channel 2.
Marzel told me that Hebron belonged to his ancestors, so he had more right to live there than Palestinians. I asked him where he grew up. Brookline Massachusetts, he said
Schatz told me it was his patriotic duty to try to end the occupation, because he wanted his country to be ethical and democratic.
“Israel” is not monolithic. Many Israelis like Schatz oppose the occupation, In the US, ‘support for Israel’ is usually assumed to look like this. stickers with 'support the IDF' 'fight terror, support Israe
US aid to Israel is unconditional. The Israeli right knows the US will give cover at UN for anything the IDF does. There are no consequences for criminality or human rights abuses, and this gives enormous power to the Marzels, and makes it hard for people like Schatz to be heard
I oppose the occupation and I think Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza. At a *minimum* US aid should be conditional on an end to such crimes. Not to punish ordinary Israelis, but to give more power to decent people trying to find solution, and less to would-be genocidaires.
The flashpoint for the current conflict was the evictions in #SheikhJarrah. I wrote at length about another East Jerusalem neighborhood called Silwan. The essay may help to understand why this is not an anodyne 'property dispute' guernicamag.com/architecture-o…
My essay is one of many contributions to this book, edited by @ayeletw and @michaelchabon ayeletwaldman.com/kingdom-of-oli…
And a link to @BtSIsrael. Along with @btselem they endure enormous pressure and hostility, as they try to bring about a just peace breakingthesilence.org.il

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Hari Kunzru

Hari Kunzru Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @harikunzru

1 May
More jaw-dropping polling from France (via @b_judah)

French society is disintegrating — 73%

The army should intervene without being given an order to guarantee order and security in France — 49%

France will soon know civil war — 45%
In the run-up to a Presidential election with Marine Le Pen as the main challenger, there’s also this:

In France, there exists a form of antiracism that exacerbates hate between communities — 74%
I don’t know if they just kept asking Michel Houellebecq or what
Read 7 tweets
30 Apr
If you don’t want people to think your new robot dog is a dystopian nightmare, maybe don’t take it to arrest someone at a housing project
And the sad robot dog handler saying it’s our fault because we didn’t understand
Maybe if I could forget how they harassed that activist in Hells Kitchen, flying a drone outside his window. Sure, good doggie
Read 6 tweets
29 Apr
It’s always weird to toggle back to UK politics and discover that the Prime Minister will probably have to resign because his girlfriend mocked the preferred department store of the upper middle classes
Doing up number 11 as a sort of Neocolonial nabob’s boudoir won’t go down well in Frinton-on-sea
This is the look, apparently
Read 4 tweets
10 Apr
The idea of photoshopping smiles onto Tuol Sleng prisoners is completely deranged.
I think @VICE should take this down. There’s no value to it. It disrespects the dead and, as others have said, falsifies history.
I read the piece (won’t link) and his motives seem muddled. I doubt he’d feel ok altering Shoah photos (maybe he would?) which opens up the question of why the S21 pictures appear available to him to make this intervention.
Read 15 tweets
2 Apr
I know everyone’s dunking on the bit in the #SewellReport where they suggest that instead of teaching the downside of colonialism we make a fun list of Indian-origin English words, but I think it might start more conversations than you think
Loot, for example
The Hobson-Jobson dictionary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian slang is available online. It contains a wealth of context and I’d fully support its use as a textbook
Read 7 tweets
31 Mar
Congratulations to the UK on ending centuries of institutional racism in the few years since I left the country! I did hear something about a ‘hostile environment’ but that must have been a misspelling of ‘beacon to the world’
Also, great job on policing! Turns out that they’re not political, they’re just doing their job.
And also, isn’t it amazing that there won’t be any more noisy, disruptive protests. Such a welcome change.
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(