A brief history of Israel's wars on Gaza, 2008-2023, a 🧵.
2008-9: Israel killed 1,400 Gazans (who killed 3 Israeli civilians). The Goldstone Report found no justifiable military objective was identified in 90% of Israel's deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians & that Israel's goal was “punish, humiliate & terrorize civilians.”
2012: Israel killed 171 Gazans (who killed 4 Israeli civilians); 60% of Gazan victims were civilians; the war started when Israel assassinated Ahmed Jabari, who was about to sign a permanent ceasefire with Israel. Israel preferred war to strengthen it’s “deterrence capacity.”
2014: Israel killed >1,500 Gazan civilians (who killed 6 Israeli civilians). Israel launched 6,000 airstrikes on Gaza, mostly on residential buildings. In 40% of investigated cases, the @UN found no explanation for bombing civilians, concluding Israel likely committed war crimes
2018-9: Israel killed 223 Palestinians & Israeli snipers left 6,106 Palestinians with life-changing wounds (0 Israeli casualties) after 10s of thousands of unarmed overwhelmingly peaceful Gazans marched to the fence, demanding the right of return and protesting against the siege.
2021: Israel killed 261 Gazans (who killed 14 Israelis); 113,000 Palestinians were internally displaced; Airwars report concluded: in 70% of the deadly airstrikes on civilians, no militants or military targets were found & Israel indiscriminately targeted dense civilian areas.
Overwhelming evidence suggests Israel has indiscriminately targeted civilians in every war it has waged on Gaza; that it uses disproportionate force & that it imposes collective punishment on the people of Gaza. Yet not a single Israeli leader has ever been held to account.
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If i was able to re-word this tweet, i would have re-phrased the first sentence. instead of saying "jews love to talk about antisemitism" (problematic framing, 100% agreed, apologies), i would have said: there's a powerful campaign to describe criticism of israel as antisemitism
campaign pushed by @TheIHRA & @ADL. They r zealously describing non-antisemitism as antisemitism so Israel can carry on its apartheid & occupation & forcible expulsion of Palestinians from their homes.
they are doing this so that people are afraid to criticize Israel for fear of being labeled antisemitic. I personally know many people who have told me, "i can't say what I actually think about Israel's apartheid regime b/c i'm worried i'll be accused of being antisemitic"
Jews in the US love to talk about antisemitism. That's b/c it makes Jews out to be victims.
Jews in the US don't love to talk about privilege.
Yet my *personal* experience as a Jew in the US is one of tremendous privilege, blessing & support, not of victimhood. A 🧵
Most American Jews live in communities w/ strong communal institutions that support underprivileged families and households. I benefited from this significantly. My family got money so I could go to Jewish school and Jewish summer camp.
I was informed during my senior year of high school that I received a $20,000 scholarship for college -- a scholarship I didn't even apply for.
I was automatically eligible as a Jewish student at my high school for having done nothing other than be born Jewish.