"Atheist" Sam Harris claims Jews are indigenous to the "Land of Israel" (Eretz Yisrael in Hebrew). See: youtu.be/foy8VP0XtIk?t=… (30:05).

To be clear, "Land of Israel" is a Biblical term with zero secular foundation. Harris got it from the Bible.

An actual atheist who wanted to support Zionism would acknowledge the "Land of Israel" is a myth but argue, base on non-biblical sources that Jews are indigenous to the territory of the much smaller real ancient Yahwist polities, the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah;* or the briefly independent Hasmonean Dynasty; or (I suppose) the Roman-controlled Herodian dynasty. In my view the argument is quite weak - am happy to elaborate as to why - but it can be made in secular terms.

Yet Harris uses the biblical term "Land of Israel." Why? I suspect it is because he wants to justify present-day Israel's territorial pretentions. The real, but much less grand Yahwist historical polities don't do that, only "Eretz Yisrael" does. @MouinRabbani

1/5 Those of us who got the case of "Amir" wrong should acknowledge it clearly.
Israel flunkies want to use this individual case for a broader project of atrocity denial: denying the regular aid massacres. So it's important to reiterate the evidence for the massacres (/thread). 2/5 First Category: Testimonial evidence from literal hundreds of Palestinian victims and (Palestinian and Western) doctors who treated the victims - as well as a number of IDF soldiers - attesting to "daily deluge" of Gazans shot by the IDF while seeking food.

I like American Leftists now because they were the only bloc to oppose the genocide in Gaza other than American MENA and Muslim people. But they need to stow it with comparisons between the (post-Vietnam) US military and the genocidal "IDF."

They don't have to like the US Military; in fact, I'm glad we live in a country where some people are anti-military, as it facilitates accountability and more robust discussion. But this comparison trivializes the Gaza Genocide and is completely ignorant.

To illustrate the point. The life expectancy rose steadily from 56-63 during the US Afghanistan War* and occupation from 2001 to 2019, even increasing slightly during the 2001 invasion year (source: World Bank, see replies). Life expectancy did fall in 2020 and 2021, due to COVID and chaos ensuing from the the US withdrawal.

Iraq was a much bloodier war than Afghanistan, with 200,000 civilians violently killed between 2003 and 2021 (the large majority not killed by the US Coalition, but by insurgents, ISIS, and others). During the US invasion, the life expectancy decreased slightly, from 66 to 65. The life expectancy fell to 64 during the worst years of the insurgency. After the insurgency was mostly defeated by the Petraeus surge, life expectancy increased to 68 under US occupation (until 2011).

Conversely, in what Israel's defenders claim is a "war" in Gaza, the life expectancy of the population has fallen nearly IN HALF, according to a study published in the Lancet (Feb 2025). I.E. a drop of THIRTY FIVE YEARS.

* There were a couple years in the late 2010s when it went down 1 year. Iraq Life Expectancy Data via @WorldBank:

Defenders of the so-called "war": this may be the last chance you have to come to reason before being defined as advocates of murder the rest of your lives, with the only (pathetic) excuse being 'Western man good! It no murder when Western man do it!'

The IDF has repeatedly shot tanks and artillery at starving unarmed civilians, including fleeing civilians. (American thugs also have shot civilians.) Not only is this supported by overwhelming testimonial evidence from Palestinians, but now a veteran of multiple wars, a Green Beret and career combat soldier who was working for GHF, is confirming this, saying they are the worst war crimes he's ever seen.

There is no excuse available for this. No "human shields" (these were unarmed civilians). No racist argument about how 'the Palestinians always lie.' Nothing. It's just mass murder, under the laws of war and common sense. I wouldn't expect the Chinese or Saudi Army to behave this way, much less the "most moral army in the world."

Will you come to reason, and accept the overwhelming convergence of evidence as to what the IDF has become? Or will you fall back on 'the green beret/all Palestinian witnesses are lying and antisemitic?" Time to make a choice. Way Past time. Directed at @noam_dworman, @EliLake, @coldxman, @CoreyWriting, and others.

The memes about Gaza's population having grown are utterly false. The big drop in Gaza's population, due to death and migration far exceeding births, raises a broader point that again illustrates Gaza's unique destructiveness.

When a population is young (with lots of young adults) and has high birth rates, it is actually very hard to kill or displace more of them than are born. In fact this is a rarity in wars fought in countries with such demographic profiles. (Obviously it is another story for a war being fought in a place with a low birth rate/old population.

Hence populations in Afghanistan and Iraq increased by millions under US occupation, despite bloody wars. Even Vietnam's population steadily increased during the brutal Vietnam War (1955-1975), despite millions of deaths and the post-war departure of millions of refugees ("boat people")

Despite a terrible famine that has killed over 100,000 children, the population of Yemen has increased by millions throughout the Yemeni Civil War (2014-present).

In terms of violent deaths, the Syrian Civil War is the bloodiest war of this century. Yet it appears the Syrian population slightly increased during the civil war, in spite of 600,000 violent fatalities and millions of refugees, although it fell sharply during the bloodiest years of the war and the rise of ISIS in Syria.

Conversely, across the entire war - I'm not singling out a particularly bloody period - and despite the general inability of the population to leave, Gaza's population has fallen by a huge margin, probably more than 10%. This is despite a very young population (very similar to Syria's in the % of adults who are young). Reposting with a better chart for Syria’s population data

It is well-known that Israeli Druze tend to be patriotic Israelis. However, non-Israeli Druze tend to have anti-Israel views. For example about 86% of Druze in Lebanon supported the 7 October attack on Israel.

Are we supposed to believe Israel feels "brotherhood" with non-Israeli Druze and wants to go to war to help them? They don't even treat their own (again, largely patriotic) Druze citizens with equal rights in Israel. @AviBittMD do you think Israeli policymakers are naïve about the views of non-Israeli Druze, or still see them as brothers in spite of them, or do you accept that the humanitarian intervention is likely a sham pretext?

1/10 Israel flunkies (@Aizenberg55, @Mr_Andrew_Fox, etc) insist the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) inflates its death-toll estimate to smear 🇮🇱.
A new expert survey suggests the opposite: ≈75,200 Gazans violently killed through Jan 2025, 39% more than MoH estimated through Jan. 2/10 This was a household-based survey conducted by a team of experts, including economist @Michael_Spagat, & Gaza-based pollster Khalil Shikaki (of @PCPSR1). They measured the Gazan death toll (both natural & violent) through 5 Jan 2025.

The main results are summarized below.

1/20 On 31 March—in a widely circulated charge—@Aizenberg55 accused the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) of faking 1,079 child deaths the MoH had removed from its fatalities lists.

My new @AOAV piece debunks Aizenberg's charge, based on original research I'll summarize in this 🧵. 2/20 The basis for @Aizenberg55's charge is that between Aug 2024 & March 2025, 1,079 children—& over 3,000 Gazans—were removed by the MoH from its list of fatalities in Gaza.

(He erroneously says the MoH removed 1,080 children - the figure is 1,079 - but this isn't important.)

We're done analysing the child deaths removed from the MoH list, debunking @Aizenberg55's claims that these deaths "never happened." I'm writing an article on our findings now.
You can help: find cases where people/orgs/media repeated Aizenberg's claim, & share them in replies. 1/x: Our old friend @SpencerGuard writing for the @nypost, repeats the claim uncritically.

Spencer also falsely claimed the removals "sharply alt[ered] the previously reported demographics." nypost.com/2025/04/05/opi…

1/25 The hasbara streamer @BoxLoner scoffed at my claim that the Oct 2023 bombing of Gaza by IAF was the bloodiest month of bombing for civilians since the Korean War (if not since WWII). Let’s dismantle LB's sneer with facts that justify my charge against Israel.

It's 🧵time. 2/25 My claim—that the IAF’s bombing of Gaza in October 2023 surpassed all monthly civilian casualty totals since the Korean War—relies on the baseline assumption of at least 6,000 civilian deaths caused by the October 2023 IAF bombing.

How do I justify this figure?

1/5 The data cited here by @Aizenberg55 for orphans in Gaza - the first table - are demographically impossible of view of the adult-female fatalities figures Aizenberg himself cites (the second table).

This quickie thread explains why. 2/5 Of 8,568 women confirmed killed in Gaza, 3,674 were between 18-32.

Based on fertility data from Gaza, we can infer that these women had on average about three kids, virtually all of whom (due to the young age of their mothers) will be under 18 today.

1/10 I just published my piece debunking the attempt of charlatan Andrew Fox (@Mr_Andrew_Fox) to demonstrate that the Ministry of Health in Gaza (MoH) inflates casualty figures.

This short thread covers seven problems with Fox’s methods. 2/10 Fox’s first issue is his Lack of Transparency & Reliance on Secret Sources.

Specifically, Fox relies on the Gaza Population Register maintained by Israel, and a secret list of 10,000 alleged combatants Israel has killed in the Gaza Strip.

1/20 The most important research on the "war" in Gaza—for which I was honoured to be a peer reviewer—was just published by @airwars.

This 🧵details their findings, which in my view expose the murderous and likely genocidal nature of the IAF's October 2023 bombing campaign. 2/20 Airwars studied incidents in Oct 2023 involving civilian casualties (all or almost all of these were IAF airstrikes). They compiled 606 such incidents accounting for at least 5,139 civilian fatalities.

Among the 606 incidents, only 4% involved a single militant death.

1/10 Destiny (@Theomniliberal) says Israel's war effort is the most protective of civilians ever, bc it drops leaflets warning of incoming offensives, facilitates civilian evacuation, etc.

This 🧵depicts authoritarian regimes 🇸🇦, 🇸🇾, and 🇷🇺doing these same things in war. 2/10 In May 2015 Saudi Arabia dropped leaflets warning of an escalation in bombing in Saada; the leaflets tells civilians to evacuate as the whole area of Saada will soon become a “military zone.”

1/36 @BriannaWu lied in pic related, erroneously claiming Palestinians were offered a state on various occasions when they were not. All but two dates she provides are false or misleading.

In this 🧵I go through each of these dates, and rate them as false, misleading, or true. 2/36 Wu claims there was an offer to the Palestinians for a state in 1937. RATING: FALSE.

1/30 My research outlining why I believe Israel has intentionally killed civilians in the current war is a big task; publication is a month or more away. But having made the charge publicly, I think I should give you guys a preview of the evidence I have at hand.

It's 🧵time. 2/30 This thread has three parts. First, I describe incidents pointing to an Israeli policy of murder; second I’ll discuss Israel’s program ("where's daddy) of systematically killing families of Hamas fighters; third I’ll describe Israel's potential motives to kill civilians.

1/17 @GadSaad encountered a story of a 13-year old girl forced into marriage. Instead of using the tragedy to raise awareness about child marriage, Gad jumped to vilifying all Muslims, implying "marriage" to 13 year old girls is a norm among Muslims. This 🧵discredits Gad's lie.

https://twitter.com/GadSaad/status/1759310057643053446

2/17 Gad was too craven to simply say that raping 13 year old girls is standard Muslim practice. But he clearly and intentionally implied this, by calling the forced marriage of a 13 year old Muslim girl a “Noble Norm.” ("Noble People"=Gad’s nickname/codeword for muslims.)

1/43 Destiny shared this meme—called “quite accurate” by debate-dodger
@ApostateProphet. It will receive millions of views.

The meme is an avalanche of lies, omissions, & misleading claims. Here is a🧵debunking eight of its claims.

(I could do more, but 41's enough for a 🧵)

https://twitter.com/TheOmniLiberal/status/1734615376850309610

2/43

The first claim I want to address is that Palestine has “death sentence for LGBT.” This is a mostly false statement. The West Bank has no criminal penalty for homosexuality. The Gaza Strip has an up-to ten year sentence for gay men, but not for “LGBT” persons in general.

1/15 Israel claims a 2:1 civilian to combatants kill ratio in its current war. This is a hideous figure; and there is every reason to think 🇮🇱 is lying & the true figure is even worse.

It's time for a thread🧵about the recent history of Israeli lies about civilian casualties. 2/15 After Operation Cast Lead (27 Dec 2008 – 18 Jan 2009), various NGOs accused Israel of overwhelmingly killing civilians: over 1,000/~1,400 kills.

🇮🇱 gamed its numbers to generate a much more favourable estimate: 295/1166 kills were civilians.

🇮🇱 did this in three ways.

1/21

That Israel engages in indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas is incontestable.

The more interesting & sinister question is: does Israel deliberately murder civilians as a war aim?

This🧵is dedicated to the aforementioned question, and to the🌎's Most Moral Army. 2/21

We're all about historical context here at History Speaks. So before we address the thread-question in a contemporary context, let's take a brief historical detour into deliberate, state-sanctioned (or facilitated) massacres of civilians by Israel in earlier generations.

1/17 The Turkish-born American progressive @cenkuygur claims eligibility to run for president, despite the US Constitution's natural-born citizen clause. To see why he's wrong—and why the past eligibility of Ted Cruz & George Romney offer no support to him—here's a🧵 @cenkuygur 2/17 The natural-born citizenship clause was drafted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The text of the clause—on which see the below pic—limits eligibility to run for president to "natural born Citizen[s]."

What did the framers mean by natural born citizens?