If you don’t believe that there is a genocide in Gaza I would urge you to read this piece which is full of horrifying testimonies by IDF soldiers including the following statement:

“I felt like, like, like a Nazi ... it looked exactly like we were actually the Nazis and they were the Jews.”

archive.ph/2024.12.23-102… "I have no problem with women. One threw a slipper at me, so I gave her a kick here (pointing to the groin), broke all this here. She can't have children today." - IDF Soldier.

When I was a child and many of my family members were “missing”, I’d tell myself that they were fine. They got lost somewhere in all the mess. Maybe they just got hurt and bumped their head, losing their memory. So they must’ve left the country as refugees and one day their memories would return and they’d come back to us.

I’d say that about my grandfather especially and then we found his remains in 2001. Almost 10 years after he was killed, his head cut off and his body thrown in the Drina river only to end up somewhere buried.

When they uncovered his remains, the family did the DNA testing and it was my father and my great-aunt who recognised his remains. His plaid shirt. The little Quran he always carried in his pocket.

Of all the family members that were “missing”, we have only ever found the remains of him.

Not my uncles, not my cousins, not my aunts, not countless other family members and friends. I had an uncle named Zlaja and to most of the family he was “‘missing” as well. Well, the first year the war ended, we went to Jablanicko Lake, some village across the big white bridge had a little parcel of a beach and we camped there.

A short story about how racism ends up bringing misery to even white people’s lives.

My daughter has a friend, they went to the same school and the school, given that we live in the East End, is predominantly kids of colour. This friend is truly a wonderful kid and is extremely kind, lovely, funny, and quite bright too! So, I’ve never had an issue with her and Ajsa spending time together and neither have her parents.

But the friend, at the insistence of her parents, gets moved to a different school.

One thing that genuinely amuses me about pro-Israel trolls claiming that Amnesty International has “redefined” the term genocide is that Amnesty actually employs a conservative definition. Amnesty’s approach aligns with the restrictive definition codified in international law by the UN, not the broader and more expansive sociological framework originally conceptualised by Raphael Lemkin.

In fact, genocide scholars, sociologists, and many international law experts have long argued that Lemkin’s original sociological framework, far more expansive than the current international legal definition, should replace the highly conservative definition used in international human rights law (IHRL). An important reminder: the sole reason we do not use the sociological framework of genocide in international law is that colonial powers like the UK, US, Germany, France, and others campaigned aggressively to pressure Lemkin and the UN into adopting an intentionally narrow legal definition. They ensured it required difficult-to-prove “intent” in order to shield themselves from accountability for their colonial actions and the atrocities committed against their subjects, including crimes committed during slavery.

This deliberate watering-down of Lemkin’s broader framework was designed to protect colonial states from being held responsible for the systemic destruction of Indigenous peoples, cultures, and societies—acts that would clearly qualify as genocide under a sociological or Lemkinian framework.

Quite literally, the rigid and conservative definition of genocide in international law exists to protect the colonial overlords from legal consequences. It prioritises state impunity over justice for victims of historical and ongoing colonial violence, perpetuating systems of power and exploitation.

The Amnesty International report concluding Israel is committing genocide in Gaza has sparked widespread debate, particularly over the definition of genocide. Critics have pointed to the Bosnia v. Serbia case (2007) to argue that Amnesty is “redefining” genocide. However, such criticisms not only misrepresent Amnesty’s findings but also oversimplify the nuances of international jurisprudence on genocide. 🧵 To begin with, Amnesty’s interpretation of genocide aligns with international law and remains notably conservative. The claim that genocidal intent must be the sole plausible inference—a standard derived from Bosnia v. Serbia—reflects a problematic reading of international legal precedent.

Hitler’s first coup was an unequivocal & humiliating failure, yet it became a foundation for his eventual rise to power. Failed coups should not be dismissed; they often serve as blueprints for future attempts. Fascism needs only one success to inspire and legitimise others.

https://twitter.com/matthiasellis/status/1864020747351670885

However, fascism does not require coups to establish itself as a dominant force. Its rise is often far more insidious, leveraging democratic institutions, mass propaganda, and societal polarisation to gain legitimacy and entrench its power.

Today marks 77 years since the UN adopted Resolution 181 on Nov 29, 1947, proposing the partition of Palestine. While framed as a solution to European antisemitism, it laid the groundwork for the ethnic cleansing and ongoing genocide of Palestinians and dispossession. 🧵 The UN plan divided Palestine into two states:

• A Jewish state (55% of the land), despite Jews making up only ~30% of the population and owning ~6% of the land.
• An Arab state (45%).
• Jerusalem as an internationally governed city.

The plan ignored the will of the indigenous majority, the Palestinians.

The older I get, the more I not only loathe nationalism but patriotism as a whole. I’ve been a community organiser for a long time and in that time have had a great many elders call me a “Bosniak Patriot” except I am not.

Patriotism is nationalism less unnerving cousin. Ultimately as much as I love many things about Bosnia, as much as I adore its mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, towns, villages, and the tiny coastline…I could’ve just as easily been born in Rwanda or Armenia or Palestine or the USA. At some point, I began to feel deeply insulted when I shared aspects of my culture with my non-Balkan friends and family, and they did not enjoy them. Whether it was a song, a movie, a dish, a cake, or coffee, their lack of enthusiasm felt like a personal slight against me. However, upon reflection, I realized that this reaction stemmed from an emotional connection to my cultural identity. I had to remind myself that many cultural elements, such as specific foods or artistic expressions, are often acquired tastes. Just because I love them does not necessarily mean my friends will share the same appreciation.

Reports indicate that the IDF recently smuggled Daniella Weiss, a prominent settler leader, into Gaza to explore “settlement opportunities”. This is the same Gaza that has witnessed a catastrophic loss of life, including thousands of children, amidst widespread destruction caused by Israeli military actions. The same Gaza that is full of children’s graves. Not only is this sheer evil but these actions violate international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territories, a practice already deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in the context of West Bank settlements.

Germany’s failure to fully implement a meaningful process of denazification and re-education after World War II has left enduring legacies that continue to shape its political and social policies. This incomplete reckoning with its fascist past directly influences its unwavering support for Israel, including providing weapons, funding, and political backing in the face of clear evidence of apartheid, war crimes, and genocide in Gaza. These actions, framed as a moral obligation rooted in Holocaust guilt, expose a performative and shallow understanding of accountability that avoids reckoning with ongoing complicity in systemic violence. The early post-war denazification process was limited and compromised. While top Nazi officials were prosecuted, millions of lower-level Nazis were reintegrated into society and were even reinstated into positions of power in West Germany’s judiciary, intelligence services, and political structures. This pragmatic approach, driven by Cold War priorities and the need for rapid stabilization, left intact many of the ideological and structural hierarchies of the Third Reich. As a result, authoritarianism and hierarchical worldviews persisted, creating a fertile ground for the resurgence of fascist ideologies in contemporary Germany.

Speaking of genocide and denialism, I understand Bosnian Croats and Serbs who deny the genocide or those who will only localise it to Srebrenica and ignore all the rest.

But I will never be able to understand Bosniak/ns who do it. Why precisely do you have an issue with Bosniaks calling themselves genocide survivors? Is it another inferiority complex thing where instead of our neighbours feeling shameful about the fact genocide was committed in their name, you feel ashamed that genocide happened to you? To Bosnia? Or is it that you don’t want to be mistaken for someone from Srebrenica.

The thing is that despite the fact that they are two different courts and despite the fact it is clear the ICC is shooting for the Crime Against Humanity charge over the genocide they certainly believe is occurring…eventually the two courts will start to follow each other’s stances and the cases will start to inform one another.

The fact it is even written in the Arrest Warrants that Israel “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the civilian population in Gaza” IS a massive win for South Africa and for Palestine too. The ICC reiterated on several occasions within the arrest warrants that Israel is deliberately and systematically targeting civilians for destruction. Intl Law is complex and proving genocide is difficult but this is incredibly important.

BREAKING NEWS:

The ICC has just issued arrest warrants for Israel's Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas’s Al-Masri.

- reuters.com/world/icc-issu… The ICC has stated that it does not require Israel’s recognition and acceptance of the courts jurisdiction to issue the arrest warrants.

Will the US State Department and @POTUS cooperate with the ICC to ensure that Gallant and Netanyahu are arrested in accordance with international law? Will the UK cooperate? @Keir_Starmer

Some news that I am ready to share:

This past year I had another cancer threat pop up in my body that I have been fighting. I am getting treatment for it. My immune system is fairly wrecked and my blood levels are atrocious. I have severe anemia, severe deficiencies of magnesium, potassium, iron, folic acid, vitamin A, B2 and B6, B1, K, C…etc. It is treatable and thankfully due to the fact that I tend to have check-ups so often due to my past cancer diagnosis and remission, they identified the problem fairly early on.

It has been such a difficult year and so was the year before and the year before that and the year before that. This year my anger came out. As someone who spent the vast majority of my life being the peacemaker in every aspect of my life, holding everything in, never allowing myself to feel…my anger and my wrath came out in full-force to make up for the years of keeping quiet. Unfortunately, this did have negative consequences too. I burned bridges, I ended friendships and relationships, I yelled at superiors, I called out the idiocy and the ignorance and the callousness and hatefulness wherever I saw it. I learned to get angry without breaking down in tears.

Nobody goes to bat for my work & me the way my Serbian aunt does. The Bosniaks will be “Idk why you bother with that genocide stuff, it was 30 years ago” and my Serbian aunt, who btw was hunted by Chetniks b/c she married a Bosniak, who was imprisoned in a camp freaks out on them & while this is extremely anecdotal, something I have found to be true in my own experience is that Bosniaks are far too forgiving and far too often simply want to wish in delusional that with the genocide ending, so did the hatred for us.

I don’t think all Americans are so evil, callous and horrid people as a whole. I truly don’t…I just do not believe that they live on the same planet as the rest of us. & as someone that spent a decent amount of my life there, it’s hard for them to ever understand the rest. I’ve often said that being a poor American still makes you richer than almost all other countries’s middle class does.

The amount of privilege you have when you’re born there, when you are raised there, and when you get to go outside of it with that fancy American passport…

The gist of many Holocaust books came down to “be kind and also look at how the Jewish people suffered, dont be like that to the Jews”

Instead of genocide is a process that starts with classification, symbolisation, discrimination and dehumanisation. Genocide can happen anywhere, to anyone. The Holocaust was a genocide that targeted Jewish people but also Roma people, Slavic People, Disabled people, LGBTQ people, black people, etc.

It started slowly enough and then came all at once. It started with propaganda. With fear-mongering a target identified as “the scary other”.

Genocides have been perpetrated before and after the Holocaust. Which means nothing has been “learnt”.

There is an ambiguity about Holocaust and Genocide Education as a whole. There is a vague “other” and a vague “hatred” instead of naming it for what it is: fascism.

The vagueness of Genocide Education has done precisely what it meant to do all along: erase the history and reality of how and what precisely happened. Focusing on one singular group in order to manufacture consent for the occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of a completely different group by that initial group. By making Holocaust and Genocide education into terms of ambiguity and vagueness instead of specificity and direct information, it has erase the suffering of countless groups of people, predating the Holocaust, during the Holocaust, and after the Holocaust.

It was painted as the single, greatest evil to ever occur. It turned into a perpetual mark of victimhood for the Jewish people alone and it turned Israel as the great saviour of the Jewish people, who had suffered deeply and horrifically and even uniquely in many ways…but not singularly.

Apparently the Israeli Embassy in Sarajevo will be hosting a special event to remember October 7th. Many are outraged, including the mayor. The event will be held at a private venue & some are saying how it should be shut down while others are claiming to shut it down is a violation of freedom of speech & people should protest it instead. This event is far less about commemorating the October 7th and its victims and far more about causing issues. Why you ask? B/c the Israeli Ambassador is one of the most vile people to exist & is throwing this event in order to cause agitation so they can play victim.

One of the dumbest things I hear, especially from liberals & even Balkan liberals, is that I should not criticise the USA because I lived there and got an education there.

& i love this imaginary world that they live in where they assume that these things were gifted to me by the USA instead of being things I actually worked for. I did get my education in the United States and did go to college there and did do my post-graduate there because I was a very hard-working student who worked a full-time job all while I was going to school.

I started working at 12 under the table and 14 legally by 17 I was working full-time.

I worked immensely hard at both my education and my job. I paid taxes. I took out student loans and I got scholarships and grants because I worked hard, not b/c the US government gave it to me willy-nilly.

I helped build two businesses and I created my own non-profit organisation, I got funding for that through, again, my own hard work.

During the Bosnian Genocide, when there was an arms embargo placed on Bosnia, it was Hezbollah with the help of Turkey that helped to smuggle weapons into Bosnia so we would not be entirely defenceless while the 4th greatest military force in Europe at the time was massacring us. & while Israel provided funding, weapons, and even training to Serbs and paramilitary groups, while they had a “great relationship” with Milosevic and Mladic too…Bosnia was left to rely mainly on the little weapons they had, much of it homemade & created out of bits & pieces.