the enemy of my enemy
Jun. 26th, 2025 10:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdThis appeared first on my Mastodon account last night; it’s proven popular, so here it is – trivially expanded because I had to trim it more than I liked to fit in 750 characters – for here, too.
Some weeks ago, protesters at UW occupied an engineering building on campus, demanding that UW cut ties with Boeing over Israel’s war in Gaza.
“That’s fine,” I thought, and I started relaying news… until I saw their ebullient praise for Hamas and the October 7th attacks. Then I stopped.
Some people will roll their eyes at that reaction, noting – correctly! – that the Israeli government has done so much worse since. But that doesn’t make Hamas into good guys here. They are not.
It is an inconvenient truth that Hamas is a nightmare organisation – but it’s still a truth.
Don’t let Netanyahu’s crimes erase that.
Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.
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Date: 2025-06-26 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-26 07:40 pm (UTC)thanks, fixed
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Date: 2025-06-26 10:26 pm (UTC)https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Middle_East_Media_Research_Institute
The article Memri is boosting is from Fatah who hate Hamas because they are political rivals, including in democratic elections when Hamas have repeatedly beaten Fatah.*
I mention this because it's worth being aware of source bias, and these two sources are both extremely biased and wouldn't meet preferred journalistic standards in Western cultures.
* Other reasons to hate Hamas are available.
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Date: 2025-06-26 10:48 pm (UTC)And while it's not their fault that it was so easy to get Israel to respond so badly, it doesn't speak well of them that they obviously care so little about the people who die as a result, except as rhetorical pawns.
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Date: 2025-06-26 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-26 11:18 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2025-06-27 12:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-26 10:51 pm (UTC)Even so, I don't and wouldn't use them preferentially. But this was literally the only large-word-count translation I could find last night.
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Date: 2025-06-26 11:05 pm (UTC)The last round of local elections (West Bank only, Hamas refused to conduct elections in Gaza or participate elsewhere) saw 65% independent slates with 35% going to individual parties.
It's been 19 years since the last real national elections, and there's still no sign of a reasonable election in sight. What would actually happen? Fuck if I know.
All I'm saying is that "Hamas keeps beating Fatah" is not supported by what little election data we have and what few elections have actually occurred, none of which have involved full or fair competition since at least 2006.
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Date: 2025-06-26 11:17 pm (UTC)¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Date: 2025-06-27 12:12 am (UTC)I was commenting on your statement about their elections record, and in particular, in their recent and therefore relevant elections record, which is functionally nonexistent. Therefore, in this context, the idea that Hamas have repeatedly beaten Fatah in democratic elections is unsupported by fact.
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Date: 2025-06-27 07:09 am (UTC)I really don't have patience for this shit anymore. I really don't.
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Date: 2025-06-26 09:33 pm (UTC)If we could only get the innocent people out, then it might work.