So I've now got another pro-Israel neighbor to watch out for. He asked me what had happened yesterday that I needed the police for, and I told him that I was attacked for wearing a keffiyeh. He shut down and turned away saying, "Well that's just what it is", suggesting that I got what I should for the way I'm dressed.
Then he decided to turn back and berate me about my keffiyeh, first asking (without accepting any answers) why I wear it. I said because I stand with Palestine and against war, and believe that our government needs to be anti-war.
At least, that's what I started to say, but I barely got a few words out before he cut me off.
He scoffed at this and told me that I'm not anti-war because people aren't dying in the middle east, they're dying everywhere but Palestine, and that way more people have been killed in Nigeria than the middle east, making the same claims of 100,000 Christians in 16 years as Donald Trump made (I'll go into debunking this claim later, to have a healthy discussion with you guys since I wasn't allowed to talk with him). Then he went on to say that I can't be anti-war because I don't have Nigerian flags all over my property, or Sudan flags, and I let him rattle on but had to draw the line when he said, "or what about Ukraine?" Everybody knows I stand steadfast for Ukraine and that my wife is Ukrainian.
This absolutely RIDICULOUS notion that you can't be anti-war if you stand for Palestine because other wars exist in the world is rooted in the same ideology that you can't say Black Lives Matter unless you hate White people, or you can't stand for queer rights unless you hate Christians and straight people. Then they say, "No, Black lives don't matter! White lives matter! Blue lives matter! All lives matter!" because encompassing all lives means only the status quo and omits the oppressed.
Then he said, "You know that I'm Jewish" in a threatening way like that makes me his mortal enemy. I told him, "So what? That doesn't make me your enemy, and many Jews I know are also pro-Palestine and anti-war." At least, that's what I started to say but only got a few words in again. At least I managed the "so what?" part before I got cut off again, lol.
But I promised I would delve deeper into the Nigerian genocide issue. The number of Nigerians facing genocide for their beliefs is staggering. Ignoring the debunked numbers that Trump used, echoed by my neighbor, Genocidewatch has much more legitimate numbers and cites 75,000 in 13 years by Jihadist extremists, which includes 45,000 Christians and 30,000 Muslims (the Muslims are the ones who are always omitted by right-wing sources, or just lumped in with the number labeled "Christians").
But that's over 13 years, in a country with 50x the population of Gaza, that gains approximately the population of Gaza (~2 million) every year. Meanwhile, the most absoultely rock-bottom undercounted numbers (since most bodies are buried under rubble) for death toll in Gaza in just over 2 years since the end of 2023, is over 75,000.
The difference in scale is staggering.
Now let's look at Ukraine. Many who stand against the invasion of Palestine stand against the invasion of Ukraine, for the same reasons. Did Ukraine fall out of the limelight though? N ot really, though they have been overshadowed by greater atrocities. This is not because we don't like to talk about white people dying, or that we only talk about Palestine because we're antisemitic Jew haters, as some claim.
Nobody has forgotten Ukraine, but unlike Palestine the world says that Ukraine has the right to defend themselves. The same world leaders say that Palestine has no right to defend themselves. Meanwhile, in the first 2 months of killing in Palestine there were more people killed than in the entire first year in Ukraine since Putin invaded Kyiv in 2022. That is, again, a staggering difference in scale. To a people who cannot defend themselves in any way whatsoever, and are already under full occupation, where their oppressor who is bombing them can also shut off their power and water.
So why the fuck would I not stand for Palestine, when I also stand for Ukraine, or anybody else murdered in oppression? That accusation is so beyond ridiculous to believe, that anybody would be so brainwashed to make it.
Those who stand against war and genocide always stand for all. While only those who support HATE of one particular group believe that solidariry is exclusive, not inclusive.
#hate #racism #HateSpeech #abpoli #cdnpoli #inclusion
