Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have not returned home, fearing for their safety after death threats and an escalating official campaign against them. Culture Minister Miki Zohar has called for revoking their citizenship, while military lawyers have considered legal action. The threat is chilling. A democracy that punishes artists for exposing alleged atrocities is not defending itself—it is silencing conscience.
#Israel #NAZA #Gaza
Israel does not merely tolerate settler violence; it enables and deploys it. These crimes form part of a broader policy of dispossession: driving Palestinians from their land and hastening annexation. Yet, instead of demanding that Israel stop committing these crimes, Trump continues to arm Israel. This is complicity in crimes against humanity.
The next episode of my podcast is this upcoming Tuesday, October 13, at 10:00am EDT with Serap Fišo, an independent researcher, freelance project expert, social activist, and storyteller. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science and Sociology from the International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2023. Her doctoral research examined forced migration, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and identity construction in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Listeners can register for the live podcast recording on Zoom at the link in my bio.
Archived episodes will be released the following day, on Wednesdays at noon. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app, including Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify, to be sure to always get the latest episodes.
Today’s podcast guest is Michael Wuthrich, Associate Professor of Political Science and the Associate Director for Global & International Studies at the University of Kansas. He is co-author of the book, Beyond Piety and Politics: Religion, Social Relations, and Public Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa.
In this episode, we discuss the intersection of religion and politics, particularly in the non-Arab Muslim countries of Turkey and Iran, what has been behind the growth of Islam globally, changes in secularism in Turkey under Erdogan, and the impact of the Islamic Republic on religiosity for everyday people in Iran.
Listen now; link in bio.
Full bio
Mike Wuthrich is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the Associate Director for Global & International Studies at the University of Kansas. He received his PhD in Political Science from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey in 2011. His interests are Middle East politics, particularly Turkish, Kurdish, and Iranian politics, parties and party systems, electoral behavior, religion and politics, women and politics in Turkey, and nationalism. His publications have appeared in Journal of Democracy, Political Research Quarterly, Parliamentary Affairs, the International Journal of Middle East Studies, the Middle East Journal, and Turkish Studies among others. He is co-author of the book, Beyond Piety and Politics: Religion, Social Relations, and Public Preferences in the Middle East and North Africa, with Indiana University Press in 2022. His book, National Elections in Turkey: People, Politics, and the Party System was published in 2015 with Syracuse University Press.
NO REDEMPTION FOR ISRAEL SHORT OF ADMITTING
COMMITTING GENOCIDE IN GAZA
Israel cannot restore its moral standing, or genuinely redeem itself, by denying that it has committed genocide in Gaza. The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry has found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to prevent acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention. Germany’s postwar recovery offers a vital lesson: meaningful reconciliation began only with acknowledgment of Nazi genocide, responsibility, and reparative action. Israel must confront the genocide in Gaza, ensure independent accountability, compensate victims, and commit to a political future grounded in equal human dignity. Continued denial will deepen Israel’s isolation and corrode the moral foundation on which its future depends.
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Keep fighting the good fight 🇮🇱
How the Land Was Acquired Before 1948 • Private and Corporate Purchases: Beginning in the late 19th century (around 1882) under Ottoman rule and continuing through the British Mandate, Jewish individuals, syndicates, and national funds purchased land from Arab landowners (both local residents and absentee landlords living outside of Palestine). • Major Organizations: The primary purchasing entities were the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA), alongside groups like the Palestine Land Development Company. • Extent of Ownership: By May 1948, Jewish ownership accounted for roughly 6% to 8.6% of the total land area of Palestine. The Rest of the Land in 1948 When the State of Israel was declared in May 1948, the composition of the territory was divided among several categories: • Jewish-Owned Land: Roughly 6%–8.6%. • Arab-Owned Land (Palestinian and Israeli Arabs): Roughly 3%–10% of private ownership, with Arab farmers cultivating a much larger share of traditional lands. • Public/State (Mandatory) Land: More than 70% of the land belonged to the state or the ruling authority (first the Ottoman Empire, then the British Mandatory government). Upon the termination of the British Mandate, control of these public lands passed to the newly formed State of Israel. • Abandoned Lands: During and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a substantial amount of land was left behind by Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled, which was subsequently brought under the control of the Israeli government via absentee property laws. The conflict between Israel and Hamas since 2005 is documented by international bodies (such as the United Nations), journalistic records (Reuters, AP), and official statistics from both sides. Here is the verifiable, chronological data detailing the major attacks, military operations, and structural shifts from 2005 to 2026. 1. The Disengagement & Hamas Takeover (2005–2007) • August 2005: Israel carries out its unilateral disengagement plan, evacuating all 21 Israeli settlements, removing all military personnel from the interior of the Gaza Strip, and turning over internal governance to the Palestinian Authority (PA). However, Israel retains control of Gaza's airspace, maritime borders, and most land crossings. • January 2006: Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections, defeating the Fatah party. In response, Western nations and Israel freeze aid to the PA, demanding Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence, and accept previous peace agreements. • June 2006: Hamas militants conduct a cross-border raid via an underground tunnel, killing two Israeli soldiers and capturing conscript Gilad Shalit. Israel responds with Operation Summer Rains, a major air and ground incursion into Gaza. • June 2007: A brief but violent Palestinian Civil War erupts between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas violently expels Fatah forces from Gaza, splitting Palestinian governance into two: Hamas ruling Gaza, and the PA ruling the West Bank. • Late 2007: In response to Hamas taking power, Israel and Egypt impose a strict blockade on Gaza, severely restricting the movement of goods, fuel, and people to prevent weapons smuggling. 2. Major Military Operations & Rocket Warfare (2008–2022) Following the blockade, the conflict entered a cycle of rocket fire from Gaza and large-scale military counter-offensives from Israel. Date Name of Conflict / Trigger Factual Data & Casualties Dec 2008 – Jan 2009 Operation Cast Lead Triggered by heavy rocket fire into southern Israel after a 6-month ceasefire expired. Casualties: ~1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis killed. The UN later issued the Goldstone Report, accusing both sides of war crimes. November 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense Triggered by weeks of escalating rocket fire and Israel's targeted killing of Hamas military chief Ahmad Jabari. Casualties: ~180 Palestinians and 6 Israelis killed. Hamas fired over 1,500 rockets; Israel debuted the Iron Dome defense system on a large scale. July – August 2014 Operation Protective Edge Triggered by the kidnapping and murder of 3 Israeli teenagers in the West Bank by Hamas members, followed by heavy rocket barrages. Casualties: Over 2,100 Palestinians (mostly civilians) and 73 Israelis (67 soldiers, 6 civilians) killed. It lasted 50 days and destroyed vast swaths of Gaza's infrastructure. March 2018 Great March of Return Mass Palestinian demonstrations along the Gaza border fence demanding the right of return and an end to the blockade. Casualties: Israeli forces open fire on protesters approaching the fence, killing over 170 Palestinians and injuring thousands over several months. May 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls Triggered by clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Casualties: 260+ Palestinians and 13 Israelis killed. Hamas/PIJ fired more than 4,400 rockets in 11 days, targeting major cities like Tel Aviv. 3. The Israel-Hamas War (October 7, 2023 – Present) • October 7, 2023 (The Incursion): Hamas launches its largest-ever coordinated assault (Operation Al-Aqsa Flood). Militants fire a barrage of over 4,000 rockets and breach the Gaza border fence using land vehicles and paragliders. • The Toll: Over 1,200 people are killed in Israel (mostly civilians at a music festival and in border kibbutzim) and 251 hostages are taken into Gaza. • Late 2023 – 2024 (Israeli War & Siege): Israel launches Operation Swords of Iron, initiating an intensive aerial bombing campaign followed by a large-scale ground invasion. • Blockade & Crisis: Israel places Gaza under a complete siege, severing electricity, water, and fuel. The UN officially reports a widespread state of famine affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. • Ceasefires & Trades: Short-term truces occur (notably a 7-day truce in late 2023), resulting in the incremental exchange of over 100 Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian detainees. • 2025 – 2026 (Continued Escalation & Ceasefire Volatility): • A temporary ceasefire took effect in January 2025 but was broken in March 2025 when Israel resumed strikes following a deadlock in negotiations. • By late 2026, the documented total death toll from the post-October 7 conflict has surpassed 81,000 Palestinians in Gaza and 2,000 Israelis (including military and civilian deaths since the start of the war), with roughly 1.9 million Gazans displaced internally.
Meanwhile back in reality
At least Germany ultimately acknowledged what it had done.
🤡
not even!
And Lebanon and where next?
Winning a war they didn’t start is not genocide. Saying it is doesn’t make it so. But it was a great win, and will continue to be as long as Israel wants it.
Long live Israel!!! Well done!!! Very proud of them
תגיד להם את זה! להתגבר על עצמך
ISRAEL’S ALIENATION OF DIASPORA JEWS IS UNPRECEDENTED
Darian’s ties to Israel flourished, faltered, and ultimately ended, despite having grown up, lived, and worked at the heart of the American Jewish community. Zionism and unconditional support for Israel had shaped Darian’s identity, relationships, and sense of belonging. Developing a critical view of Israel therefore meant detaching from much of what had defined that life—a painful rupture that left a lasting wound. By the early 2000s, without a single decisive turning point, Darian concluded that foundational assumptions had been false, particularly the belief that only Israel could guarantee Jewish safety. Though those who taught this may not have understood its implications, Darian could no longer call himself a Zionist or accept the idea of a sovereign Jewish state as morally justified.
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This is a common reaction to the challenge that real life presents to childhood naïveté and an early acceptance of simplistic Zionist propaganda. But eventually one overcomes this adolescent rebellion too, and realizes the truth about the world at large, and pretend to Zionism with renewed pride, and certainty.
Palestine trash 🥴
What a bunch of bull crap
You're pathetic!
THE TRAGIC DISILLUSIONMENT OF JEWS ABOUT ISRAEL
Darian’s attachment to Israel and Zionism was once inseparable from his identity. Raised, educated, and employed within the American Jewish community, he was taught that unconditional support for Israel was essential to Jewish belonging and security. The belief that only Israel could protect Jews shaped his relationships, values, and life direction. His disillusionment came gradually, not through a single event. By the early 2000s, he concluded that the assurances he had absorbed were fundamentally false—no matter how sincerely others may have believed them. What he once regarded as a source of safety and pride became an unbearable moral contradiction. Deeply saddened by years of illusion, Darian could no longer call himself a Zionist or feel any association with Israel’s national project.
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Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor have not returned home, fearing for their safety after death threats and an escalating official campaign against them. Culture Minister Miki Zohar has called for revoking their citizenship, while military lawyers have considered legal action. The threat is chilling. A democracy that punishes artists for exposing alleged atrocities is not defending itself—it is silencing conscience.
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For those capable of putting two and two together, it is reasonably clear that the Jews have no special right to any specific territories in the Middle East. In short, Jews are emigrated Palestinians with a distinct religion. Modern science and historical research confirm that both Palestinians and Jews are direct descendants of the Canaanites. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32470400/ Jews descend from the ancient Israelites (who were originally a Canaanite subgroup). When Jews were driven into exile, they carried this Levantine DNA with them across the globe, although over the centuries they also incorporated genes from their host countries. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3032072/ Palestinians descend from the Canaanite and Israelite populations that never went into exile but remained in the land. They retained a largely unchanged genetic profile but underwent linguistic and religious shifts over time—first to Christianity and later to Islam and Arab culture. www.nature.com/articles/nature09103 Due to this shared ancestry, Jews and Palestinians are genetically closer to one another than to almost any other population in the world. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11153918/ Science confirms that the conflict in the Middle East is, at its core, between two peoples who share the exact same ancestors. www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/25/medicalscience.genetics It is important to note that Palestinians descend from the original Israelites—and that they have lived continuously in the region. Unlike the Jews, who also share the same origin—but who went into exile. www.ameinu.net/frontier/jf_11-99_rosenthal.html The Palestinians represent the physical, continuous line of people who never left the land, while the Jews represent the continuous religious and cultural line of the same people who survived in exile. It is a historical fact that the early Zionist leaders themselves shared this analysis. Before the conflict escalated during the 1920s, both Ben-Gurion and Ben-Zvi wrote academic texts arguing that the local Palestinian peasants (*fellahin*) were, in reality, biological descendants of the ancient Israelite farmers who never left the land but became linguistically and religiously Arabized following the Islamic conquest. www.ameinu.net/frontier/jf_11-99_rosenthal.html
October 27 elections will repair things, Together.
1) Israel under its vile current guise has simply forfeited its right to exist, and humanity will cheer its dismantling. 2) Regular, decent Jews must distance themselves from Israel and learn to place their authentic human identities ahead of their artificial Jewish identities. We all must do this. Being human is the one thing we all have in common and which could still get us out of this fix we’re in. All national boundaries, ethnic, racial, religious differences are imposed arbitrarily on us to keep us pitted against each other. 3) Anti-semitism is always vile and repugnant; whereas, being anti-Israel and anti-Zionist is a human duty. 4) The Gaza genocide was always inherent in Zionism’s Jewish supremacist ideology. 5) The founding of modern-day Israel on such a monstrous crime of displacement and ethnic cleansing has been one of the most tragic things that ever happened to Jews. I've been dropping this list into probably 25 posts a day for several months, aiming to give people ammunition and confidence in humanity's struggle with the scourge of Zionism. Happy to report that 90 percent of the reactions/responses are positive; most encouraging of all, more and more Jews ARE distancing themselves from Israel. The tide has finally turned.
Israhell. The greatest democracy of the ME. 🤣🤣 total police state.
SEXUAL ASSAULT AND SEXUAL ABUSE IS A BIG TIME CUSTOM ACTIVITY IN ISRAEL , AND THEY KEPT SECRET ALL TO THEMSELF THROUGHOUT IN CLASS ROOM SOME PARENTS ALL OK TO GIVE UP THEIR KIDS FOR THIS SEX SECRET ACTIVITY PERFORMING AND HUMILIATION INFRONT OF OTHERS/MEMBERS...ITS THE WHOLE FUCKEN COUNTRY INTO THIS .....BOYCOTT ISRAE ZIONISTS-JEWS \JEWISH TRADITIONAL ...FINALLY CAME IN TO SURFACE .....THE LAND OF PEDOPHILE...tty: DIMITRI LASCARIS/VENESA BEELEY....talofa
So the film you are referring to is a propaganda film funded by the Muslim brotherhood and George soros to spread misinformation and hate, there is a real film by the same name, Naza, by real soldiers telling of their experiences, don't be fooled by this imposter!!
israel is becoming a facist country punishing it's own citizens
Keep these posts up. A constant reminder that ISRAEL IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE.
Not a democracy...
Fascist regimes always behave like this
Israel and its leaders are just like Nazi Germany and Hitler and Himmler.
The movie naza is a pack of lies and harmful.
Instead of starting a public discussion in Israel about the massmurders in Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Iran, they starting a hypocrite chase on sincere journalists that try to find the truth.
