yardwork
yardwork's JournalHow the internet is erasing the Oct 7 Hamas massacre
Gift article: no firewall
https://wapo.st/4914mhj
WaPo updated the title to:
Growing Oct. 7 ‘truther’ groups say Hamas massacre was a false flag
In city council hearings, protests and online, a growing movement with ties to Holocaust denial is effacing history in real-time
By Elizabeth Dwoskin
January 21, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. ET
When she first heard about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Mirela Monte was “appalled.” The South Carolina real estate agent and self-described holistic healer detests violence and is horrified by war and human suffering.
But as Monte read more in Uncensored Truths, a Telegram group with 2,958 subscribers active on foreign policy and the supposed perils of vaccination, her shock turned to anger.
According to the forum, the news reports were wrong: Secretly, Israel was behind the massacre.
Monte now argues the Oct. 7 attack was a “false flag” staged by the Israelis — likely with help from the Americans — to justify genocide in Gaza. “Pure evil,” she said. “Israel is like a mad dog off a leash.”
The Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack is among the most well-documented in history. A crush of evidence from smartphone cameras and GoPros captured Hamas’ breach of the border — a strike Israel says left some 1,200 dead, the most deadly onslaught in the country’s history.
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I am certain that these lies are being spread by the same bad actors who interfered with the 2016 U.S. election and helped cause Brexit.
It's up to all of us to sift through what we read on social media and what we're told by friends, and figure out truth vs. lies. Our democracy depends on each of us doing this.
The plagiarism accusations against Dr. Gay, explained
Gift article, no paywall:
https://wapo.st/47qmtMv
....Though rumors had circulated earlier on anonymous academic forums, the allegations became more widely publicized last month, after Gay and two other university presidents drew public scrutiny for their congressional testimony about antisemitism on college campuses.
On Dec. 10, conservative activist Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet, a contributing editor at the American Conservative, wrote on Substack alleging that, as a doctoral candidate at Harvard in the 1990s, Gay had plagiarized sections of her political science dissertation. Rufo said on the social media site X that he and Brunet had been “waiting for the precise moment of maximum impact” before publishing their post, saying that “there are rumors that the plagiarism scandal could be the final nail in Gay’s coffin.”
On Dec. 11, the Washington Free Beacon reported finding “29 potential cases of plagiarism” in Gay’s dissertation and three other papers. On Dec. 12, the New York Post published a story featuring two additional instances of alleged plagiarism in one of those articles.
On Dec. 19 and Jan. 1, the Free Beacon published two anonymous complaints filed with Harvard, detailing 47 incidents of alleged plagiarism by Gay.
[Harvard resignation is a win for conservative Washington Free Beacon]
The reports published in various outlets collect nearly 50 instances in which Gay allegedly misused academic sources. They appear in eight of her works: a 1993 essay in the magazine Origins, her dissertation from 1997, a 2001 working paper, and five articles she published while a professor at Stanford and Harvard (out of a total of 11 journal publications across her career).
The alleged misuse varies in scope. In some places, it appears that Gay took verbatim wording — ranging from sentences to paragraphs — from academics she cited, but without placing that text in quotation marks. In others, she appears to have paraphrased or lightly modified the texts she drew on, without citing the source in the same sentence or paragraph. In a few cases, she did not make any mention of her source.
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The article goes on to show some examples of Dr. Gay's work and the work of others, side by side.
I thought this was a helpful article in terms of explaining more about the specifics of the accusations.
Let me know if you would like to be a host in this forum.
The Feminist forum hosts have been the same for many years. I just dropped a host who has been FFR for many years, so we have an open spot if anyone wants to host. Shoot me a PM.
What is Zionism
There seems to be widespread misunderstanding about the meaning of the word Zionism.
Joe Biden said that he is a Zionist. Now people are asking what that means, exactly.
I am not Jewish. So I hope I'm not stepping on any toes by posting this thread. I am eager to learn more and open to corrections!
From the Anti-Defamation League, the definition of Zionism:
https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/zionism
Excerpts:
Today, with a Jewish sovereign state a reality, Zionists believe in and support the right of the democratic State of Israel to exist as a Jewish homeland. Israel is the only Jewish state in the world. Being a Zionist is distinct from supporting the policies of the government of Israel.
....
....There are Zionists who are critical of Israeli policies, just as there are Zionists who rarely voice disagreement with the Israeli government. There are diverse views among Zionists about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, about how to promote peace, whether to support a two-state solution, and about approaches to Israeli settlements. Being critical of Israeli policies is no more anti-Zionist than being critical of American policies is anti-American.
Zionism does not preclude support for Palestinian self-determination and statehood. For some Zionists, support for a two-state solution is the realization of self-determination for Jews and Palestinians alike.
There are also millions of non-Jews who consider themselves Zionists and supporters of the Jewish state, who are motivated by factors including religion, history, security or politics.
DU on my iPhone formatting messed up
Hi! The formatting of DU on iPhone suddenly broke into long, long columns of single lines. How can I restore the view? Thanks!
It's suddenly become difficult to navigate to forums on my iPhone.
I know DU is trying different approaches to navigation, and you're trying to meet the needs of folks who access DU on different platforms and devices.
However, this morning I'm actually struggling to make my way to GD or LBN. I got "stuck" in Latest threads and it took some non-intuitive clicking around before I found my way back to GD. I had to go to Forums and look up GD in the list of all forums. It used to be much easier.
On my phone, I actually liked the two button approach. Just my two cents. I appreciate what you guys are doing!
US-brokered cease fire near
Deal to free hostages, pause fighting between Israel and Hamas nears announcement
The U.S.-brokered agreement could take effect as soon as Tuesday and would include the release of around 50 hostages by Hamas.
The U.S. has brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a four or five day pause in fighting, according to two current U.S. officials and a former U.S. official with knowledge of the talks.
All officials stressed that a deal isn’t final until it’s officially announced and that arrangements can always fall apart at the last moment. They said an announcement could come from the relevant parties as soon as Tuesday.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/21/deal-to-free-hostages-pause-fighting-between-israel-and-hamas-nears-announcement-00128239
I saw this just now on the blog Joe.My.God so I think it is new information from previous reports.
Is it a war crime to use civilians as human shields?
Is it a war crime to take over a hospital and embed combatants in the facility, thus drawing enemy fire?
Starbucks vandalized by anti-Israeli graffiti
Multiple Durham businesses, including at least five Starbucks locations, were vandalized Saturday amid accusations the companies are supporting Israel in its war in Gaza against Hamas.
At approximately 4:55 a.m., 911 dispatchers advised that there were multiple vandalism calls throughout the city that appeared to be related, according to a Durham Police Department statement. Officers determined that seven businesses were vandalized.
Durham police did not identify all seven businesses, but Starbucks confirmed that at least five of its locations were vandalized. “Kid Killers,” “Kids Killers” and “Don’t Support Kid Killers” were spray-painted all over the exterior of those Starbucks locations.
Pro-Palestinian groups have accused Starbucks of supporting Israel and called for a boycott of the coffee chain.
Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article281739558.html#storylink=cpyhttps://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/durham-county/article281739558.html?ac_cid=DM872948&ac_bid=216519064
Hamas hostage videos are cruel, manipulative, revealing. Experts expect more.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/31/hamas-video-hostages-israel/JERUSALEM — The latest hostage video released by Hamas is disturbing, manipulative and revealing. Three women sit on cheap plastic chairs pushed against a tiled wall, somewhere in Gaza. It looks like a waiting room for some fearful appointment.
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By releasing the video, “Hamas is trying to increase demand” — to push Israelis to pressure their government into a cease-fire and negotiations — to remain in power and see its own prisoners freed from Israeli jails, Orbach said. He pointed out that Israelis are not new to having hostages taken and hostage negotiations. Many approached the video with hard-earned skepticism.
Everyone in Israel knows the case of Gilad Shalit, the soldier captured by Hamas in 2006 and freed in 2011 in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israelis didn’t need to be told that the words spoken on the video were what the Hamas captors wanted them to hear. “It is clear to all but the most gullible people that the hostages are under duress,” Orbach said.
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