By Alice Cuddy BBC News, Jerusalem


The call to Mahmoud Shaheen came at dawn.

It was Thursday 19 October at about 06:30, and Israel had been bombing Gaza for 12 days straight.

He’d been in his third-floor, three-bedroom flat in al-Zahra, a middle-class area in the north of the Gaza Strip. Until now, it had been largely untouched by air strikes.

He’d heard a rising clamour outside. People were screaming. “You need to escape,” somebody in the street shouted, “because they will bomb the towers”.

  • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    I feel the same way here (Lemmy) because I support Israel. Funny, how being a minority works.

    EDIT: to be fair, I don’t have the numbers to claim who is a minority or not.

    • dasgoat@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      It’s so cool how people who support a genocide will just straight up tell you like this.

    • VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Poor fucking you. Could try having some sympathy for the kids killed in a paediatric hospital in the last week.

        • Serdan@lemm.ee
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          2 years ago

          I’ve been called a terrorist supporter for explicitly expressing concern for the innocent victims 🤷

      • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        I corrected myself. You are not a minority in the world, as I don’t know the numbers and there are clearly a lot of sympathizers of the Palestinian cause in England, Spain, France and the US. I don’t even know what is going on in the rest of the world.

        I can only empathize with the writer’s original emotion of feeling like a persecuted minority.

        EDIT I retract my use of the word “Persecuted”. At best, this is lack of tolerance.

        • eric@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          You’d think as an oppressed minority in the world, you’d be more outraged at Israel for their continued oppression of Palestinians. I know plenty of other Jews that feel this way.

          • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            Who says I don’t? Israel should definitely stop the settlements, push to join the Palestinians into the abrahamic accords, do what they can to bring actual peace instead of placating their religious fanatics for an easy vote.

            I said I support Israel. In which I meant that I support Israel’s fight against Hamas. Yes, that entails hurting civilians. Yes, that is a sad state of affairs.

            • eric@lemmy.world
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              2 years ago

              Almost no one out there is supporting Hamas, and if you unilaterally support Israel, you are anti-Palestinian. The fact that you think fighting Hamas includes indiscriminately bombing civilians shows you are in support of the ongoing genocide of an ethnic minority. And to call yourself a minority to try to gain sympathy is pathetic at best. The KKK is also a minority, so by your logic, we should all try to sympathize with their plight.

              • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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                2 years ago

                Almost no one out there is supporting Hamas, and if you unilaterally support Israel, you are anti-Palestinian.

                You are willfully ignoring my last comment to give your strawman some hay.

                The fact that you think fighting Hamas includes indiscriminately bombing civilians shows you are in support of the ongoing genocide of an ethnic

                minority Strawman, I never said that the IDF should or is bombing indiscriminately. That is YOUR belief and you’re forcing it upon my words.

                And to call yourself a minority to try to gain sympathy is pathetic at best.

                Yet another misunderstanding. I didn’t say that to garner sympathy. I said that to make the point that this situation is just a classical case of the Majority’s tyranny. Granted, @risk suffered it worse, but the situation is just two sides of the same coin except I hang around in Lemmy and he hangs around in News websites.

                The KKK is also a minority, so by your logic, we should all try to sympathize with their plight. Oh look, it’s your favorite rhetorical instrument. A strawman.

        • Grimy@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          imagine hearing a neo nazi talk like you do. That’s how people are starting to associate Israel and their genocide.

          You aren’t a persecuted minority, you’re just a person that willingly doesn’t want to understand so the hate can continue. What is happening is clearly not okay to anyone with even a hint of a moral compass.

          • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            I don’t think criticizing Israel is wrong here, nor do I wish for more civilian bloodshed. I do, however, see the end of the war with Hamas no longer being able to actively threat Israel a legitimate goal.

            Why does that mean I’m a Nazi?

            • Grimy@lemmy.world
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              2 years ago

              I brought up neo Nazis so you would understand that you are as much a persecuted minority as they are. By supporting Israel and not criticizing them loudly, you are encouraging more civilian bloodshed.

              I never outright called you a nazi, but you are someone that supports a racist apartheid state that is currently in the middle of a genocide. It’s not a good look.

              I know it’s hard to realize that all the truths you were raised on were lies, that even family members can be downright evil in what they say and hope for. You can either keep the cycle going or be an adult about it.

      • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        I did correct myself in that I only share his feelings as being persecuted. I clearly don’t know who is a minority in this debate and it was wrong to assume so.

        • SilentStorms@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          If you look at the actions of Western media and governments, it’s pretty clear who is the minority. Palestinian activists have become much more vocal because they’re the minority, and no one is standing up for Gazans.

          Regardless, you are not being persecuted, by saying so you’re trivializing those that are.

          • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            I said only on Lemmy.

            I actually empathized with the man. I think he should be allowed to express himself without being persecuted EVEN THOUGH I THINK HIS OPINION IS WRONG.

            It came out wrong because of my talk of minority.

              • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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                2 years ago

                I agree with your statement and would retract the use of the word “persecuted”, as it is a matter of severity.

                The inflicting of suffering, harassment, imprisonment, internment, fear or pain are all factors that may establish persecution, but not all suffering will necessarily establish persecution. The threshold of severity has been a source of much debate. Source: Wikipedia

                Being ostracized in a Lemmy debate clearly isn’t persecution. It is a lack of pluralism or tolerance. Something you can criticize, but definitely isn’t something anyone owes anyone else here. It’s more of a matter of civility.

      • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        No need to get personal. I was empathizing with a person who is getting harassed for his opinions. Kinda like what you’re doing right now.

    • oxf@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Notice how the comment you replied to, despite claiming they “always get hate” has nothing but supportive people upvoting, while you have 3 angry lions going for the neck because you dare to say you support Israel…

      It has come too far to ever work. This community, @world, is no longer a place for biased news. I have had to block for a long time, but just came back to see if it was still such a mess. Turns out it is.

      The worst thing is that the mods here are directly supporting this.

      • dontcarebear @lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Did you mean unbiased?

        Well, that would mean a whole lot of work than just making sure people are civil. That would mean fact checking, confirming and banning accordingly.

        That is a LOT of work… Can’t fault the mods for that.

        As long as it is civil, it should be what it is. At least that’s my opinion.

        • oxf@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          Yes, I meant unbiased, sorry.

          But look at our scores. We are voices that defies the echo chamber. Therefor we must be silenced.

          It sucks, because I actually genuinely was happy for Lemmy, and had moved all my browsing over here. But alas, it seems that I can no longer use this platform for news. I will go back to having this community blocked.

          PS) Try going to r/worldnews and Reddit, and check what the tone of audience is over there. Much more biased towards Israel, which is a no-brainer in my world.

          • twisted28@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            After many years on r/worldnews I learned to spot the organic content from the astroturfed. Regulars were absolutely in no way pro Israel. It was always obvious when the brigade would show up