Anti-BDS passed in the Senate

What does it say about Washington, that the very first bill the Senate passes after the longest government shutdown in history is an anti-1st Amendment bill?

In the Senate's first vote since the government shutdown ended last week, 25 Democrats teamed up with the Republican majority Monday night to advance anti-boycott legislation that Palestinian rights groups and civil libertarians have denounced as a brazen attack on the First Amendment rights of those protesting the brutal Israeli occupation.
...Here are the 25 Democrats—including Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democratic Party—who voted with the GOP to advance the anti-boycott legislation:

antibds_0.PNG

The 19 senators—18 Democrats joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who voted no were:

speech.PNG
Seven senators did not vote, including 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Kamala Harris and Sen. Cory Booker. An unsurprising lack of backbone from these two corporate "progressives".

The House has not taken up the bill yet.
Two federal courts have already ruled anti-BDS laws to be unconstitutional.

“A restriction of one’s ability to participate in collective calls to oppose Israel unquestionably burdens the protected expression of companies wishing to engage in such a boycott,” U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa of Arizona wrote in her decision issuing a preliminary injunction against the law in a case brought last September by the American Civil Liberties Union...
A similar ruling was issued in January of last year by a Kansas federal judge, who ruled that state’s Israel oath law unconstitutional on the ground that “the Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment protects the right to participate in a boycott like the one punished by the Kansas law.”

So a lot of Democrats, and virtually every Republican, is willing to toss the 1st Amendment in order to protect Israel from justified criticism.
But even that isn't enough for some Democrats.

With polls showing that liberals and younger voters are increasingly less sympathetic to Israel, and a handful of vocal supporters of Palestinian rights arriving in Congress, the new group — the Democratic Majority for Israel — is planning to wage a campaign to remind elected officials about what they call the party’s shared values and interests with one of America’s strongest allies.

“Most Democrats are strongly pro-Israel and we want to keep it that way,” said Mark Mellman, the group’s president and a longtime Democratic pollster. “There are a few discordant voices, but we want to make sure that what’s a very small problem doesn’t metastasize into a bigger problem.”
...According to a survey conducted earlier this month by Pew, the share of liberal Democrats who sympathized more with Israel than Palestinians has plummeted from 33 percent to 19 percent in just three years.

Once again, we are talking about a conflict between corporate Dems and progressives.

26 states have already enacted anti-BDS legislation: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky* Louisiana*, Maryland*, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York*, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin*.
Some counties have also passed anti-BDS bills.

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detroitmechworks's picture

Are Nazis.

Now that that's out of the way, can we talk about Israel's wall, shoot on sight policy or anything else? No? That's Nazi too? Great, glad we know where we stand.

So, I officially will never talk about Israel. I won't bother them, worry about them, or otherwise be concerned with them, because it's none of my business.

Wait, that's what the whole bill was about? Not doing Business with Israel is Nazi too?

I'm very confused.

/snark

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

executive order??!! Guess we know who owns him. Now I know I did the right thing voting for Howie.

Does anyone here even know what are some Israeli products?

Gellibrand, with her exquisite political instincts, voted against. I don't like her, mind, but she is a good reader of political weather.

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Mary Bennett

Wink's picture

that prolly should get
him in the record books...
@Nastarana

is he has run for practically every office there is.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

@Wink be doing that to keep the Greens on the ballot.

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Mary Bennett

lotlizard's picture

@Nastarana

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@lotlizard @lotlizard yourself, and you can use any bean and seed combination you like.

Thank you for the information. I can't believe that a few folks not buying a condiment is going to wreck the Israeli economy.

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Mary Bennett

@Nastarana
Or rent IDF mercenaries.
Just in case they were on your shopping list.

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@gjohnsit
good stocking stuffers this year.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@gjohnsit BDS might hamper cities and counties sending their police forces to Israel to learn how to keep the poor in line. I wonder how much Israel makes from law enforcement training? I doubt it is offered free.

Uzis, huh? No wonder the anti-BDS folks don't want to name the products affected by BDS. Someone might get the crazy idea that not importing hand held machine guns might help keep those same weapons out of the hands of criminals.

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Mary Bennett

dervish's picture

@Nastarana but those are things not easily boycotted.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

@dervish

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

detroitmechworks's picture

@dervish 11 Billion worth.

Noticed this in the back of a paper... apparently it's not a big deal

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Deja's picture

@lotlizard @detroitmechworks
They've been in occupied territory for a long time, but here are some paragraphs:

Intel's Israeli exports have risen $300m in 2018 to $4bn, with Israel Chemicals and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries amounting to almost half of Israel's exports. Intel also plans to expand operations across Ireland the US in 2019 and aims to diversify its product line-up for emerging technologies, in addition to mobile phones.

US firms have begun increasing investment in Israel amid growing tensions over the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The Irish Senate passed a bill in early December 2018 forbidding trade with companies operating in the West Bank's occupied territories, East Jerusalem al-Quds and the Golan Heights, with fines of up to €250,000 (£222.500) and five years imprisonment, which is currently awaiting endorsement from the Irish Lower House. US fizzy drink manufacturer PepsiCo acquired failing company SodaStream in a £3.2bn buyout, or $109.36 per share in August last year.

.
.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901291071923321-Intel-Israel-investmen...

I am a Russian bot, after all. /s

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@Deja

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@Nastarana http://bdslist.org/full-list/

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ggersh's picture

Watch for 15 minutes from the 2:15 mark

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtFXYJlj61s&feature=youtu.be&t=8373]

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@ggersh
They weren't satisfied with dominating our ME foreign policy.
Now they want to dominate our domestic politics discussion as well.

This will blow up in their faces.

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ggersh's picture

@gjohnsit and sooner rather than later, tptb are no
longer hiding their disdain for anything not for
the 1%.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@gjohnsit I sure hope this blows up in their faces.

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NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

Will he veto it and MAGA? Or will he sign it and MIGA? If he signs then what will his supporter say about a president putting a foreign country's rights before theirs? Hmm,, could this be the straw that breaks Trump's presidency? The Koch brothers have already said that they won't be supporting him in 2020, so who will they get to run against him? Pence? lol.

This...

And there you have it folks! The treason done by the DINO pro-Israel at-any-cost politicians that put the interests and agenda of a foreign power above our own nation to their everlasting infamy! The overt subversion by Israel and their tools to our nation has been shown to be pervasive and at odds with what America is supposed to stand-for and what our great documents speak of!

The right of the citizens to express opinion and free speech, and political expression is one of the bedrocks of a free society that has been betrayed to serve the terrorist racist entity known as Israel! There is no doubt this vote is a result of the subversion and power of the pro-israeli lobby and the contempt for our liberty by those that voted for this travesty and criminal betrayal! NONE of those voting in favor of this betrayal can ever be trusted again regardless their other actions!

The anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa was helped by the BDS movement in that racist state, but now our citizens and morality are deprived of the same right to free expression with the current BDS Movement against Israeli Apartheid, made “illegal” by the contempt for American law and International Human Rights Law!

The decades-long pre-meditated political subversion by the Israeli zionist entity has taken control of our politics, politicians and elections, cloaked by a “religious” mask that intentionally confuses religion with ordinary state secular subversion and manipulation! The trump regime is the culmination of that subversion and treason supported by complicit DINO democrats that hold first loyalty to that foreign racist power! Treason by any name! Both parties politicians complicit to, and supporters of, the subversion of our republic!

“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” - George Washington

Emphyrio

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

detroitmechworks's picture

@snoopydawg This will probably be the last you hear of this. Checking the MSM, it seems that it's completely a non-issue and Newsguard tells me that they are completely reliable, therefore it must be nothing.

I love Big Brother.

/snark

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

But I still don't know what the acronym BDS means. "Boycott Democratic Seals/Schools/States"?

One of my two Democratic Senators (Duckworth) voted one way and the other (Durbin) voted the other way. Don't know what to make of that either. Did they flip a coin to see who voted yea and who voted nay?

The bill is clearly unConstitutional and so is the Illinois law if it punishes constituents for participating or not participating in any boycott. I suppose the Sate of Illinois can boycott, but I really don't see what business they have getting involved in international politics. IMHO, the State of Illinois should be buying first from Illinois business, and if goods/services are not available or satisfactory, then American business.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

detroitmechworks's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness illegal.

I'd advise passing it around as widely as possible. Because...

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOhcHSi9X4Y]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks
Biden Duckworth Sanders ?
Broadway Downtown Sailors?
Both Damn Steamboats?

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

detroitmechworks's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness As in, No more money until they follow international Law.

Israel claims it's anti-Semitic. Just like everything else in the fucking world, apparently.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness TD lost the coin flip, It was Durbin's turn to be the good guy this time. I am also from Illinois and as far as I'm concerned both of our senators are F'n useless.

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@pro left
She was our Congresswoman and an improvement over the string of knuckle dragging (R)'s that proceeded her. When our postal plant was slated to be closed, she tried to keep it open (succeeded). Our union tld us that Durbin's office told them that he couldn't be involved in something so petty and minor. So I don't do anything so petty and minor as voting for Durbin. I'd vote for Trump over Durbin. Tammy is too far Right for my tastes, but she voted to keep my job, so Ill vote for her to keep hers. It's the Chicago Way.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

Michigan's two D Senators split too. Stabenow yes, Peters no - but they both usually vote yes when it comes to supporting corporate America.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Roy Blakeley's picture

The yes votes are completely predictable as are Booker's and Harris' absences. Some of the no votes are interesting, however, in that they come from corporate dems that one might have guessed would have voted yes. e.g. Feinstein, Gillibrand, Kaine, Van Hollen. Gillibrand in particular deserves praise since she must have been under pressure to vote Yes being a Predidential candidate and from NY. I am not getting out my checkbook to contribute to her campaign, but credit where credit is due.

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@Roy Blakeley if they have enough votes to pass, leadership releases the member to vote for whats best for themselves. It would have been different if it was a close vote. Then there would be some arm twisting and hostage taking.

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@Roy Blakeley Gillie and Schemer do the coin toss thing constantly. Schemer represents Tel Aviv; Gillie would have been allowed to vote against for cover during the primaries, as was said above. I wonder what she promised in return?

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Mary Bennett

Democrats from purple or reddish states for voting yes. And Schumer is, well, Schumer.

What the hell is Markey's excuse, though?

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@HenryAWallace More and more Wyden has been going to the dark side...really pushed TTP, from critic of intelligence community to outspoken Russiagate hysteric....

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@MrWebster

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dfarrah

dervish's picture

@Fishtroller 02 @dfarrah

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Victory Day has been boycotted by all of NATO and the EU.

Say whaaaa???

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Raggedy Ann's picture

Regardless if it is passed, I will honor BDS and not be quiet about it. In fact, if it passes, I might get more vocal about it!
Pleasantry

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Deja's picture

@Raggedy Ann
I tried finding the bumper sticker I originally saw years ago on carryabigsticker(dot)com, but couldn't find it. So, I found a custom sticker site, and IF they will make it for me, I'll be sporting this:

Capitol Hill (top) Another Israeli Occupied Territory (bottom)

I will likely tape it on the back window from the inside, though.

Here's a link to a site that does it.
https://www.makestickers.com/customize.aspx?tid=6945&pid=902eea92-7227-4...

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RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

but I m for this bill!

Unlike other Jews, I don't feel I have to prove my progressive/leftist/progressive credentials by being anti_Israel.

Some say this bill is anti-1st amendment, but to me it is about bigotry.

There are laws about using a disgusting horrible word that begins with the letter N. One could technically argue that this is against the first amendment, but it is about fighting bigotry.

BDS is anti-Semitic at its core. The boycotting rules established are almost EXACTLY like that of Nazi Germany!

So unless you are willing to fight for the right to use the N word, you are NOT arguing about free speech as this would show a total hypocritical stance. You are just arguing for the right to be able to continue in anti-Semitic actions!

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay @RejectingThe3rdWay The point here is not speech. The point is I get to decide how to spend my own money, what there is of it. (BTW, I don't give a damn what the Supremes might have said about money is speech, so spare me) It is not my job financially to support Israeli products unless, as is the case for Dr. Bonner, I happen to want to do so. Similarly it is not my job to hire, for example, yard care, which I am perfectly capable of doing myself, nor is it part of my responsibility to buy a new dress which I don't need and can't afford merely because the neighbor's daughter just landed a job at the dress shop. Doing so might be a nice gesture, but it is no obligation.

The anti-BDS bill sets a dangerous precedent, in my view.

I don't feel I have to prove good person credentials by being rigidly pro-Israel.

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Mary Bennett

RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@Nastarana

The point of the bill is for governments NOT to do business with bigoted companies.

Would you be ok with a government agency doing business with a white supremacist group?

The answer to that question is at the very heart of the bill.

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay did you read and respond to my post before I posted it?

Would you like to share with us the name of the agency who employs you?

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Mary Bennett

@RejectingThe3rdWay

The point of the bill is for governments NOT to do business with bigoted companies.

And the neoliberal Israeli government is an apartheid government.
That pretty much covers it.

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RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@gjohnsit

That so called neo-liberal government has a healthcare system we would kill for in the US, has easily more affordable higher education.

The government is far from neo-liberal, it is just been attacked since the day oit was RE-FORMED in 1948. I say RE-formed as Israel existed before almost any other country (except Egypt).

I know many people here don't like that true statement, then again how many of us are living on stolen land from the 1st Americans? How many want to admit to the GUILT of that? Does it help quench your guilt by supporting other people trying to take away a people's ancestral land? Israel was Jewish land long before islam even existed, all that happened was that we Jews reclaimed our country!

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay

The government is far from neo-liberal

,
Yes, neoliberal. A lot has changed in Israel in the last two decades.
It's proud socialist traditions are rapidly being rejected.
Why do you think nearly half a million Israeli Jews were protesting in 2011?

it is just been attacked since the day oit was RE-FORMED in 1948. I say RE-formed as Israel existed before almost any other country (except Egypt).

The Kingdom of Israel lasted only about a single century, 3,000 years ago.
That's like the Vikings laying claim to Britain.

Does it help quench your guilt by supporting other people trying to take away a people's ancestral land?

You should ask the Palestinians that question.

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RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@gjohnsit

Was Israeli land LONG before the fictional palestine was ever envisioned

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay
So you agree that Norway should reclaim Britain then?
After all, they owned it for a couple decades a thousand years ago.

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Shahryar's picture

@gjohnsit

I would support Wales and Scotland reclaiming Britain to correct the wrong of the mid-400s.

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Bisbonian's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay when they marched into their new country? Oh yeah, the Philistines.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Bisbonian

The Philistines were a much later development (IIRC they were a Phoenician offshoot).

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Bisbonian's picture

@TheOtherMaven , but he never got around to it. I forgot that part. So it came up again, this time for Samuel: Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites.
--Joshua 13:1-3

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

@Bisbonian
Recent genetic studies have found that some of them survived! Maybe we can give them their country back.

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@RejectingThe3rdWay

You are one of those "God gave us this real estate" believers.

That explains a lot about your total lack of understanding of the whole issue.

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Lookout's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay

Israel has a right to shoot Palestinian protesters every Friday forever because they object to their open air prison? They have a right to occupy Palestinian territory?

Anti-Israel is NOT antisemitism despite the fact Israel has declared only Jews can be citizens. And US citizens are not allowed to object? Come on....

https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@Lookout

As far as that organization is concerned well ....

I guess I should listen to Clarence Thomas for matters on the AA community then (SNARK)

Get the picture?

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@Lookout
And Arab Knesset members. Have I been deceived by the MSM?

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Lookout's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness

The Knesset passed a bill on July 18 that declares Israel as a Jewish nation-state,

https://jewishjournal.com/news/israel/236240/knesset-passes-bill-proclai...

Today, being an Israeli is no longer sufficient. The Nation-State Law leaves no doubt or uncertainty: Israel is the home of the Jews and all others will be tolerated at best. Equal rights and all, of course, but do not feel too at home, if you are not Jewish, this is not your home.
https://www.jpost.com/Blogs/The-Other-Side/A-Jewish-Nation-or-a-Democrat...

“It’s racist and there’s nothing else to say about that,” Portman said. “It’s wrong and I disagree with that.”
https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/news/national_news/natalie-portman-s...

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout
Do they reject converts? That's the tell-tale sign.
Not that I approve of religious states.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

dervish's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness But where else on earth do you have roads that only the dominant religious group may driive on? The status of people in the territories is essentially as stateless prisoners.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Pricknick's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay
You claim it's bigotry to support a group of people who have been systematically oppressed?
That's what this is about. It has nothing to do with the jewish people and everything to do with the israel government.
So I guess if I don't agree with my governments action I'm a bigot?
Just wow.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@Pricknick

How many people here call it dog-whistle racism when people degrade/belittle those inner city people?

They are talking about a region, not a specific group of people, right?

Please get your facts straight, there are many Israeli-Arab citizens, some even elected government officials, but that doesn't fit the lies that have been perpetrated.

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay

Unlike other Jews, I don't feel I have to prove my progressive/leftist/progressive credentials by being anti_Israel.

Is that even a thing?

Some say this bill is anti-1st amendment

You mean like two federal court rulings?

BDS is anti-Semitic at its core.

That certainly is what your side is asserting.
You just aren't proving it.

The boycotting rules established are almost EXACTLY like that of Nazi Germany!

This is where you tipped your hand. You either are a Jew who knows almost nothing about the Holocaust, or (more likely) you aren't a Jew.

You are just arguing for the right to be able to continue in anti-Semitic actions!

You'll have to do better.

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RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@gjohnsit

Seriously look at history, the Holocaust didn't just spring up overnight.
It started with things like boycotting Jewish products, segregation,etc.
I learned all about it in religious school and members of my congregation were survivors.
I still remember wanting to cry (but held it back)as a 7/8 year old when I met this old woman after services who reminded me of my grandma and I saw the number on her arm.

If people started a movement to boycott products from a predominantly Latinx/AA/muslim area, what would you call it? (I know the answer to that)

As for the federal court rulings, I can go back in time and show you some truly disgusting rulings as to the treatment of AA people. So all you have proved is that the courts have ruled again in a bogoted fashion...I'm shocked (snark)

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay
these outrageous anti-nipponists?

everything you've said here about this issue is, to be blunt, silly. a nation doesn't get to wrap itself in a protective blanket of ethnicity so as to immunize itself against criticism for its policies, regardless of whatever traumas may have been meted out to members of that ethnicity over the centuries. anti-israel is anti-israel, and nothing else at all. any claim that it is equivalent to anti-semitism is intellectually insupportable, no matter how satisfying it may be to anyone's wounded pride.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@RejectingThe3rdWay
Because you are talking about MY heritage, and I don't like people telling me what I can or cannot boycott.

Seriously look at history, the Holocaust didn't just spring up overnight.
It started with things like boycotting Jewish products, segregation,etc.
I learned all about it in religious school and members of my congregation were survivors.

I HAVE seriously looked at history. And the Nazis started with the premise of doing something a lot more nasty to Jews than just boycotts.
Because if you think the Holocaust started as boycotts and then got out of hand, you really don't know diddly squat about the Holocaust.

If people started a movement to boycott products from a predominantly Latinx/AA/muslim area, what would you call it? (I know the answer to that)

What you would call the boycott movement against apartheid South Africa during the 80's? Bigotry? Was Nelson Mandela a bigot/terrorist to you?

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Deja's picture

@gjohnsit
If memory serves, I believe there were airplane parts, maybe tires. Israel was doing business with South Africa when the whole world said, 'shame' due to apartheid. Now we give billions of tax dollars, free and clear, to an apartheid state that did business with the same type of country back when it was a no-no. Shocker, not.

I'm not even gonna try to find a link, as I'm sure it's been scrubbed. Gone are the days of finding factual info on certain people or countries, if it makes certain people or countries look bad simply by being truthful.

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dervish's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay Sue me.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

@gjohnsit Yes, it's a basic First Amendment issue that two courts have already ruled upon. And, yes, I stand 110% behind Jimmy Carter--and, basically, always have--when it comes to my own sentiments on this issue. End. Of. Story!!!

(But, here's the story...)

Jimmy Carter: Option of Two-state Solution Is Fading, With 'Dire Consequences' for Israel

Former U.S. president says establishment of Palestinian state is 'in Israel's best interest'

The Associated Press (via Ha'aretz)
Feb 22, 2018 10:03 PM

• Israel is fast becoming a rogue state. And Trump is complicit in that downfall
• What does America's ambassador have against Israeli democracy?
• Settler leader: Trump presidency to thank for settlement surge

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is warning that the two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is being overtaken by a one-state reality which will have dire consequences for Israel in the long-term."

Carter concluded that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state "is in Israel's best interest."

In a statement to the Security Council read Thursday by former U.S. ambassador Richard Murphy, Carter said that a two-state solution "must be anchored on 1967 borders with agreed upon adjustments and with Jerusalem as the capital for both Israelis and Palestinians."

He said Gaza "is teetering on the brink of a humanitarian disaster" and warned that another war in the Hamas-ruled territory is "a real possibility — and the consequences would be catastrophic."

On Tuesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the UN Security Council to convene an international peace conference by mid-2018 to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Abbas criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and claimed this "unlawful decision" should be frozen. He also blamed Israel for failure to reach peace: "Israel shut the door on the two-state solution," Abbas concluded.

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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@bobswern

Standing behind Jimmy Carter who forced Israel to give up a ton of land.
I still remember as a kid watching Israel shrink on the map asking why we had to give up more land and sacrifice yet again. Wondering at what point will it stop, when we can no longer protect ourselves.

F**K Carter, and if he was ANY good at being a president we would NOT have had to endure Reaganomics!

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay
in any event, carter didn't "make" israel do anything. he brokered a deal in which israel conceded some of the land it had grabbed in exchange for peace with one of its neigbors.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@UntimelyRippd
Or at least sword point.
And didn't they take it from the Byzantine Empire, the Eastern half of the Roman Empire who stole it around 2000 years ago?
Didn't the Hebrews from Egypt steal it from the inhabitants who probably stole it from someone else who stole it from the Neanderthals?

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@The Voice In the Wilderness

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@gjohnsit
I haven't seen that name in decades.
She started out as a cartoonist for the Daily Illini.

Several years after that, I saw one of her cartoons, I think in one of the earlier issues of the Onion. It was a satire on that pop philosophy book, "Everything I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten". The only thing I remember is the first item on the list: Kids are mean.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@The Voice In the Wilderness
calls everything in the region 'disputed territory'. Borders are malleable. Acquisition of land by force or perceived right has nothing to do with bygone ancient history, religion nor ethnicity. The world is changing. Cultures evolve. Better learn to live with your neighbors. It may save you ahead.

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@The Voice In the Wilderness
i'm just amused by this dude's whole, "Oh noes, Israel is shreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenking," crie de coeur.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

ggersh's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay Bibi and company are corrupt as shit and
rotten to the core and it is he and the neocons/neolibs
that are bought and paid for causing the problems of
the ME.

BTW most living Jews that I know have relatives that were either
killed or survived the horror of concentration camps during WWII

I still remember as a kid watching Israel shrink on the map asking why we had to give up more land and sacrifice yet again. Wondering at what point will it stop, when we can no longer protect ourselves.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

@RejectingThe3rdWay
The land that Israel never intended to keep anyway?

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@gjohnsit Facts are amazing, aren't they? Smile

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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

@bobswern
IJC they're-all-in-on-it canard, 'cuz clearly nobody clued this guy into the strategy.

up
0 users have voted.

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Centaurea's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay

Wondering at what point will it stop, when we can no longer protect ourselves.

When I read things like this, it makes me wonder: at what point will Israel feel safe? At what point will it believe that no one is ever going to threaten it again?

I have a feeling the answer is "never". That's not a good thought for the rest of the world.

With respect to Israel "protecting" itself, I am always reminded of the Karpman Drama Triangle, the classic model of human behavior used in psychotherapy, in which the roles of victim, persecutor, and rescuer are interchangeable.

Israel perceives itself as the "victim" and acts as a persecutor, toward the Palestinians and anyone else it perceives as threatening, which is pretty much the entire world.

The US perceives itself as the "rescuer" and acts as a persecutor, toward its own citizens and others whom it enables Israel to persecute.

https://www.karpmandramatriangle.com

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karpman_drama_triangle

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

Bisbonian's picture

@Centaurea

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

Centaurea's picture

@Bisbonian
I wasn't sure how my comment would be received; felt like I was sticking my neck out there a bit.

I've been tempted to write an essay about the Karpman Drama Triangle as it pertains to current US politics, in particular the Democratic party, identity politics, etc. I haven't worked up the nerve to do it yet, though.

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"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi

"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone

@RejectingThe3rdWay
Until this quote I thought you were a US citizen. If Israel is more important to you than the US Constitution I think you should be in Israel, if you aren't already. If you're young enough you can/will join the IDF. If you're talented enough maybe you can be a sniper and kill unarmed Palestinian children and the medical teams that try to rescue them. If not you'll have to get your jollies protecting settlers driving into the West Bank, chopping down Palestinian olive trees, setting up trailers and declaring new Israeli settlements until the government shows up to build more permanent structures.

And about that territory YOU had to give up, you occupied it by military conquest, which is against the UN charter that Israel signed.

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RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@FuturePassed

I AM a US citizen, and have taken an oath to defend the constitution.
As such i supported Bernie in 2016 even though Hilary was more pro-Israel.
Sad you have to drag out the dual loyalty trope that has had very bad consequences for my people!

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

@RejectingThe3rdWay

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"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin

Shahryar's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay

BDS is anti-Semitic at its core

if BDS were directed at Jews. Not just in Israel but all over the world. Which it's not, is it?

Can the government of Israel be wrong about anything? If so, can we mention it? If egregiously so, can we protest it?

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RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@Shahryar

It isn't directed at Jews worldwide, just only the largest concentrations of jews on the planet.

By your reasoning, trump's muslim ban was NOT a muslim ban, just a ban on several countries

Well?

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

detroitmechworks's picture

@RejectingThe3rdWay Wonderful. Glad to hear it. So Israel will happily open up their borders and let them in according to the rule of international law. No more shooting refugees on sight or bulldozing their homes.

No, wait they can't do that because of Nazis. Right. Totally clear. So we leave them alone. No, wait we have to send them money or else the evil Arabs will kill them.

Wait, I thought they were dangerous evil people who wanted to kill everybody in Israel.

Seriously, Pick a story.
/snark

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

RejectingThe3rdWay's picture

@detroitmechworks

All those muslim countries surround Israel, they have kicked out Jews to the point that there are almost none left. We have no rights in those countries, unlike Israel which grants rights to everyone.

Why do you feel the need for the only safe space for the Jewish people to be destroyed when there are 23 muslim majority/sharia law abiding countries in the area?!

And there are many good muslim people in the region. The Kurdish people encompass many different religions existing in harmony. But I know that statement doesn't fit your narrative. maybe that's why many on the left are eager to abandon yet another group that has been targeted with extinction.

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When I was a kid, Republicans used to red scare people, now it's the Democrats. I am getting too damn old for this crap!

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