No Aloha for Palestinians
Tune in to The Bitter Pill tonight at 8 for a discussion of Tulsi Gabbard's, Bernie Sanders', and others' views on the escalation of the conflict that began Oct. 7
Please join me tonight (Sunday Nov. 12) at 8 pm on my Bitter Pill YouTube channel for a discussion of the pro-Israel views of Tulsi Gabbard, Bernie Sanders, and a large swathe of gender-critical feminists in the midst of what Holocaust and Genocide Studies professor Raz Segal calls “a textbook case of genocide” in a recent article in Jewish Currents magazine. To say that Gabbard and the others evince little “aloha” for Palestinians currently being massacred en masse by the fascistic Israeli state is a considerable understatement.
In 2019-20, Tulsi Gabbard ran a Presidential campaign largely centered around her standing virtually alone in rejecting the foreign policy consensus of the Democratic Party. Although never great on the Israel/Palestine issue, she was at least critical of the Israeli government. Not any more—her views on the conflict (or, to put it accurately, the brutal colonial occupation) are now virtually indistinguishable from those of her Fox News co-hosts.
For his part, Bernie Sanders is willing to criticize Israel's atrocities in Gaza (albeit while mysteriously avoiding mentioning who commits them)—yet still comes down squarely against a ceasefire in the conflict that has already killed over 11,000 in Gaza.
Last month, I talked about the uncritical acceptance of mass rape allegations and other atrocity propaganda (e.g., "40 beheaded babies") put out by the Israeli government by a great many white Western feminists. After seeing a month's worth of comments on Israel/Palestine from folks on social media, the conclusion seems pretty inescapable that there's a huge problem with anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry in the Western women's rights movement. And I've gotta say, even though I agree with them about the need for female-only spaces, gender-critical women's rights advocates (so-called TERFs) seem to be overwhelmingly pro-Israel and of the opinion that Hamas is the root of all (or most) evil in Palestine. Many of them have even called for censorship and other repression against pro-Palestinian protesters, quite a hypocritical stance for a movement whose motto is #LetWomenSpeak.
Finally, if there's time, I'll talk about the recent entry of 2012 and 2016 Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein into the 2024 race.